Old museum to return to period home concept

nhytrek@siouxcityjournal.com

Once the Sioux City Public Museum has moved into its new downtown site, its home for the past 50 years will return to its roots.

The Peirce Mansion, which has housed the museum since 1961, will return to a period home concept that will be available for receptions, parties, meetings and other functions.

“It will have a different flavor to it. We’ve had some interest already from people wanting to have their weddings here,” Museum Director Steve Hansen said.

The Victorian-era mansion at 2901 Jackson St. was built in 1891 by real estate developer John Peirce. It was sold and occupied by many families over the years until 1958, when the Junior League of Sioux City purchased the house for $10,000 and donated it in 1959 to the City of Sioux City for use as a cultural building.

Once converted back into a period home, the mansion, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, will be under the operation of the Sioux City Museum and Historical Association.

“It will loosely be under our umbrella,” Hansen said.

Hansen said the mansion’s conversion will begin once the museum has vacated it in March. Hansen said preliminary plans call for restoring the second-floor bedrooms and filling them with furniture from the 1890s time period. The third floor will be available to rent for special occasions. It should be available for rentals sometime this summer, Hansen said, but the complete conversion may take longer than that.

Some of the museum’s collection of Victorian-era furniture likely will remain in the mansion to help return that residential feel to it. Hansen said the new museum will have information directing visitors to the Peirce Mansion if they want to see a furnished Victorian-era home.

Hansen has mixed feelings about leaving the Peirce Mansion. The stained-glass windows and pleasant view from his third-story office will be missed, he said, but it’s hard to compare with having a new, state-of-the-art museum.

“It’s time to move on. The museum outgrew this facility decades ago,” he said. “It’s a great old mansion, but where we’re going is going to be better in so many ways.”