~by Denise O’Brien Van for the Jefferson Garden Club
One of Jefferson’s most admired houses, and one the town’s few prairie-style structures, will be among the four homes on the Saturday, Dec. 6, Jefferson Garden Club’s Tour of Homes.
The home in the 300 block of S. Chestnut St was erected for Percy and Dorothy Gray in 1917. Percy Gray invented the Thermogray electric water heater, and began manufacturing the appliance in Jefferson in 1926. He owned and operated the Jefferson Electric Co., which supplied power to local homes and business, from 1907 to 1924.
Curt and Rhonda Nelson purchased the home from the Bonnie Kendall estate in 2011, becoming the third owners of the three-bedroom honey-colored brick beauty, which has a terra cotta tile roof.
They’ve spent the past three years renovating the splendid structure, working to conserve its original interior, removing wallpaper that hung in almost every room and
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Christmas Splendor at the Nelsons’ – Look for the dozens of Santas in Rhonda Nelson’s collection and for tiny snow-dusted villlages. You may even run into the Nelsons’ 6-year-old Boston Terrier Hoss, who will be dressed in his holiday best.
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repairing and painting plaster walls. The Nelsons put in a completely new kitchen, gutting a 1970s renovation that included sky blue Formica countertops. The new kitchen is done in earth tones favored by prairie-style architects.
“Luckily,” says Rhonda, “almost all the floors and all the oak woodwork in the house was in good shape.”
The woodwork includes horizontal oak banding in the living room, solid doors throughout the house, a built-in buffet in the dining room and a roomy linen closet replete with cupboards and drawers in the second-floor hall.
Horizontal banding, a detail found in many prairie-style structures, is also present in brick on the home’s exterior.
All three levels of the house will be open for the tour. The Nelsons have made use of the basement, appointing space for a family room and a music room where Curt, a member of the Ordinary Cowboys Band, rehearses. A whimsical touch shows up on the basement stair steps, which have been painted to echo the design of the home’s many casement-style windows.
Other homes on the tour include a long and low 1960s ranch with a magnificent view of the Raccoon River Valley, a renovated solid American four-square built in 1920 and a 1912 arts and crafts house that has been increased in size with a recently completed 800-square-foot addition.
Tickets for the home tour are available from Garden Club members, and at The Printers Box, Home State Bank and Peoples Trust & Savings Bank in Jefferson. Proceeds fund the club’s local beautification projects, including the Memorial Garden at the Raccoon River Valley Recreation Trail on Jefferson’s east side. ~by Denise O’Brien Van for the Jefferson Garden Club
