IOWA CITY — Save CR Heritage members joined forces for a day with Friends of Historic Preservation to work on the historic Houser-Metzger House in Iowa City.

Volunteers worked on window restoration Saturday, June 24, as a “thank you” to Friends of Historic Preservation for a special donation last year.

The Iowa City preservation group donated a staircase railing to the Cedar Rapids organization, as Save CR Heritage rehabilitated the “Frankie House” the group moved in Cedar Rapids.

Friends of Historic Preservation salvaged the staircase railing – known as a balustrade – from the former Women’s Resource and Action Center, 130 N. Madison St., before it was demolished. The balustrade was installed in the Frankie House, the 1890s Bohemian home moved by Save CR Heritage in 2015.

See the salvage day.

The Houser-Metzger House, a Late Victorian Queen Anne-style home built between 1892 and 1898, was moved in 2016 from 422 Iowa Ave. to 623 College St. to save it from demolition. The home is individually eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

Alicia Trimble, Executive Director of Friends of Historic Preservation, and board member Terry Philips led the window restoration, along with Treasurer Paul Wittau, and Save CR Heritage members Jay Vavra, Nikki Halvorson, Margaret Wolter and Cindy Hadish.

Friends of Historic Preservation is a nonprofit organization that helps the southeast Iowa community preserve and protect its architectural heritage while enhancing awareness about the cultural, economic and environmental benefits of preservation. For more information, see: www.ic-fhp.org

Save Cedar Rapids Heritage has a similar mission, dedicated to saving historic resources by developing preservation and reuse strategies, and raising awareness of the value of historic properties.

Learn more about the Frankie House.

Take a virtual tour of the Frankie House.