BANGOR — An empty apartment house on the corner of Highland Avenue and Charles Street will be demolished, now that the Maine Supreme Judicial Court has overturned a lower court judgment in favor of the owners.

The Law Court rendered its decision on May 13, finding on behalf of the city of Bangor, which had condemned the property that had been placarded as unfit for human habitation since 1983.

After the vote by the City Council in October 1996, owners Leon and Gertrude Kirkpatrick of Brewer and Florida had appealed the condemnation to Penobscot County Superior Court.

That court agreed with the city that officials were relying on public safety concerns when pursuing the condemnation, and that the city’s evidence was sufficient in its claim that the building was dangerous and a nuisance.

But the Kirkpatricks prevailed when Superior Court Justice Margaret Kravchuk also agreed with the Kirkpatricks on one point: that the city should have given them a specific list of defects in the property that rendered it dangerous and a nuisance, and granted them a reasonable time to make the repairs.

Writing for the Law Court, Justice Robert Clifford disagreed, saying that the city did hold a public hearing on the matter, and the Kirkpatricks had nearly two months’ advance notice on it.

In fact, the city had granted the owners a one-month delay they requested before the City Council took the vote on condemnation. More than an hour of public comment and discussion was held the evening of the vote.

According to court documents, the Kirkpatricks bought the property in the 1950s and added central heating and individual bathrooms to meet requirements for the five apartments the building contained at the time.

The pipes froze and burst in the early 1980s, Leon Kirkpatrick said, when tenants failed to purchase fuel for heat. Facing health problems, he focused his attention on other properties he owned.

Kirkpatrick did some work on the building in 1996, but city officials supported the condemnation, citing the building as obsolete, dilapidated and a fire hazard. The property was assessed by the city at $25,600 in 1997.

The city’s case in the courts was handled by John Hamer, attorney in the Code Enforcement Office.

“He did an awfully good job,” said City Solicitor Norman Heitmann, who attended oral arguments held before the Law Court.

Heitmann said the owners now have 30 days to demolish the structure. If it isn’t taken down, he said, city policy would be to tear it down and bill the owners for the costs.

The Kirkpatricks’ Bangor attorney, Charles Gilbert, was not available for comment Wednesday.