River Bend Neighborhood

In an area of Queen Anne, four-square, and “painted lady” homes, this weekend’s River Bend “Walk In The Past” house tour will be able to spot a variety of housing details you can’t see in every part of town—clamshell roof shingles, “witch’s hat” turrets, gingerbread trim, and a variety of front porches.

Homes on this tour include various styles—Prairie, Victorian, Craftsman, and Transitional Colonial Revival. Trinity United Methodist Church, at 8th and College Streets, built in 1886, will also be open for touring.

Times and dates: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, September 8, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, September 9.

Tickets: $10 for adults and $5 for youngsters under 17, available at Moulton School, 1541 Eighth Street.

Parking: Available at Moulton School or along neighborhood streets.

Transportation to homes: By trolley, included in ticket price.

Host house: 1330 Ninth Street, home of Carolyn Jenison and Angela Thorne. Visitors can take a rest and enjoy food from the past, such as 7-layer bars, sweet potato pie, oatmeal cookies, cinnamon rolls, hot cross buns, and beverages. Vintage music will be played on a digital keyboard. In addition, the Something Good Restaurant, 1610 Sixth Avenue, will be open for lunch and snacks.

The Friends of the Forest Avenue Library are holding a garage and book sale Saturday, September 8, to clear out extras from their recent remodeling. The garage is accessible from 13th Street Place and will be open from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM.

Featured items include:
Lots of oak chairs
Small tables
Oak book bins
Glass display case
MANY children’s books

Many items are reasonably priced and could make a good addition to any college dorm room or help expand a child’s home library.

The 11th annual River Bend Neighborhood Home Tour is being held Saturday and Sunday, September 8th and 9th, 2007.

Tickets will be available for purchase at Moulton Elementary School, at 8th & College. The cost is $10.00 for adults and $5.00 for children 17 and under. Transportation will be provided from home to home.

In addition to the tour, there will be workshops on knitting, quilting, calligraphy and more. An architectural historian will be on hand to give insight about the historic nature of the homes in the neighborhood.

There will also be a raffle at the end of each day of the tour, with prizes from Sahar’s Salon, Something Good Restaurant and Mary Kay.

For more information, you can call 515-491-0226. You can also download the tour flyer (pdf).

Husband-and-wife legal team Jeanne Johnson and Ta-Yu Yang work and live in a home overlooking the Des Moines River at 811 Hickman Road. Their office is on the first floor, and the second floor is their residence.The house will be on the River Bend Neighborhood Home Tour, September 9-10, 2006.

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These turn of the century apartment buildings are on tour as prime examples of the infinite variety found in older buildings. Driving by, you would think that they are triplets…..But take a closer look. The detail differences are amazing.

None of the 3rd floor exterior detail is the same, nor are their doorways even similar. Each hallway uses marble, but it is applied differently in all three. Notice the interior stairs and halls and how similar spaces are treated so differently. Also notice the wonderful use of skylights to open the space and provide natural light to an otherwise dingy stairway.

These apartments have had hard use all of their lives, yet can still be rehabbed to their former glory. Litttle by little, as funds and volunteers become available, you will see these buildings take their historic place in the neighborhood. Thanks for touring them in their “as is” state. We look forward to showing off the finished entrances in the years to come.

The charming red house at 217 Franklin boasts a new master suite addition since the last time it was included in the River Bend Neighborhood Home Tour. The property has a long and colorful history.

Benjamin F. Allen, the same man who eventually built Iowa governor’s mansion Terrace Hill, originally purchased this land from the United States government on June 1, 1850.

After a couple of other owners, the land came into the Kunsch family, who owned the property from 1877 to 1900. It was during the Kunsches’ ownership that the land was leased to a John Bunz, who used it for an ice house at a rate of $60 per year. (more…)

The stately home at 409 Franklin is the “house of 2nd chances” because when the city cut the utilities for demolition, and demolition equipment stood in the yard, the neighborhood pulled together to save the property. This allowed Just Right Homes to acquire the house and bring it up to minimum codes as required by city code for condemned houses.

Developer Just Right Homes’ goal is to take houses that need loving care, and transform them into up-to-date, clean, safe family homes.

In the instance of 409 Franklin, because of budget constraints, they did an interpretive restoration. The ground floor is close to its original configuration, but second floor was really cut up and changed during the house’s years as an apartment building.

The renovation team did not try to restore the upstairs to its original floor plan. Instead, they made usable spaces that make sense for today’s families, especially on the second floor, where there is a master bedroom suite and a children’s suite.

Victorian touches are included throughout the home, such as the East porch posts because they were original, but in bad shape, and adding a “Victorianesque” fireplace façade in the original spot.

The new owners are thrilled to have a clean slate to work with and have many great ideas and plans for the future. They will enjoy sharing their ideas with Tour attendees.