When the old Swift house at 191 Highway 22 in Riverside was put up for auction by sealed bids in 2021 after it went back to the bank, it was in a sad state of disrepair.
Originally, the …
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When the old Swift house at 191 Highway 22 in Riverside was put up for auction by sealed bids in 2021 after it went back to the bank, it was in a sad state of disrepair.
Originally, the house was built by Edward Swift, who emigrated to America in 1844 from County Cork, Ireland. He settled in Iowa as a farmer and his sons started a brick making business in Riverside.
The Swift Bros. Brick Yard in 1883 claimed, “You can get a brick house for the same money as a frame one.” The yard employed up to 20 men from 1870 to 1910 and they produced one million bricks a year at the height of production.
Previous owner Kim Lojek had tried restoring the house with her father until he developed heart problems and then cancer. He passed away, leaving her on her own to continue. She hoped that renovating the house would spark interest in preserving Riverside’s past for the future; she noted, “Once it is gone, it is gone forever.” But that was not to be.
This is where the story takes a turn. Dave and Lisa Brown live west of Wellman and did a rehab job on the house they live in now. Dave saw the Swift property advertised and was intrigued.
The Browns run two companies, one construction and the other Chief Investments, a real estate enterprise. Dave has worked to rehab five or six other houses in the Washington and Wellman areas, but not one with the challenges of the Swift house in Riverside.
Brown wasn’t hopeful about actually getting the bid, because even though he had looked at it and knew the work it would take to restore it, there were a lot of out-of-state people also interested in the house.
There was a hole in the roof on the backside that had not been closed in 10-15 years and the main floor had sunk three feet due to water damage. But Brown always felt the place was special and that it had a potential and history that shouldn’t be lost.
He was surprised when he found out he was the new owner.
Work began on the outside, where the back sections of the house had to be removed. For the last two years this has been slow work. Then over 40 loads of dirt were trucked out to remove the slope that led right into the back side of the building. It was leveled and graded to reroute water so it would flow off the hillside behind the house and not into the basement.
Although Brown has done much of the work himself and with one employee, he admits building costs have risen a lot in the last couple years. There is no way to economize on the contract plumbing or wiring work he has had done, and materials costs have skyrocketed.
On one occasion while working on the house, he had an unusual visitor.
“A Lexus pulled up to the curb and the man driving turned out to be a descendent of the man who built the house,” Brown said.
That man was Monty Swift, and he was relieved to find the house was being worked on.
“When we heard about the damage that occurred to the house, I was afraid the next contractor was just going to tear it all down and start from the ground up,” Swift said.
Brown continued working on the house, pouring a foundation for the new addition built on the back. This includes a bathroom and open kitchen on the main floor, and a bedroom and bath upstairs on the second level.
On both levels you can see where the old ends and the new begins. The old ceilings were removed and opened up to their original height. Much of the trim, chimney brickwork and old doors have been preserved. One of the finest features of the old house is its carved staircase, and that is still solid. When completed, the house will have four bedrooms and two bathrooms.
Brown hopes to have the work on the Swift house done by the end of this year, although the landscaping may not be finished by then and he wants it to reflect the home’s heritage as well.
He and his wife haven’t decided exactly what the future of the house will be, but it is enough for now that the historic home will in fact have one.
