Henry Wallace House facts for kids
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Henry Wallace House
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U.S. Historic district
Contributing property |
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 Location in Iowa
Location in the United States
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| Location | 756 16th St. Des Moines, Iowa |
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| Built | 1883 |
| Architectural style | Late Victorian |
| Part of | Sherman Hill Historic District (ID88001168) |
| NRHP reference No. | 93000412 |
| Added to NRHP | May 14, 1993 |
The Henry Wallace House is an old and important building in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. It was once the home of Henry Wallace, a person who worked hard to make farming better. This house is part of the Sherman Hill Historic District. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 and then listed on its own in 1993.
Contents
The Story of the Henry Wallace House
Henry Wallace was a Presbyterian minister. He moved to Iowa in 1862 with his wife, Nancy, and their daughter, Josephine. He became the editor of a newspaper called the Iowa Homestead. Henry Wallace really cared about making farming better.
Wallace's Farmer Magazine
With his sons, Henry C. and John, he started a magazine called Wallace's Farm and Dairy. This magazine later became a very important national publication called Wallace's Farmer.
Helping Farmers and Education
Henry Wallace also helped create Iowa State University. It was known as Iowa State College back then. He wanted it to be a top place for studying farming. He was even asked to be the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. But he suggested his friend, James "Tama Jim" Wilson, for the job instead.
The Wallace Family and the House
The Wallace family moved into this house in Des Moines in 1892. Josephine, their daughter, lived there until 1923. The Wallace family owned the house until 1940.
Later, in the 1950s, the house was divided into 11 apartments. It stayed that way until the early 1970s. In the 1970s, a person named Guy L. Roberts, Jr. bought the house. He started to fix it up and turn it back into a single family home.
Restoring the House
In 1988, The Wallace House Foundation bought the house. This foundation was created to buy and restore the home. In 2000, a very old oak tree on the north side of the house was named Iowa's Millennium Tree. The garden was also redesigned in 2008.
Today, The Wallace Centers of Iowa own the house. They keep it as a museum where people can visit and learn. They also use it for their own activities.
What the House Looks Like
The Henry Wallace House was built in 1883. It is designed in the Victorian-Italianate style.
Special Features of the House
The house has a porch that wraps around the building. It also has bay windows that are stacked on top of each other. There is a balcony on the second floor. Around 1895, the Wallaces changed the third floor. They added two bedrooms and a special kind of roof called a hybrid mansard/hip roof. They also added dormer windows, which stick out from the roof.
Bringing the House Back to Life
In the late 1900s, the house was restored. People used old photographs taken by Josephine Wallace to help guide the work. An architect named William Wagner, who is an expert in fixing up old buildings, made plans to bring the house back to its original look.
The house was changed a little bit to allow it to be used for different things. It now serves as a museum, office space, and a place for meetings. The Wallace family also gave some of their old furniture and historical items to be shown in the house. The pictures of Henry and Nancy Wallace that you see in the house are the original ones.
Other Places Connected to the Wallaces
Here are some other places linked to the Wallace family. They are also listed on the National Register of Historic Places:
- Catalpa, a farm near Greenfield, Iowa
- Henry C. Wallace House in Winterset, Iowa
