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crowned an historic landmark, the first of several renovations began. The first family, the Roscoes, removed the partition walls, put up stucco additions on the house’s exterior, opened the front porch, and reroofed the main house and the carriage barn. The second family, the Keirns, restored the house’s stencil work, as well as plaster molding. Michelle Keirns crafted the stained glass features in the house’s entry- way, according to the inn’s website. Now known to travelers the country over as The Inn at 425, a popular metro-area bed and breakfast, the structure’s 20-year journey from deterioration to dazzling has been one fraught with challenges met with persistence and patience. The house was already known to Kansas Citians and historians alike when, in the 1970s, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Though the placement was an honor, Zweifler says, it meant that all of the plumbing, electrical, structure, HVAC, carpentry work, and brick work (the chimney fell off the roof shortly after the two men moved in) had to be executed with special care. Zweifler and Markus had to pay special attention to the details from the house’s past throughout the renovation process. “All of the woodwork is original,” he notes, “but everything on a house like this is very expensive. Nothing is off the shelf. The windows in the dining room alone are over $8,000. Since this is an historic landmark, it has to look exactly like the original windows, which had rotted. So, same size, same casements.”
TOP: A volunteer crafted the stained glass windows found on the inn’s front doors. MIDDLE: High windows allow natural sunlight to bring out the color in nearly every room of the inn. LEFT: The main staircase leads up to the second floor, where the inn’s guest rooms are located. Owners Stephan Zweifler and Carl Markus live on the third floor.
14 VINTAGEKC SUMMER 2017
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