November 6, 2008 in Voices

New life for old Cheney home

Volunteers sought to restore gothic revival-style residence

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Lisa Leinberger photo

Susan Beeman, administrative assistant in the Community Development Department, shows off some old wiring found in the Sterling-Moorman House.
(Full-size photo)(All photos)

It’s a house that was built in Cheney about the same time the city was incorporated. It has seen Cheney’s good times and bad since the 19th century.

The Sterling-Moorman house is a small structure that now stands at 304 Second St. It was moved there in 2006 after the land it once occupied was purchased by a developer. The developer had plans to demolish the building, but he gained an appreciation for the house and donated it to the city.

He even delayed his project for two years while the city found the means to move the house.

It was built in either 1883 or 1884 by Frank Sterling, a local cabinetmaker. His wife, Isabella, owned the property.

“It may have been in Isabella’s name as a protection against creditors,” said Susan Beeman, administrative assistant in the Community Development Department.

The architectural style is gothic revival, which is characterized by its symmetrical lines and pointed windows. Beeman and Bettye Hull, the chair of the Cheney Historical Preservation Commission said it is the only example of gothic revival in Cheney.

“It’s just a good example of just a working man’s home,” Hull said.

The house is only 1,200 square feet, 900 of them are the first floor. The bedrooms have low, slanted ceilings and are just big enough to fit a bed. The wooden floor still has sardine cans that had been flattened and nailed to the floor to cover the knotholes in the wood that was milled locally to build the house.

Beeman said underneath the floorboards, you can see the hew marks on the beams from the original builder. The hinges on the doors are original and the door knobs were placed much lower on the doors, probably to accommodate children who lived in the house, or because when the house was built, people were shorter than they are today.

The wallpaper is peeling and the inside needs some work, but much of the original craftsmanship is intact.

“This house is sturdy,” Beeman said.

The city and the Historical Preservation Commission are now looking for volunteers to help restore the house and turn it into a branch of the Cheney Museum. The groups are also in line for an $87,000 grant from the state to help with the project.

As with many grants, matching funds will be required to get the grant. The groups are looking for donations, holding fundraisers for the project and can also incorporate volunteer hours as part of those matching funds. One of the fundraisers will be bricks people can buy with their names engraved on them. That sale should start soon.

Volunteers interested in historical research, have carpentry or electrical skills, or anyone who is willing to learn will be accepted.

“If somebody has an interest, we’ll find something for them to do,” Beeman said. She added that applications for volunteers are available on the city’s Web site or in the Community Development office.

The city recently received an $8,000 grant that was used to hire an architect to design blueprints for restoration. The house will be restored to match what homes would have looked like before World War I, and the furniture that will be placed in the home will most likely match that as well.

“They didn’t cram houses with furniture then,” Hull said.

Beeman said the architect who designed the blueprints, Earnest Robeson, gave them tips about paint color and what the house may have looked like in its original form. She said that it’s mostly an educated guess.

She has noticed there are many layers of wallpaper sagging from the walls and hopes a volunteer would be interested in doing some research to see what kind of wallpaper would have been common in a working man’s house during the very early years of the 20th century.

Beeman estimates that the project should take two or three years to complete and should cost something in the neighborhood of $165,000, which includes the value of the house.

The city should have another couple of days for volunteers to work on the house this fall, probably before the snow flies or it gets too cold, since the house isn’t hooked up to electricity.

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