Terrace Hill
Governor Branstad and his wife have moved out of the governor’s mansion in Des Moines after black mold was found in their third-floor residence.
‘The governor and first lady are fine,” according to Jenae Jenison, a spokeswoman for Branstad.
Chris Branstad hadn’t been feeling well for a few weeks and suggested her sickness might be caused by something at Terrace Hill.
Tests have confirmed there is black mold in the historic mansion’s third floor, which was converted more than three decades ago into living quarters for the state’s governor and family.
According to the governor’s office, mold has not been found on the first and second floors of Terrace Hill. That part of the mansion remains open for tours.
In 2007, when Governor Chet Culver and his family were living in the mansion, several people who attended a fundraiser at Terrace Hill got histoplasmosis, a fungal disease linked to bat and bird droppings. Officials linked that outbreak to recently soil that had been displaced around the outside of the home.
According to the governor’s spokeswoman, “it will most likely be at least three weeks” before Branstad and his wife can return to the quarters at Terrace Hill. The couple has a home in rural Boone. That’s where the Branstads have been staying since last weekend when they returned from a trade mission in South America.