Mansion among home tour highlights
The Galva Mansion bed and breakfast will have its first floor rooms decorated and on display for the Galva Arts Council’s tour of homes on Dec. 7.
Owner and innkeeper Stephen Beasanski and his fiancée Nora Dzierwa have spent the past year restoring the Prairie Style mansion’s many rooms. The foyer and four rooms will be open for the tour and will show the considerable progress they’ve made.
Those on the tour will be able to get a good sense of the progressive design styles chosen by original owners Earl L. Yocum and his wife Mae.
The 1918 mansion has the strong horizontal lines and deep overhangs that characterize Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie Style and the American Arts and Crafts movement of the time. It fits in well with the local landscape even though the gardens and gazebo have yet to be brought back to their former glory.
The color scheme is rich and earthy. Beasanski discovered during renovation that the matted gold color they chose for the living room was not too far off of the original.
“We didn’t want too many modern colors,” stated Beasanski, “and not Victorian.”
Their choice for furniture has also been on the mark in several cases. One visitor, who had played in the house as a youngster, thought the dining room table was the same as he remembered.
“The large rooms needed large pieces,” Dzierwa said. “We wanted furniture that would fit the house. The Yocums wouldn’t go for frilly.”
The house is not purely Prairie Style; there are a few neoclassical curves and columns here and there.
“This was always a happy house,” said Nancy Beasanski, caretaker and sister to Stephen. “Children from the neighborhood were always welcome.”
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There’ll be something for nearly everyone’s taste in homes when the Galva Arts Council hosts a tour of homes on Sunday, Dec. 7, from 2 to 6 p.m. Included in the six-stop tour are:
?a new home (Jack and Pat Gregory, 813 NE 4th St.)
?a bed and breakfast (Galva Mansion Bed & Breakfast, 400 NW 9th St.)
?a stylish rural home (Ron and Teri Pankau, 3557 County Hwy 5)
?a completely renovated home (Larry Halsall, 208 NE 2nd Ave.)
a retirement facility (Galva Courtyard Estates, north end of NW 3rd Ave.)
?a church (First Baptist Church, 203 NW 4th Ave.)
Tickets will be available soon at Galva Pharmacy. Tickets can also be purchased the day of the event at the Galva Arts Council, and any stop on the tour. Cost is $8 each ($6 for Galva Arts Council members).
The day will also include two events at the Arts Council building - soup supper during the tour, and Festival of Mini Trees winners named at 6 p.m.