The Lindsay House is a historic building located in
Iowa City, Iowa
Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the tim ...
, United States. It was listed, misspelled as the Linsay House, on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 1977.
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.[ with ] 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. The house was subsequently divided into apartments, and in 2005 became a 10-bedroom unit of the River City Housing Collective.
It is perhaps most famous as the model for the
boarding house in the
comic strip ''
Bloom County
''Bloom County'' is an American comic strip by Berkeley Breathed which originally ran from December 8, 1980, until August 6, 1989. It examined events in politics and culture through the viewpoint of a fanciful small town in Middle America, whe ...
'', and where the strip is partially set.
Berkeley Breathed
Guy Berkeley "Berke" Breathed (; born June 21, 1957) is an American cartoonist, children's book author, director, and screenwriter, known for his comic strips ''Bloom County'', '' Outland'', and '' Opus''. ''Bloom County'' earned Breathed the Pu ...
, who wrote the comic strip, 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”.
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]
See also
*List of George Franklin Barber works
The following is a chronological list of buildings designed by late-19th- and early-20th-century catalog architect, George Franklin Barber (1854–1915). Barber is best known for his houses, but also designed churches, barns, and storefronts.
...
References
{{NRHP in Iowa City, Iowa
Houses completed in 1893
Queen Anne architecture in Iowa
Houses in Iowa City, Iowa
National Register of Historic Places in Iowa City, Iowa
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa