2025 SE Brown’s Woods Ln., West Des Moines
A primary illustration of mid-century modern day architecture is for sale in West Des Moines, constructed in 1964 for a former director of the Des Moines Art Heart
Positioned throughout from the 486-acre Brown’s Woods, Iowa’s greatest urban forest, the three-bedroom, three-rest room, 1,939-square-foot ranch residence is concealed from look at on its own .76-acre, tree-filled large amount.
Restored more than the final two a long time, previous Des Moines Artwork Heart director Thomas Stansbury Tibbs originally laid declare to the putting layout. But regardless of continued initiatives looking archives, city information and area architectural data, no paperwork to back again up his assertion has nevertheless been identified.
“It’s a very unfamiliar secret,” mentioned Rhiannon Barbour, who is symbolizing the seller.
Admitting the home’s model appeals to an exclusive sector of the industry, Barbour is confident the ideal homebuyer will inevitably be found.
“I adore the simplicity, how understated it is, but it is stunning,” she explained.
Tibbs was the Artwork Center’s director from 1960-68 and was instrumental in choosing New York City architect I.M. Pei to generate a $1.6 million addition to the Artwork Heart. Pei’s 18,000-square-foot wing debuted in October 1968, that includes an exposed concrete exterior that supplied an immediate distinction to architect Eliel Saarinen’s 20-year outdated constructing.
More:I.M. Pei, earth-well-known architect powering section of the Des Moines Artwork Middle, dies at 102
Tibbs’ home on Brown’s Woods Lane has gone through a series of upgrades considering the fact that he still left in 1968 and now functions a sunroom, laundry home, a porch with sights of the nearby pool and woodlands, a mud space and an hooked up two-vehicle garage.
The existing house owners have included a detached 1,800-sq.-foot mixture garage and artwork studio, outfitted with a hydraulic vehicle elevate, and LED lights to better facilitate auto portray and restoration.
Within the main residence, the master bed room involves an en-suite toilet and the kitchen area has been remodeled with new appliances and counter tops. The wood flooring and beamed ceilings have been refinished and the big home windows be certain an abundance of all-natural light.
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The open system room “is not definitely set up to have a family with two or 3 young children,” Barbour stated. But the accessible format was a immediate outcome of Tibbs facilitating his wife Ruth’s recovery subsequent a stroke.
Husband and wife staff Denika and Brad Almburg of Mod Household Selection and Almburg Homes have been past house owners of the assets when it was nevertheless lined in vines and overgrowth. The pair began the home’s early conservation and restoration.
“He genuinely designed that home to accommodate her after her stroke, and her caretaker,” Denika Almburg mentioned.
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During the pandemic, Almburg’s discussions with community architects “confirmed our beliefs that it was any individual expert in architecture that intended it,” she said.
No documents have been learned to suggest Tibbs obtained any instruction to changeover from a museum director into a refined newbie architect.
Even with that anomaly, Almburg stays a great admirer of the residence and also Tibbs’ vocation at the Art Middle. “My take on him is that he was just a forward thinker, a imaginative guy who pushed the envelope listed here in Des Moines, and Des Moines was way too conservative to enjoy some of what he was doing,” she claimed.
The property is stated at $699,000 by Rhiannon Barbour of Realty One Group and DSM Modern Serious Estate. Make contact with (515) 446-7524 to tour this home or very similar properties.
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Richard Lane is the serious estate reporter for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached at [email protected].
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