Sorority Adding Life To Historic Cheney House

‘You can almost feel the house saying, ‘Finally somebody is doing something,”’ said Alpha Phi sorority house manager Roxie Bajema.

Bajema was discussing how years of neglect and deterioration are being reversed in the David Lowe home, one of Cheney’s oldest and best-known residences.

The Queen Anne-style house at 306 F St. was built in 1904 by Lowe, a pioneer farmer.

In July, the sorority purchased the home, which is about two blocks from Showalter Hall on the Eastern Washington Univerity campus.

The Lowe home has been on the National Historic Register nine years and soon may also be on Cheney’s Historic Register, said sorority spokeswoman Lisa Julson.

The house exterior is being restored and rebuilt, while the interior of the house is being renovated to accommodate 20 residents.

Improvements have included insulation, upgrading the three bathrooms and finishing the basement.

Julson said the sorority was fortunate because the beautiful woodwork, stained glass windows and other period details in the house were in good shape. More improvements will be made as the budget allows, she said.

The renovation has added more than $100,000 to the purchase price of “around $170,000,” said Julson, adding that the sorority received help from the Alpha Phi International Women’s Fraternity in purchasing the house.

Seventeen of the sorority’s 51 members now live in the five-bedroom home.

Stacey Gurley, 23, a senior, had shared an apartment with two sorority sisters. She likes the Lowe house better.

“You get to know everyone a lot better. It’s a sense of family,” she said.

While conditions are a bit crowded, it’s easy to “adjust sleeping habits and screen out noises,” Gurley said. “You have to accept that others have different schedules, but you knew this moving into the house.”

The large restoration project is not the only obstacle the sorority has faced. For years, neighborhood homeowners have been at odds with fraternities in the area, and in 1990 the Cheney Planning Commission created the “membership lodging” or “Greek overlay” zone designed to contain and regulate traffic, noise and other activities.

Because the Lowe house is just outside the overlay zone, a conditional-use permit from the Planning Commission was required. The conditions regulate activities and require that the structure be maintained to keep it on the historic registers.

Julson said the sorority wants to maintain good relations with the neighbors and has invited them to informational meetings. She emphasized that the sorority has strict rules prohibiting smoking, alcohol and drugs and regulating parties and gatherings in the house.

Neighbor Margret Fischer, whose family has owned the house across the street for 67 years, admitted that at first she dreaded the idea of a sorority moving in, but there have been no problems other than parking - a problem in all areas around the EWU campus.

The sorority has graveled an area behind the house and is working to comply with the requirement of providing one parking space for each resident.

Fischer said it was good to have a group in the house that has not only the desire but the resources to restore the house.

Julson said interior renovations will be completed this month and an open house is scheduled for Nov. 3.