Time Machine: Cherry Residence

CEDAR RAPIDS - There was a holiday party and housewarming Dec. 29, 1902, at Mr. and Mrs. Upton C. Blake's handsome new home at the corner of 18th Street and First Avenue.

More than 150 guests were invited. An orchestra played for guests on the second balcony of the main hall on the way to the third-floor ballroom. The Evening Gazette described the event as 'the first large social entertainment in the beautiful new house which, though exceedingly homelike in every respect, is admirably arranged for entertaining.”

Upton Blake, a lawyer who came to Cedar Rapids in 1868 at the urging of George Bever, was active in Cedar Rapids baseball and horse racing associations and founded the city's Scottish Rite. He married Ellen Bever, daughter of banker Sampson C. Bever. The pair had two daughters, Genevieve and Georgie, and a son, James.

Built on land that once was part of Bever Farm, the Blakes' home was a frequent site for social gatherings. In addition to the ballroom, guests were entertained in the library and dining room and on the large east porch furnished with rugs, chairs, divans, palms and ferns.

Less than five years after the housewarming, the home hosted the wedding of the Blakes' oldest daughter, Genevieve, to William Henry Sutherland. It was described as 'a simple home wedding,” although 300 invitations had been issued. The social events that usually accompanied upper-class weddings were eschewed, however, because of the recent death of Genevieve's uncle, John B. Bever.

Upton Blake died from tuberculosis in November 1916 at his home. Ellen Blake, who always wintered in California, died on a train in California in April 1919. Funeral services for her were held June 1, 1919, in the Blake home. The Blakes are buried in Oak Hill Cemetery.

The task of selling the now-empty Blake home at 1743 First Ave. SE fell to their only son, James Elliott Blake. He found buyers in industrialist Walter L. Cherry and his wife, Laura White Cherry. The sale cost Cherry '$1 and valuable consideration.” At the same time, Walter Cherry sold his home on D Avenue to J.G. Cherry Co. for '$1 and valuable consideration.”

The Cherry family lived in the house until 1929, when they moved to Chicago, but the property from then on was referred to as the 'Cherry residence.” The imposing reception hall and grand staircase leading to the ballroom were used often while the Cherrys lived there.

Bess Farris owned the house in the 1940s, turning it into apartments. She and her husband, C.E. Farris, lived in one of them. In 1950, she got permission from the city's Board of Adjustment to divide the property into two lots. The new lot's address became 105 18th St. SE, and the house built there became the home of the Farris' daughter and son-in-law. The parcel with the Cherry house retained the First Avenue address, but its backyard was shortened to 21 feet.

When the city relaxed building requirements in the face of a housing shortage after World War II, apartments were crafted out of the home's third-floor ballrooms and basement areas.

The Cherry house and the 18th Street house were bought by Dr. H. Lloyd Miller as an investment in 1956.

On Feb. 12, 1962, a fire gutted the Cherry house. By then it had been divided into nine apartments, including an illegal one in the basement.

Arthur Platt, who bought the building in August 1961, said that while his wife was at work, he took their dog for a walk. When he returned around 8 p.m., he opened a side door, and smoke poured out, driving him back. He ran around the house to try to get tenants out. Hearing screams from the back porch, he ran to the backyard and saw two women and their children on the porch roof. With a ladder and the help of several passers-by, Platt got them to safety.

Firefighters tried to get to the source of the fire in the basement while others aimed streams of water through windows. Shortly afterward, gas lines in the basement exploded, ripping the rear porch from the house. Gas from the ruptured lines fed the flames. Leaded glass windows shattered from the heat. Flames leapt from room to room until they reached the ballroom. A ball of flame burst through the roof, and wind fanned the flames.

Outside, the gas main valve was covered with ice. Men chopped at the ice to turn off the gas feeding the fire in the basement.

By 10:30 p.m., the fire was under control, but the upper stories had collapsed into the first floor, and the basement still was hot with glowing embers. Firefighters continued to pour water over the ruins until 2 a.m.

By then, 4 feet of water filled the basement, and only charred walls remained standing. Platt estimated the loss at $110,000.

A sign on the front porch pillar survived. It read, 'Apartment for Rent.”

After the fire, Platt began petitioning the city to change the property's zoning designation and grant a special permit to construct an office building. Nothing came of the rezoning request for the rest of the year, but the tax assessment on the property was changed to reflect only the value of the land and exclude the building until something was constructed on the site.

Today, 1743 First Ave. SE does not exist.