A real estate advertisement in the April 15, 1923, issue of the Omaha Daily Bee featured one of the best brick homes in Dundee” on a large lot with "ample room for shrubbing." Details about the newly built three-story house called out the large living room, sunroom, breakfast room, and billiards room, as well as its five bedrooms and three baths.
Today that same gracious Colonial Revival is located in central Omaha's Dundee-Happy Hollow neighborhood, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. From the street, the house looks much as it did nearly 100 years ago, which was part of its appeal for current owners Brent and Emily Beller.
"I grew up in a newer part of town," Brent says. “What attracted me to Dundee was that it was developed in the early 1900s and the homes are all of the same lineage." (Of note: Warren Buffett, "the Oracle of Omaha," still lives in the house he bought there in 1958 for $31,500.) Brent liked that the brick foursquare had “great bones—it's very well built and solid."
The Bellers came across it while house hunting before the birth of their fourth child. "We loved the classic brick exterior, with the white pillars in front," says Emily. “Plus, there's a large park nearby for the kids.” After moving in, they replaced the leaking red-clay tile roof but did little else other than painting.
After a year, though, they missed some amenities of contemporary living, and decided to “bring the house up to current standards," Brent says.
This story is from the Spring 2022 edition of This Old House Magazine.
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This story is from the Spring 2022 edition of This Old House Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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