Gwen Tombergs, right, president of the Rejuvenate Housing Inc. board of directors, is shown inside the renovated house at 527 W. 15th St., Davenport, on Tuesday, July 9. The home is the third house the group has renovated.
Bill Ashton on Tuesday, July 9, looked around the old house at 527 W. 15th St., Davenport, that just received a new life. It has new floors, windows, decks, lighting and much more. Almost everything in the 124-year-old Davenport house has been updated. “This sure looks different from when we started work on it,” said […]
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Bill Ashton on Tuesday, July 9, looked around the old house at 527 W. 15th St., Davenport, that just received a new life. It has new floors, windows, decks, lighting and much more. Almost everything in the 124-year-old Davenport house has been updated.“This sure looks different from when we started work on it,” said Mr. Ashton, an engineer who donated his services to help fix up the old home.
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This home at 527 W. 15th St., Davenport, has undergone a major renovation project. CREDIT DAVE THOMPSON
People look over the kitchen and dining area of the renovated house at 527 W. 15th St., Davenport, on Tuesday, July 9. CREDIT DAVE THOMPSON
This is the next home Rejuvenate Housing will renovate. This home is located at 516 W. 15th St. CREDIT DAVE THOMPSON
These are some of the "Before" and "After" photos on display during the open house.
This is the kitchen of the renovated house.
This is the garage to the renovated house.
The engineer was one of dozens of people to look over the home on Tuesday during an open house and tour of the home that was just renovated by Rejuvenate Housing Inc.The group is a nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing neighborhoods and promoting affordable homeownership opportunities by fixing up old, eyesore houses and making them available to new homeowners.The renovated house will soon be sold to a first-time homebuyer. The renovation project took about six months and was completed in late June.“This is stunning. It’s wonderful,” said Gwen Tombergs, president of the Rejuvenate Housing board of directors, during Tuesday’s open house. “The big goal here is to improve the neighborhood through home ownership. … We’re not in the rental business.”Before Tuesday’s gathering, which attracted members of the business community, City of Davenport officials and Rejuvenate Housing members, Ms. Tombergs said this about the project in a news release: “This renovation is a true testament to how partnerships can drive change in our community and specific neighborhoods. We couldn’t have done this without the funding assistance from the Quad Cities Housing Council, Davenport’s Extreme Dream program, financing and volunteer support from Ascentra Credit Union and landscaping materials from The Green Thumbers.”Some of the features of the renovated home include:
The two-story white house was built in 1900.
At some point in its history, the house was transformed into a rental duplex. The renovation returned the house back to a single-family house.
Partners that helped with the home renovation project include Ascentra Credit Union, the City of Davenport Extreme Dream Program, Crawford Company, Green Thumbers, Quad Cities Housing Council and Werner Investments.
The house has about 2,200 square feet, four bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms.
The house has undergone a complete remodel and has a value of $300,000, according to information from Rejuvenate Housing. Some of the new features in the home include a new HVAC system, including central air; eat-in kitchen with a stove and refrigerator; a laundry area with washer and dryer on the second floor; new flooring, windows, decks on the front and back of the house and much more.
During Tuesday’s open house, many “Before” and “After” photos were on display, showing how the house looked before renovation work and how it looks now.
Other features include an unfinished basement, and a detached two-car garage that has also been updated.
In addition to the many new features, Rejuvenate Housing officials pointed out that some original features of the home were saved to showcase the old home’s “character.” Some of those features include the wood railing for the staircase and the front door.This is the third home the Rejuvenate Housing organization has renovated since 2022. It has also fixed up old houses at 603 S. 14th St. and 514 W. 17th St.Just across the street from the house at 527 W. 15th St. is the organization’s fourth project – a vacant, two-story white house at 516 W. 15th St. which appears to be falling apart. As of Tuesday, there was a City of Davenport “Notice of Abatement” sticker on that home’s front door dated April 30. The sticker states the home’s owner needs to cut tall grass and weeds on the property.Ms. Tombergs said renovation work on that house is expected to start in the near future. The group will also turn the house into a single-family home.Other Rejuvenate Housing officials said that looking at those old homes before work starts shows the challenges the group faces, but they are up to the challenge.“It’s a little daunting when you look at these houses, and we ask ‘Can we do this?’ … But, we’ve done this work before,” said Betsy Brandgard, a member of the Rejuvenate Housing board, during Tuesday’s open house.
