Preserving his memories: Cedar Rapids man honored for preservation efforts in Wellington Heights

When Bob Bembenek looks out his front window, he sees a reminder of the woman he loved.

His home sits across the street from Redmond Park on the South East side, overlooking a historic fountain. The fountain was originally in the park before being moved. Pat Crawford, one of the original founders of the Wellington Heights Association, had campaigned to have it returned to Redmond. Historic preservation was important to her, and to Bembenek.

Now, the fountain helps preserve his memories of her.

'I can look out my window at the fountain and think of Pat,” he said.

Bembenek has lived in the house since 2004 and first moved into Wellington Heights after meeting Crawford in 1997.

'I had heard all these bad things about Wellington Heights, but she was an activist in the neighborhood.

After she died in 2003, he wanted to stay in the neighborhood partly in her memory and partly because he likes its characteristics; old, unique houses full of character, young families, walkability and proximity to downtown.

He doesn't have time for the often negative opinions of the neighborhood he hears.

'People are extremely friendly and take pride in this neighborhood,” he said. 'It's just a good place to live. The neighbors, we all watch out for each other.”

His 2,080 square foot house, a duplex, was built in 1919. He currently lives in the lower unit and has a tenant in the upper unit. Inside, he has repainted woodwork and refinished the wooden floors. They are indicative, he said, of the character and solid construction he appreciates about historic homes.

'All the woodwork is older wood, stuff you can't buy today,” he said. 'The importance is in the quality of the work that went into the home originally. It's totally functional and practical.”

He has also applied for a grant from the city of Cedar Rapids Historic Preservation Commission to help him purchase indoor storm window inserts for his historic windows. They will improve energy efficiency while allowing him to preserve the original, old growth wood window frames.

'You can't buy windows like that anymore. You can't find old growth wood anymore,” he said. 'Replacing the windows would be too expensive, and they wouldn't be as good as the originals.”

The Historic Preservation Commission has already acknowledged one aspect of his preservation work; he won an award from the commission in 2016 for exterior residential paint color scheme in the Redmond/Grande Historic District. The outside of his two-story paint is in three tones; a cream for the siding, orange for the brick foundation and salmon pink on the trim and crown molding.

'It conforms to how it would have been done originally, in three colors,” he said. 'The exterior molding lends itself to creativity.”

The painting work was done in 2015 in partnership with 'A Brush with Kindness,” a Habitat for Humanity initiative that helps paint homes.

He has kept other materials original to the house as well, such as the metal kitchen sink and wood cabinets in the upper unit of the duplex.

In a way, doing the preservation work also has been a reminder of Crawford, who had lived in her grandparent's old house and restored it as a labor of love.

'I'm an old time history buff. You can feel the character in these older homes,” he said. 'It's solid, it's cozy. I'm just proud of it.”

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