Bird-watcher’s bliss at Iowa City home

Tucked into a steep hillside in the historic Manville Heights neighborhood of Iowa City is an unsuspecting but beautiful midcentury modern.

Home to Nancy Lynch, 75, this 1959 design by Henry Fisk — a prominent Iowa City architect known for his midcentury modern designs — will be one of eight historic homes to be featured on Iowa City's Friends of Historic Preservation (FHP) 2017 Parade of Historic Homes on May 28.

Every year, FHP selects a historic neighborhood in Iowa City to showcase the city's unique heritage and architecture for their annual parade, which also serves as their largest fundraiser each year, supporting their ability to promote, protect and assist neighborhoods more than 50 years old, a news release said. This year, the Parade will focus on Fisk's designs in Manville and River Heights, two sought-after neighborhoods within walking distance of downtown Iowa City and the University of Iowa's Hospitals and Clinics.

Lynch's 2,600 square foot home features three bedrooms and three bathrooms, a four-season heated sunroom — where Lynch likes to surround herself with plants in the winter to 'not get depressed from all the snow,' she said — an updated kitchen and a lower level recreation room with a wood-burning fireplace, home theater and even an indoor sauna.

While the interior boasts all these incredible features, you wouldn't know it from the outside. The home, sitting atop a hill on Park Road, blends into its wild wooded surroundings — just the way Lynch likes it.

'I like houses that fit into their environment,' she said.

When she bought the home seven years ago, Lynch said she didn't care for the mint green exterior paint. After driving the neighborhood to get a feel for a more cohesive color, she chose a neutral brown that helped it blend with the branches and the natural landscape around it, she said.

'It doesn't stand out, so you can feel like you're part of the habitat,' she continued.

The home sits atop a steep hill surrounded by natural wildflowers and shady trees, habitat to a variety of critters, from deer that snack on her hostas — or as she puts it, the 'deer cafeteria' — to foxes, hawks, bald eagles, owls, songbirds and more.

An avid bird-watcher, Lynch said her favorite part of her home is the big picture windows lining the backside of the house, which frame the extraordinary view into her backyard and allow her to view wildlife from nearly any room in the home.

When she first toured the home in 2010 — after deciding to downsize after her husband's death in 2009 — it was the windows that sold her. She said she walked into the living room with her daughter, saw the view from the windows, turned to her and said 'I could live here.'

Besides providing a great view, the windows — as well as light tubes throughout the home that pull natural light from the ceiling — flood the home with illumination.

On featuring her home for the first time in a Parade of Homes, Lynch said she's excited to show a home 'left as natural as possible' in a neighborhood where 'all the houses look different,' she said.

FHP's 2017 Parade of Homes also will feature the Ned Ashton House — listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001 — and the recently registered Albert Henry Byfield House, as well as other homes designed by Fisk throughout the neighborhood.

[naviga:h3 style="padding-left: 30px;"]IF YOU GO

What: Friends of Historic Preservation (FHP) 2017 Parade of Homes

When: noon to 4 p.m. May 28

Where: Manville Heights and River Heights neighborhoods, Iowa City

Cost: $10 for FHP members, $15 for non-members

Tickets: www.ic-fhp.orgl

Details: FHP's largest annual fundraiser, the Parade of Homes, will this year focus on homes designed by prominent Iowa City architect Henry Fisk in the Manville and River Heights neighborhoods, including the National Register listed Ned Ashton House, the Byfield House and others. For more information, visit www.ic-fhp.org. The annual Parade highlights the unique characteristics of historic homes and outstanding qualities of historic neighborhoods throughout Iowa City and supports FHP's ability to promote, protect and assist neighborhoods more than 50 years old, as well as sustain the Salvage Barn at the East Side Recycling Center, which has diverted tons of waste from the landfill over the past 25 years.

l Comments: (319) 398-8364; elizabeth.zabel@thegazette.com