It’s Academic: Former School Turned Mansion in Iowa Hits the Market for $1.7M

From the outside, it’s easy to see that Prairie Castle in Nevada, IA, was a school in a past life.

But inside, only a few traces remain of what was once the Milford Township School. The reimagined residence, now available for $1,750,000, became the week’s most popular home on Realtor.com®.

The school was built in 1923 and held classes until the early 1990s.

“It was essentially mothballed and vacated for years until the sellers, who are my parents, bought the property in 2006,” explains Luke Jensen, with Friedrich Iowa Realty. Dean and Dianne Jensen “had a vision of turning it into their home and then having space to do their hobbies and pursue their creative passions.”

The result is a roughly 6,000-square-foot, single-family home with more than 7,000 square feet of studio and workshop space on the lower level. The property sits on 3.2 acres.

‘Full gut’ renovation

The home was completely transformed from school space to deluxe place.

“It’s just a really neat space,” Jensen says. “They took about six years doing the renovation, and it was pretty much a full gut. Every inch of the property has been touched.”

But the renovation was not without its challenges, as is often the case. When the couple bought the structure, some of the original wood floors were rotten, the roof had a hole in it, and you could see all the way from the basement to the top floor in some places.

“It was in tough shape,” Jensen recalls. “We’re a real estate family, and we’ve converted two other schools into condominiums. So we’d [been in] similar situations, where the district had vacated, and we acquired them and did similar restorations.”

The third floor is the main residential space. It has three bedrooms and other living spaces, some of which have a bit of an industrial vibe.

Jensen says the school’s original classroom layouts lent themselves nicely to the home’s various room configurations during the renovation.

The second level features a catering kitchen and a ballroom, which has the school’s gym floor.

“Every piece of wood was harvested and then replaned and refinished and put back down, maybe in a different location, but all the wood floor was original to the school,” Jensen notes.

‘Important place in the community’

Since the Jensens transformed the former school into their home, people have come by to take a look, especially since the building turned 100 this year.

“There’s a huge and strong alumni tradition—people come back and share stories,” Jensen says. “It has an important place in the community.”

And while the family has made many memories in the house, Jensen says it’s time to pass it on and downsize.

The perfect buyer “is someone who has a vision and a desire and gets energized by being in a creative space,” Jensen explains. “That was my mom and dad’s vision. Maybe somebody comes in and has energy and a vision and wants space they can utilize to be successful in whatever their endeavors are.”

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