The City of Iowa City and the University of Iowa are doing a property swap and one of the university’s writing programs will get a new address.
The 177-year-old Gilmore House will be moved across the street from the campus to what is now a metered parking lot owned by Iowa City. Rod Lehnertz, a senior vice president at the university, says it will join two other houses on the street that are home to the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and the International Writing Program.
“Non-fiction writing would move into the home and it’s well-sized for their program,” he says, “and this would continue to advance the idea of homes, historic structures that host important and frankly nationally and internationally recognized writing programs in what we affectionately call the ‘writers’ neighborhood.'”
The house that’s being moved sits next to a business building on the campus.
“An area we would intend to develop over time, thus the house stands as a challenge,” Lehnertz says. “We’ve gone through quite a process of reviewing options.”
Once the home is moved, Lehnertz says it will be renovated. The cost of moving the structure and renovations will be covered by private donations. The board that governs the university approved all the arrangements yesterday.