Two houses – each side of the Ninth Street near the University Avenue – show them before and after the historical restoration in the Moines' River Bend.
On Sunday, September 21st, the public can see on the second day of the annual River Bend Historic Home Tour by River Bend in these houses and several others. The tour that started on Saturday celebrates the local architectural heritage and the history of the community.
On the tour there is a Goldenrodter and Orange-Farben Victorian in the ninth St. 1224, which is home to John Ruan, Sr. Ruan, who brought the World Food Prize after the Moines, chairman and CEO of the Ruan companies, and his name is in the Ruan Center in Downtown of the Moines.
The appearance and value of the house are now far away, as Polk County Property Records and Online Street Views show that the property was in front of the neighborhood association and renovated it. According to its evaluation, what was a prevailing, fire -damaged house worth $ 7,700 in 2009, now 205,300.
“I like the high ceilings. The handkerchief doors are nice too,” said David Simpson, who has and lives with Holly Klotz, his wife, in the home of 1876.
The Beaverdal bungalows that his wife liked were too small for Simpson when they were home purchases, but he liked what the house of the river Bend had to offer, as well as his location when the couple bought it in 2015.
Since 2015, the couple have painted the front and side verands, replaced chain connection fences with steel fences, added gardens, replaced kitchen switches, replaced the dining room, installed the crown shape and added a heat pump, among other things.
Klotz said that the 1229 Ninte St. opposite the east had been empty since its catchment area.
But that has changed in the past few months since husbands Chad Nelson and Chad Peters bought it in July and started what they estimated, a five-year renovation process of the house from 1886 will be. You live in another house on the same street.
“Part of the reason was selfish because we want to look at something nice,” said Nelson.
He said that he and Peters had watched an owner outside the state neglected another house in her neighborhood, which had been sold about six years ago. They were not ready to buy this house, but promised themselves that they would buy another house on the block if you were available.
However, Nelson said her goal of fixing the house “to change people's opinion about the neighborhood of the Bend river”. The area had been neglected for a long time due to Redlining – the now prohibited practice of prioritization of housing loans in districts in which the majority of white residents lived and refused access to loans in areas in which black residents and other minorities lived.
But the neighborhood, a few miles from downtown from the Moines, has resolved in recent years, with more houses being restored and some projects were rooted.
Nelson said that he and Peters do not intend to live in the house when the renovation is complete, but “part of me will be in this house”.
Nelson's own restoration business, Red Beard Restoration, specializes in historical windows and said that his work in the windows of the house will take 150 years.
There were water damage that are rotted in places through the ceilings and floors, but he said that the bones of the house were strong.
The couple plans to restore the original siding of slopes. Everything else is not original in the house and replaced by devices and materials that replicate its original character, said Nelson.
How to take part in River Bend's historical home tour
According to a press release from the Neighborhood Association, the starting point for this year's tour through seven houses in the neighborhood is a ticket switch in the Seventh St. 1531 in the Seventh St., east of Moulton Elementary.
Six houses differ from those last year, and three have never been shown, according to the association's website.
Tickets cost 20 US dollars at the stand. “The proceeds come to the River Bend Neighborhood Association and its mission, quality of life, sense of community and pride in its urban neighborhood,” says the publication.
The houses are open on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tour maps and other real estate information are available at the starting point, as are a shuttle with a limited capacity.
Visitors are encouraged to wear comfortable hiking shoes for the natural tour.
You can find more information at RIVERGNEIGHBORHOOD.ORG and on Facebook at facebook.com/reverbendneighbors.
Phillip Sitter covers the suburbs for that of the Moines Register. Phillip can be reached by e -mail at pstitzter@gannett.com. Find out More about him online In the register of staff of the register.