Hauberg carriage house will be refurbished – Quad City Times

Efforts torestore and infuse new life into Rock Island's Hauberg Civic Center have so far focusedon thehistoric mansion andlandscape, but the site also contains acarriage house with four horse stalls, no less.

And now this three-story building that is every bit as big as the mansion itself has been added to the list of projects that the nonprofit Friends of Hauberg Civic Center Foundation is undertaking, said Deb Kuntzi, foundation president.

The group wants to use the first floorfor programs and as a visitor center and gift shop. This would "take some of the pressure off the house," she said. All original features, such as the wood-paneledhorse stallsandwall-mounted oats cleanerwould stay.

The 2,600-square-foot second-floor apartment would once again be rented as a source of revenue.

Another new development in the overall Hauberg site restoration has been an agreement with urban farm grocer Chad Summers of East Moline to operate a Sprouting Minds vegetable-growing program on theterraced gardens behind the mansion.

Under that program, school children would come to the site in spring, summer and fall to grow and harvest produce, with the food donated to area food pantries. This would be a "win-win for everybody," as Kuntzi said, because an overgrown area of the landscapewould be cleared, children would get hands-on learning and needy people would get fresh food. Summers said it would take about a year to get this program going.

Meanwhile, the Friends group has been working in partnership with the city to marketthemansion for weddings, showers and similar events, and "May and June have been completely booked," Kuntzi said.

John Gripp, director of the city's parks and recreation department, concurred.

"Theactivity and interest at Hauberg has significantly increased,"he wrote in an email.

"Theefforts made by the Friends andthe projects they have completed have really elevated the appeal of the facility," he wrote. "The Friends have really bridged the parks and recreation department's funding gap. This has been a huge success and demonstrates how important partnerships are to the department."

All these changes areamongmany initiatives that have been undertaken bythe Friends group in the15 months since theRock Island City Council decidedagainst sellingthe property.

The council had considered a sale because thebuildings and grounds, donated to the city in the 1950s by the heirs of John and Susanne Denkmann Hauberg,needed repairs and maintenance that the city could no longer afford.

In addition to efforts noted above, other improvements also have been accomplished.

Aboutone-fourth of the front of the mansion has been painted, a plan has been developed to restore the home's 112 stained glass windows, all carpets have been removed from the house and much undesirable brush has been removed from the grounds, originally designed by noted landscape architect Jens Jensen.

All told, about $10,000 in privately raisedmoney has been spent on the house, with much more contributed through in-kind donations of labor, Kuntzi said.

What it will take torefurbishthe carriage house for its new uses isbeing worked on by Rock Island architect Lo Milani, who is making drawings and cost estimates, she said. Then the group would apply for grants to pay for it.

Many people who have visited the Hauberg site may not have paid much attention to the carriage house. In addition to being as large as the mansion itself, it is built in the same style and with the same type of construction, including masonary walls and floors and exterior brick and wood timbering.

The first floor contains four horse stalls,storagespace forcarriages and automobiles and a wood-working area.

The stables, built at the same time as the mansionaround 1910,probably weren't used very long, as the Haubergs transitioned quickly over to cars, said Gene Zwiefel, a member of the Friends group.

The second floor apartmentwas rented as recently as 2014, but will need to be spruced up, Kuntzi said. Among its old-time features are maple floors, Douglas fir woodwork, a soapstone sink in the laundry,aclaw-foot tub in the bathroom and a sleeping porch.

The kitchen has been updated, but Kuntzi would like to "down-date" it by reinstalling the original white cabinets that are in storage.

The third floor, originally used as living quarters for seasonal help, likely will be used as storage and a place to put the air-conditioning units that will have to be installed in the building, she said.

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Hauberg carriage house will be refurbished - Quad City Times