After 131 years at its North Liberty location, a Queen Anne Victorian home made the move to a new site in rural Oxford.
Built in 1892 for the Jacob and Martha George family, the more than 2,800-square-foot house features a wraparound porch, turret, curved staircase, pocket doors and other original architectural features.
Mark Chenoweth, of Goodwin House Moving, which was hired for the move, said the weight of the house and moving equipment totaled just over 100 tons.
At 43 feet tall, eight traffic lights through North Liberty had to be raised for the towering home to fit, and a newer kitchen addition was removed on the side of the home to bring the width down to 44 feet, to fit on the roadways.
Mr. Chenoweth said Goodwin, a six-generation family-owned business, has moved homes of similar size, but those are generally in more remote, rural locations.
The move through North Liberty on June 13 included navigating a roundabout, while hundreds of spectators lined the beginning of the route, on Front Street, and along Penn Street, a major thoroughfare through the Eastern Iowa city of more than 20,000 residents.
Traffic was delayed and rerouted for less than three hours for the move, which took place on a picture-perfect day with sunny skies and cool temperatures to start the morning.
The house began its trek from 10 Jaro Way at 9 a.m. and exited North Liberty by 11:30 a.m., with a plan for the second phase of the 16-mile trip to take place on June 14.
Terry Miller, who owns the farmland where the house will now be located, saw an article in the Iowa City Press-Citizen about the home’s inclusion on Preservation Iowa’s 2023 “Most Endangered” properties list in February.
Watching as the home made its way through North Liberty, Mr. Miller said he was not worried about the move.
“Everybody is doing their job and that’s what it’s all about,” he said. “I feel confident that it’s going to be O.K.”
Mr. Miller said he and his wife, Heather, had been looking to move a house and fell in love with the Queen Anne Victorian. They connected with developer Matthew Lepic and his wife, Nicole, about moving the home and came to an agreement.
Mr. Lepic is “selling” the home to the Millers basically for free, with a transaction fee, to make way for two 12-unit residential buildings on the site under rezoning approved last year by the city of North Liberty.
The move, however, will likely surpass $200,000, with relocating power lines, traffic lights and other costs comprising the bulk of that expense.
North Liberty resident Cathy Coleman had been advocating to save the home and reached out early last year to Save Cedar Rapids Heritage, whose mission is to preserve historic resources in Cedar Rapids through education, assistance, advocacy and action.
While North Liberty is out of the nonprofit’s typical boundaries, board members agreed to help try to save the home.
Save CR Heritage volunteers and board members cleaned the three-bedroom, two-bath home to ready it to show to potential “buyers” and promoted its availability.
Original owner Jacob George, an elder in the Lutheran Church, operated a sawmill and owned about 450 acres of farmland, according to the History of Johnson County, Iowa.
In recent years, the house had become a rental and, as North Liberty has grown, was nearly enveloped by townhomes, duplexes and other multi-family dwellings.
Mr. Chenoweth said he was glad the Millers and Lepics decided the home was worthy of being saved.
“This does not belong in a landfill,” he said.
See more photos of the move at: HomegrownIowan.com
Editor’s note: Cindy Hadish is a board member of Save CR Heritage.
