GROUP WANTS TO RESTORE 1857 REYNOLDS HOUSE

The 1857 Reynolds house, one of the city's first buildings to make the National Register of Historic Places, is still a striking structure.

If the ghosts of James and Christine Reynolds walk the sagging floors of the Reynolds House, they do so in solitude. The stately old home at 623 N. Main has been boarded up for more than a year.

The securing of the 143-year-old structure against possible vandalism, however, should not be interpreted as a sign of doom for the Reynolds House.

In fact, as Dr. Danna Cotner of the Greater Cape Girardeau Area Historical Society, pointed out, this was one of the conditions for receiving a state grant to stabilize the building.

The historic preservation grant was received in 1999, to stabilize the floor and front porch and to take care of termite damage. This type of grant is frequently renewed for several years, to allow work on a structure to continue.

"We're very determined to see this house restored," Cotner said. "It's my favorite house in Cape. It's just beautiful."

The brick house has had an interesting, if checkered career. It was built in 1857 for businessman James Reynolds and his wife, Christine Catherine Reynolds. Brick mason Joseph Lansmon and architect Edwin Branch Deane, two local men prominent in Cape Girardeau's 19th century architecture. The Reynoldses came to Cape Girardeau from St. Louis in 1852. Reynolds became partners with Robert Sturdivant and B.M. Horrell in the milling industry. At about the same time the brick home was built, Lansmon also built Reynolds a six-story brick mill, later called Union Mill.

The house befitted one of the community's leading men of business. Built of brick (exactly 51,000 of them, according to Lansmon's records), it reflected the curious mix of cultures still prevalent in eastern Missouri in the mid-19th century.

"It's one of the earliest surviving buildings in Cape and is an excellent example of a Georgian cottage with German (in brick work) and possibly some French influences, reflecting the ethnic make-up of the area," said Dr. Bonnie Stepenoff, chair of the Southeast Missouri State University Historic Preservation Department. "It's unusual in that so many interior details, including mantels, have survived."

That interior woodwork gives evidence of the simple, yet appealing style of Deane, who also did the more spectacular Ellis-Wathen-Ranney House in 1839. (The house was tragically razed in 1958.)

"The city has lost way too many of its treasury of classic buildings," said Tom Neumeyer, historical society member. "For instance, the beautiful Ellis-Wathen-Ranney House, which was a beautiful southern-style home, was demolished years ago and is now the site of a used car lot on North Main."

Lansmon was the leading brick mason in the area, as German brick vernacular became the leading style throughout Missouri during much of the century. His touch is still very evident in the Reynolds House, as well.

Many have called the structure part French Colonial, as well. Certainly the shape of the front porch, running the entire length of the house -- like the old galleries of the circa 1800 French Colonial houses -- is reminiscent of the style.

The home remained in the Reynolds family for many years. James Reynolds died in 1865, but Catherine lived on as a widow in the stately home, until her death at age 100 in 1909. It stayed in the family until the 1940s, when it was sold to Harry Steinhoff, who resided in it into the 1970s. It remained in the Steinhoff family, as rental property, for several more years and was in grave shape by the early 1980s, when the Burton Gerhardt family bought it and donated it to the historical association.

Today it takes a sympathetic eye to pick out the beauty in the aging structure. Many floor boards and joists are rotting, the ceiling of the upstairs loft is in bad shape. Some cracks between bricks on the exterior of the house cause concern.

The structural integrity of Lansmon and Deane's product still seems to be intact, though, and work has already repaired the sagging front porch. Many interior details survive that, with a proper restoration, could allow the building to showcase the mid-19th century artistry of Deane and Lansmon.

The front door is one of the best attributes. A transom and trabeated surround with sidelights and two pilasters on each side of the door make the front of the old home striking when exposed. The windows are primarily double-hung, nine-light over six-light with moveable sashes and have some original hand-blown glass in them. A 1982 press release by Tom H. Gerhardt of the historical association noted that this type of window is "extinct in the city today." Neumeyer calls the house "a fine example of the architecture from that period."

The house had five fire places -- two of which were sealed off during the 20th century. These two were unusual corner fireplaces. Three of the fireplaces still have their original wooden mantles. It also has a two-room basement, which is said to have a brick floor beneath a layer of mud.

While some deteriorated later-vintage sheds were removed after the Historic Association bought the decrepit property, the old smokehouse remains. Its unusual hipped roof has been restored.

What was once a large parcel of land was gradually chipped away to the small plot today occupied by the Reynolds House. Still, the old home sits majestically on a slight precipice, surrounded by homes and a large, modern business structure. A child's basketball hoop is fastened to a tree in the back yard, where two of the Reynolds' daughters dug up coins their father had buried during the Civil War. In August, 1912, Julia Reynolds and Mrs. E.B. Grimm discovered that James Reynolds had buried a small fortune in the back yard during the war. They unearthed some $1,200 of James Reynolds' silver and gold coins in an earthen jar. They dated from 1826 to 1861.

"A mathematician of the day quickly computed that had the money been put in a bank where it could draw interest, it would have amounted to $9,000 by 1912," wrote Sally Wright Brown in a May, 1973 Southeast Missourian article.

Today no one expects to find buried treasure at the Reynolds House. For the Historical Association of Greater Cape Girardeau, the Cape Girardeau Historic Preservation Commission, and others intrigued by the old house, though, the Reynolds House itself represents a lost, but definitely reclaimable treasure. Unlike the earthen jar of old coins, its true value to the community would be impossible to calculate.

335-6842, extension, 171