Committee member for historic house

[iris lilies]

I harken back to feeling teenaged angst when I look at the decorating choices of my parents 50 years ago. A time capsule. Ok, they weren’t awful, but they were not timeless classics either. Red flocked wallpaper. “Antiqued” green woodwork in one room with wall paneling the same color. Orange carpet.

It is all there in its glory.

[Teacher Terry]

It’s a great old house. I really love the woodwork. It needs a young family with good DIY skills.

[catherine]

I remember how happy I was when I returned to my great-aunt's cottage after 40 years and they had barely touched it. It was exactly the same as I remembered it. And then the next year they sold it, and the new owners razed it. Time marches on, and change is inevitable. Hopefully there will only be good changes in store for your childhood home.

[iris lilies]

Here is the house in its current state:

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...9_M70476-76720

things are not going well for it. A year and a half ago someone bought it to flip it. He did all kinds of necessary work such as plumbing, electrical, new roof, some HVAC work. He installed new bathrooms and kitchen. Then he slapped a price tag of $600,000+ on it. That’s pretty high because it has no garage because the previous owners who live there for 50 years let the old barn which was a double garage fall down. I’m very angry with those previous owners for that. And they never did any work on the house, it looked like a shambles for most of the 50 years they had it.

The flipper painted the entire interior Tiffany blue, an odd choice. The home Depot kitchen is cheap. He PAINTED OVER the wallpaper. That just seems… Unsustainable.

Not surprisingly, it did not sell.

so the flipper finally reduced the price to in the mid 500,000 and a real estate company bought it and now they want to change the zoning to commercial. The historical society and people who care are petitioning the city council not to rezone it, but it will probably go through. The real estate company is talking about ripping out doorways to make it ADA compliant, which would be tragic in the living room because that is unique cherry and Oak woodwork.

I hate these people, all of them.

[catherine]

I feel your pain, IL. I do not like that blue at all with the woodwork and the fact that they just slapped it up in every room. And they painted over some of the window moulding. The kitchen definitely looks cheap. So sorry.

[rosarugosa]

I concur. Such a wonderful house.

[littlebittybobby]

okay---it boils downta this----the place was on the market for awhile, and you were well aware of it. so anyway---IL(Faux)had the resources ta make a deal on the place, relocate to Algona, and restore the place to Stuart-Period-Correct, live there again, & be able to go to Adventureland and of course--The Bum Steer, and be in close proximity to matty and also that littlebitty hick town waaaaay up north in the middle o' corn an beans and cattle & hogs, so you can visit. See? But noooooo, you evidently chose ta pizzz your money away on airplane trips & Herman. Too Bad. No more griping---it's ALL bad decisions on your part. Hope that helps you some. Thankk mee fer the reality check. Yup.

[iris lilies]

okay---it boils downta this----the place was on the market for awhile, and you were well aware of it. so anyway---IL(Faux)had the resources ta make a deal on the place, relocate to Algona, and restore the place to Stuart-Period-Correct, live there again, & be able to go to Adventureland and of course--The Bum Steer, and be in close proximity to matty and also that littlebitty hick town waaaaay up north in the middle o' corn an beans and cattle & hogs, so you can visit. See? But noooooo, you evidently chose ta pizzz your money away on airplane trips & Herman. Too Bad. No more griping---it's ALL bad decisions on your part. Hope that helps you some. Thankk mee fer the reality check. Yup.

Well, Bobby, the close of this saga is this:

This house had been purchased by a real estate company and they’re going to use it for offices. They claim to want it because of its historic properties. The city rezoned the entire block commercial, and the neighbors are mad about that.

But the city wrote into this rezoning deal some Conditions that the real estate company will need to respect as far as keeping it original. They do plan to take out the kitchen and the bathroom and maybe make some sort of coffee shop space, and I wouldn’t be opposed to that. They are talking about putting in an ADA entrance, but that would be at the back and if they widen the doorway I think they’re talking about widening, that would be OK because that’s not original to the house.
so perhaps the resolution is OK..

PS I would rather stab my eyes out with a fork then move back to that town, it is ugh.