New owners in step with history of early Turner funeral home

CEDAR RAPIDS — A wraparound porch on the front and a wraparound deck on the back reflect the way this historic Mound View home wraps around the past while embracing the present.

Built in 1900 by mortuary magnate John Bissell Turner, this stately structure now measuring 2,910 square feet, thanks to a 1993 family room addition, is home to Amy Rehnstrom and Cathy Steen, four corgis and 3.62 rescue cats missing various body parts.

It's big enough that Steen's tween son and daughter have their own rooms when they visit, and Rehnstrom's Theatre Cedar Rapids friends can gather for raucous game nights.

The peppy pooches even have their own quiet room, with kennel quarters opening to the kitchen and living room via beveled glass doors. The dogs are more than happy, however, to augment the doorbell to announce the arrival of guests. The cats have the run of the two-story house that's up the street from Coe College and the former Polk Elementary School.

The basement and insulated attic are unfinished. But contrary to common practice, the washer and dryer aren't housed in the cellar that sported embalming pipes until an early 1990s overhaul.

Laundry facilities are conveniently tucked away on the second floor, between the bedrooms and guest bath, much to the new owners' delight. The furnace and air conditioning are new in the past 10 years, and out back lies a three-stall garage and a backyard big enough for entertaining.

Everything about the house is a dream come true for Rehnstrom and Steen, who closed on the deal July 24, 2015, with a full-asking offer of $141,900.

It was love at first sight for the structure being sold 'as is,' but needing nothing from the couple except their furniture and personalities.

'We really thought this was going to be a money pit, with just beautiful finishes on top,' said Rehnstrom, who saw the house in a listing one of her Kirkwood colleagues posted on Facebook. With her curiosity piqued, she and Steen contacted their bank, 'just in case,' then took Realtor-friend Karl Hoffman over to investigate.

'When we walked in, all three of us were shocked,' she said. 'There was nothing wrong with it. Nothing.'

Steen echoed that.

'I just knew right away,' she said. 'It wasn't anything specific. It's just the style, the colors — everything about (the) decorating just drew me.'

They made an offer immediately, and haven't looked back.

OLD MEETS NEW

'The finishes are excellent,' Rehnstrom said, quickly adding that she can take no credit for the neutral, yet punchy palette, where warm taupes cozy up to sage with a hint of lime in the midcentury game room, opposite a dramatic dark gray in the parlor and adjoining living room, separated by white pillars.

White woodwork trims most of the rooms and highlights such period details as bull's-eye rosettes on interior door frames, while other pieces, like the decorative front door, are painted black.

Fireplaces throughout are more decorative these days, but some have been converted to cold-air returns. The family room features a new wood-burning fireplace, while the one in the master bedroom upstairs looks like it's burning a real fire, but is an electric insert that's just for show and doesn't put out any heat. It does put on quite a show, however, dancing within the massive, gorgeous wooden fireplace surround.

Decorative woodwork adorns every facet of this grande dame.

Refinished hardwood floors run from the front door, past the parlor, living room and game room, between the new butler's pantry and powder room, and on through the upgraded galley-style kitchen, which is Steen's domain.

It's a cook's delight, featuring an oversize island housing a double sink, trash compactor, dishwasher and enough space on the black granite countertop to accommodate seating, homework and food preparation. Lining the back wall are a chef's stove with a pot-filler faucet, stainless steel refrigerator and ample cupboards in warm wood tones, mirroring the floor.

Wood flooring reigns upstairs, as well, and makes the master bath a stunning surprise. Half the of the en suite showcases the claw foot tub, while on the other side of a partition lies a large three-corner shower, modern lavatory and toilet.

HISTORIC TIES

Old meets new in nearly every room in this house that served as an early funeral home, when Turner was at the forefront of moving the deceased from family home-viewings to dedicated funeral home parlors.

That history could not suit Rehnstrom better. Now a professor of forensic science and microbiology at Kirkwood Community College, she explored the funeral business early on. For a couple of summers and winter breaks during high school and college, she served as a funeral hostess and worked behind the scenes at Cedar Memorial, which bought the John B. Turner and Sons funeral home business in 1978. She worked there by day and at Tastee Freez at night.

ART

That kind of quirky dichotomy fuels her individuality and is reflected in her home decor. Luckily, it also suits Steen, who serves as a part-time police office in West Branch and is an adjunct professor of criminal justice at Kirkwood.

'Cathy just rolls her eyes and lets me decorate how I want,' Rehnstrom said. 'Here's the way I approach it. I want to be surrounded by things that make me feel good.'

At first glance, visitors see lovely drawings, paintings and ceramic pieces. Looks can be deceiving.

The parlor and adjoining living room feature subtle touches like a blood-spatter throw blanket, a replica human skull that recently sported a Santa hat, and a gift of a windup man in an electric chair, made by an Anamosa State Penitentiary inmate.

These items aren't bathed in a spotlight. Visitors have to look pretty closely to see them, although Rehnstrom is happy to point them out. And at first glance, the wall sconces in the midcentury game room just look arty and twisty. Upon closer inspection, their DNA double helix designs jump out.

What doesn't jump out is ghosts. Rehnstrom said she's been told ghosts don't hang around mortuaries, since that's not a happy memory for them.

What does jump out is the dramatic painting of angels blowing trumpets, clinging to the ceiling where the main staircase takes a big turn. The former homeowner commissioned the artwork, which the current homeowners wouldn't dream of replacing.

Rehnstrom thinks part of the reason their offer was so swiftly accepted is the partners' dedication to preserving the home's history — as well as her connection to the Turner history.

Even though the house is the jewel of its block — a painted lady tastefully dressed in muted red, green and gold — it nestles nicely with its neighbors in an area where Grant Wood, his grandparents and other relatives resided, as well as many of the people pictured in his paintings. Turner's son, David, who lived in the next block, became Wood's benefactor.

It's appropriate that art still lives here

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• If you've recently remodeled your home or built a new home in the Corridor area, The Gazette would like to feature it in our Sunday Home section. Send an email to Features/Hoopla Editor Teresa Thorpe at teresa.thorpe@thegazette.com.