Debi Douma-Herren had an affinity for old homes long before she had the funds to buy one.
“My mom and I, when I was little, we would go to different towns and find different houses I would like. That was a fun thing for us,” she said. “In northwest Iowa, there’s probably an older home in every town that I’ve somewhat claimed.”
Once in a while, her mom will see one for sale and let her know it’s on the market. It’s a throwback to an amusing childhood memory.
Douma-Herren has already found a special property in Le Mars.
She bought the former Westmar College president’s home in 2007. She lives there with her husband, Tighe Herren, and three children, Bradyn, 8; Landyn, 5; and Trentyn, 10 months.
This old house has undergone extensive renovations, making it the second Douma-Herren updated for modern living in Le Mars. Her previous home, eight blocks away on Central Avenue, prepared her for what she was about to take on.
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“I got done with that and decided I wanted a new project. I walked by this house almost every day,” she said about the prairie-style home on Fourth Avenue Southeast. “I knew it had a unique history.”
She spent the better part of a day in the basement of the Plymouth County Courthouse, searching through books of property records to uncover whatever she could about the home.
She found that City Attorney Herbert S. Martin built the home in 1919. Martin later represented New York Life Insurance Company in farm foreclosures during the depression era Farmers’ Holiday movement. His health declined after a volatile auction reported by Time magazine in 1933.
Westmar College purchased the property in 1940 to use as the president's home until 1997 when it was sold by the City of Le Mars.
Dorothy Martin, the attorney’s only child who never married, kept records of the home’s early years. After she passed away in 2002, a boxful of historical documents was returned to the house.
“The previous owner was kind enough to hand it to me,” Douma-Herren said. “When I dug through it, I was very amazed at what was in there.”
She’s now the keeper of the home’s original architectural drawings by John Werling, who also designed the Carnegie Library, the current headquarters for the Le Mars Arts Council.
Douma-Herren also discovered remnants of the defunct college still in the home. A long library table had been left in the attic.
“When I brought it to the main level, I found the Western Union College stamp on the bottom,” she said. The institution’s name changed several times since it was established as the Northwestern Normal School and Business College in 1887. She refinished the library table for the family to use.
In the basement, she came across a map bearing images of the Teikyo Westmar University campus, which chronicles a brief merger with a Japanese school in 1990. She hung that relic in the home office.
Douma-Herren didn’t grow up in an old house, but she was always drawn to the charm and character of these aging abodes. Throughout college, she would collect and refinish furniture, picturing it in a place of her own.
The former college president’s home offers ample room. It has four bedrooms, including a master suite, plus a couple bonus spaces.
The sleeping porch tells of an era before home cooling systems existed. The window-lined room would allow a nice breeze on a hot summer’s night. With the advent of air conditioning, Douma-Herren converted it into her kids’ playroom.
Other unique qualities include quarter sawn oak used throughout the main floor and upstairs, coffered ceilings and a brick fireplace matching the exterior masonry used in the foundation.
Without meaning to, Douma-Herren restored the kitchen to its former glory. She started the renovation almost immediately after purchasing the house to maximize the small kitchen’s function and flow for her family.
Later, she reflected on the architect’s early 20th-century design and noticed marked similarities between the old and new cabinetry, down to hardware. Even the china hutch she picked looked like a piece that was once in the kitchen.
Douma-Herren has remained true to period-style finishing while updating the home according to modern living standards.
“I appreciate vintage and original pieces to the period of a house but also family-friendly features,” she said. “I don’t live in a museum.”
