Careful restorations retain historic homes

MT. PLEASANT — When a homeowner desires to renovation their kitchen, remodel their bathroom, or add onto their homes, they generally only need a good contractor, decent budget, and time. When it comes to the restoration and upkeep of older, historic homes, however, they require some extra TLC.

Christian Morey of Morey Brother’s Woodworking in Mt. Pleasant knows a thing or two about the intricate work that goes into restoring and maintaining beautiful older homes.

“I specialize in working on Victorian Era homes, but I also do general contracting and build custom furniture,” Morey said.

Morey has completed work on a variety of historic and older homes in the Mt. Pleasant area.

According to Morey, working on these older beloved homes requires continually learning.

“These houses are no longer being made and most of the techniques or plans for many details are gone,” he said. “Either the plans were destroyed, burned, or just fell apart with time and age.”

So, to preserve the history of these homes, Morey often finds he must first learn their history.

“I have to learn how Great Grandpa or his boss did stuff back in the day,” he shared. “There's some research that has to go into it.”

Morey gives an examples of working on a drip rail, which he defines as a “bump out” just above the foundation where the siding begins.

“So actually how it's designed is to keep water from getting near the foundation,” Morey said. “When you get to something like [the drip rail], it's either rotted or it has been replaced with an incorrect part.”

“You have to try to find a good strap piece to base your measurements off of or you have to try to find schematics,” he said.

Sometimes Morey finds that he must utilize different books or older photos as a basis for a new piece.

“ … or sometimes you can find a different home built by the same architect and you can base your work off of those plans,” he said. “So yeah, there is a little research that goes into it.”

While Morey is not traditionally trained in this work, he says he has learned a lot in “the school of hard knock” and “just trial and error.”

About 14 years ago, he began his adventure into woodworking and expanded his knowledge and experience as friends would reach out to him.

“I’ve had friends say, ‘Hey, could you build me this,’” Morey said. “Or they’d say, ‘Could you replace this spindle for a porch?’ or maybe repair a chair or stuff like that, and it just kind of snowballed from there.”

Morey experiences the excitement of solving the “how-to” for many homes in Henry County.

“In the past I had a customer call for work on their house which was either a 1920s or 1930s era house,” Morey shared. “ They asked me to work on the front door.”

“The panel had cracked and literally was letting bugs and air in,” he said. “I got a hold of the door and everything, and I actually worked one a few other doors, too, but I practically dismantled the entire thing.”

“I got everything fixed up, a new panel made and then refinished it and all,” he said.

Some of Morey’s other work consist of refinishing a stair banister and rail in the Harlan Lincoln House on Iowa Wesleyan campus.

According to the Harlan Lincoln House website it is “ … a museum of local, state, and national significance. Its Italianate architecture and warm yellow hue welcome visitors from both near and far to the corner of Main Street and Broad Street in Mount Pleasant, Iowa.”

Another noteworthy home that displays Morey’s handiwork includes the Van Allen House.

According to the Henry County Heritage Trust, this house was once the boyhood home of famed astrophysicist James A. Van Allen.

Morey put his skills to work reglazing and repairing all the home’s storm and main level windows. He also refinished the main doors of the house.

Recently, he did exterior painting work on a Barber House, and already plans to do additional paint work on the home later this year.

“The owners of that house also commissioned me to make two authentic wooden grate for some air registers,” Morey said.

“That house was designed by George barber. So that was an architect that lived in Tennessee, and he had designed kind of those,” he said. “I describe them as like a gingerbread style home.”

While Morey said that there are a number of characteristic that set Barber Houses apart, “the biggest thing is the very bright colors.”

“They’re usually done in three or four different colors to offset everything,” he said.

According to Morey there are many other Barber Houses in Mt. Pleasant including the Ball House located on West Monroe Street.

Currently, Morey works on a challenging project of constructing a specialty dining tablet made of solid walnut.

“It's about a four foot by eight foot in the tabletop dimension, but also its legs are a stacked, spherical design,” Morey described. “It really kind of pushed me to try out one of my new tools.”

While Morey has work booked out for most of the year, his next project will include work on a Civil War era home.

Among other work, he will create “new columns for this house’s front porch and work on beadboard for its ceilings.”

Despite a relatively booked schedule, Morey always invites new challenges and encourages those needing his expertise to reach out via phone at (319) 931-2684 or email at moreychristian6517@gmail.com

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com