100-year-old Victorian is dream home for Guetersloh family years ago
Staff writer
After growing up in historic Fort Scott, Vicki Guetersloh knew someday she wanted to live in a big home with plenty of history.
Vicki's wish came true in 1994 when she and husband Todd purchased the imposing Victorian home located at 115 N. Fourth, in one of the oldest parts of Marion.
"When I was very young we lived in a big home in Fort Scott," Vicki recalled. "The government forced the sale of it to build a post office. Historic homes weren't valued then."
Over the years, Vicki grew to appreciate the role historic homes and structures play within each community.
"My sister and I would conduct tours on the fort," Vicki said. "I have a love for old things. I like to take nothing and turn it into something."
And the outside of the Gueterslohs' Marion home is indeed something. With its polychrome paint scheme of mountain berry (red), golden gate (yellow), and hunter's hollow (green), the home's painted lady style is an attention-getter. Color is not only predominant outside, but inside as well. Vibrant colors give the various rooms warmth and personality.
"When people were here on the Christmas tour one thing I heard people say over and over was 'she's not afraid of color'," Vicki recalled. The home was one of several featured earlier this month in the Marion Chamber of Commerce Christmas home tour.
Dressed in holiday style, the home is decorated throughout. This year the family put up 12 Christmas trees including one which soars to the ceiling in the living room. Vicki said she and the family, including her mother, Mary Lynn Stevenson of Fort Smith, Ark., did all the decorating.
"Mom was the chamber executive in Fort Scott and she was always decorating homes for their holiday tours," Vicki said. "Mom is a decorating committee in herself."
100-year-old home
If walls could talk, the Gueterslohs' home would have many tales to tell. During its 100-year life span the mission-style Victorian has had more than 40 owners, was a mortuary, an osteopathic hospital, an apartment house, a home decorating business, and a private residence.
The land the home sits on dates from the earliest days of Marion. Back in 1866, the U.S. Land office sold the land to Nelson Miller for $2, according to information provided by Vicki. In 1871, Miller donated the tract to the City of Marion Centre.
After a slew of owners, the two lots were purchased in 1903 by Jeremiah Forney. Construction of the Victorian home began the following year in 1904. After Forney's death in 1938, the house and two lots were given to his eight children. Sometime during this latter period the house was used as a mortuary, according to Vicki's records.
The property was sold again in 1944. Those owners divided half of one lot and built a small mother-in-law house directly behind the big house. Today, the divided lot and small house remain, but are not owned by the Gueterslohs.
Sometime afterward, the house was divided into apartments. In fact, when the Gueterslohs purchased the home tenants still resided there.
Returning the home to a single family dwelling, the Gueterslohs removed walls and doors from the second floor. Theoretically, the third floor could be used as an apartment since it still has a kitchenette, although the sink and stove are not hooked up, Todd said.
"We use it as a family room for the kids," Vicki explained. "When they have friends over, they're up here."
As far as Victorian homes go, the Gueterslohs' home is considered "simple."
"This is a mission-era Victorian which means it doesn't have as much pomp and fluff as most," Vicki explained. "It has strong, simple lines and is very functional."
Since this particular Victorian lacks much of the standard ornamentation, the Gueterslohs decided to accent the few details it did possess using paint.
"On Old Settlers' Day in 1995 Charles Muse came by (the son of a former owner) and shared some of his stories about living in the house," Vicki said. "He also provided photos showing what the house had looked like before slate siding was added. That gave us the inspiration for the paint.
The Gueterslohs removed the slate, replaced some of the cedar siding, and had Marion High School art teacher Jim Versch turn the exterior into a "painted lady," in other words, using multiple paint colors to draw attention to various design elements.
Besides providing inspiration for the exterior, Muse said his family converted the third floor into an apartment for his grandmother. He also recalled during the big flood of 1951, water came up to the piano keys in the parlor.
"You can also see areas on the first floor walls where the water was," Vicki noted.
Unique features
The house provides plenty of room for the Guetersloh family, which includes Adam, a senior at Marion High; Isaac, a sophomore; Chris, a seventh grader at Marion Middle School; Sarah, a sixth grader at Marion Elementary; a dog named Xena, a cat named Cleo, a gerbel, and a fish tank.
The home features three bathrooms, six potential bedrooms — four on the second floor and two on the third floor, one modern kitchen on the first floor plus the third-floor kitchenette, dining room, living room, office, a full basement with seven and one-half foot ceilings, additional attic space above the third floor, and 38 windows.
One of the second floor rooms serves as the family's laundry and craft room. A back staircase with a decorative painted runner, painstakingly created by Vicki provides direct access to the kitchen. Initially, the back staircase was used by servants.
The first floor kitchen, painted in a sunny yellow, is a blending of old and new with modern appliances tucked in next to original cabinetry. A standout feature of the room is the tiled eating bar which Vicki and the children created. A beautiful stained-glass piece, made by Todd's father, Glenn Geutersloh, hangs in the window. Glenn also refinished and "reclaimed" the huge wooden dining table featured in the dining room.
"Dad is a master woodsman," Todd explained. "He has made quite a few things for us around the house."
A wrap-around porch accents the front of the house. Guests enter the front door into a breezeway which shows the remains of a Chinese- inspired wall mural depicting ships sailing on water. Unique stenciling can be seen on the ceiling. Stenciling also can be seen on other ceilings in the house.
The breezeway enters into the foyer which provides access to the living room, dining room, office, and kitchen. The foyer also contains the formal staircase leading to the second floor.
The first floor wood floors all have a unique pattern, with some rooms featuring octagonal borders.
Unlike many Victorian homes which featured ornate fireplaces, this particular Marion home never used the fireplace as its heating source.
"It was heated with a modern coal furnace," Vicki said. "Later it was converted to forced air heat. It really worked well."
Today the home is climate controlled by central heat and air, except for the third floor which is cooled by a window unit.
The 100-year-old home also was built with one original indoor bathroom on the second floor, which still exists. A former first floor butler's pantry has been converted into a bathroom.
"It is thought this was also a pass-through from the kitchen to the former dining area," Vicki said.
The family moved the dining room to the front of the home. The former dining room is used as a family office. Functioning pocket doors between the living room and office come in handy when the rooms need to be closed off, Vicki said.
A work in progress
Todd said he always had lived in more modern homes and wasn't totally sold on the idea of renovating a historic home. However, he gives all the credit for the home's improvements to his wife's hard work and creativity — even though he didn't always agree with every project.
"There were times I was not happy, but everything turned out all right," Todd said with a laugh.
"He never knew what I'd be doing when he came home," Vicki added.
"She can see the potential a lot more than I can," Todd responded.
Initially, the home's main kitchen was decorated in varying shades of pink and had an old circle carpet on the floor.
"I took layers and layers of tile and flooring off — about one-and-a-half inches worth," Vicki recalled. "Then we found a hole in the floor where they used to drain the bodies when the home was a mortuary."
Finding the original walls also proved to be similar to an archeological dig.
"The house had layer upon layer of wallpaper and carpeting," Todd said. "It had wallpaper on the ceilings too."
The Gueterslohs removed eight layers of wallpaper from the second floor walls. The final one came from the "Chicago Paper Company" with a date of 1930.
"Many projects haven't been finished yet. I'd like to refinish the woodwork, redo all the wooden floors, get rid of the cottage cheese ceilings, and put back the ornate lighting fixtures," Vicki said. "The tenants took them down and put up ceiling fans. They're great for moving the air, but I'd like to have the original fixtures."
Vicki also plans to restore all the ceilings to their ornate original form, complete with the stenciling.
Todd would like to see the home's electrical and plumbing systems all redone.
"It would be nice to tear it out and do all new," he said. "The basement is a hodgepodge of wiring."
Although the Gueterslohs say they have plenty of renovation work yet to do, they are pleased with what they've accomplished and are pleased to call Marion home.
"When we came to Marion we were looking to get away from Wichita," Todd said. "Our neighborhood was beginning to get so gang-infested."
"We looked and looked before we found any place affordable," Vicki recalled. "One day I saw this house in a real estate ad in the Wichita paper and fell in love immediately."
True to the Christmas season, Vicki said the home reminded her of the one depicted in "It's A Wonderful Life," one of her favorite movies.
"I love how Mary (in the movie) restores that old rundown house," Vicki said.
The Gueterslohs also enjoy the small town atmosphere and are happy to have their children grow up in a safe environment.
"We're going to raise our kids here," Vicki said. "We aren't going anywhere soon."
