Linsay House

Lindsay House
Linsay House is located in Iowa
Linsay House
Linsay House is located in the United States
Linsay House
Location935 E. College
Iowa City, Iowa
Coordinates41°39′31″N 91°31′17.2″W / 41.65861°N 91.521444°W / 41.65861; -91.521444
Arealess than one acre
Built1893
ArchitectGeorge F. Barber and Co.
Architectural styleQueen Anne
NRHP reference No.77000529[1]
Added to NRHPAugust 2, 1977

The Lindsay House is a historic building located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It was listed, misspelled as the Linsay House, on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.[1] The house was built in 1893 by John Jayne, an Iowa City bridge builder. The plans for the 2½-story, frame, Queen Anne were purchased from George F. Barber and Co.[2] It features a chimney that takes up an entire corner of the main facade, a stone arch that surrounds the first-floor window with leaded glass in a sunflower pattern, a wrap-around porch with a corner turret, and a three-story octagonal tower behind it.

Jayne gave the house as a wedding gift to his daughter, Ella, and her husband, John Granger Lindsay. The Lindsays moved to Chicago in 1913. It was the Theta Xi fraternity Xi chapter house from 1914[3]-1915.[4] The house was subsequently divided into apartments, and in 2005 became a 10-bedroom unit of the River City Housing Collective.[5][6]

Berkeley Breathed, who wrote the comic strip Bloom County, called the house one of "the ugliest houses in the five-state area... Six different architectural styles in one house is a milestone at least and at most a landmark to bad taste".[5] Breathed used the house as the model for the boarding house where Bloom County is partially set.[7]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. ^ James R. Juilfs. "Linsay House". National Park Service. Retrieved 2017-05-22. with photo(s)
  3. ^ "University of Iowa Hawkeye yearbook, 1914".
  4. ^ "University of Iowa Hawkeye yearbook, 1915".
  5. ^ a b Langton, Diane (January 26, 2015). "Time Machine: Bloom County House". The Gazette. Retrieved 2015-03-26.
  6. ^ "Bloom County House". River City Housing Collective. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
  7. ^ Holden, Greg, The Booklover's Guide to the Midwest: A Literary Tour, Clerisy Press, p. 113