New 'crown' part of bringing historic midtown Omaha house back to life

Nic Sekera guides a metal balustrade as it is lifted onto the roof of Luther and Debra Larson's home.

Luther Larson christens a metal balustrade before it is lifted onto the roof of his home.

Larson places a metal balustrade that was lifted with a crane onto the roof of his home.

A new crown sits atop Luther and Debra Larson's home.

Debra Larson, right, and friend Robyn Tait, take photos as a metal balustrade is lifted onto the roof of Larson's Omaha home.

The Larsons are painting the house to bring to life the stamped and wrought iron details.

The ornamental zinc part of the balustrade was made in Missouri.

The third-floor access to the roof.

The original tin ceiling in the living room.

The kitchen in Luther and Debra Larson's home. The quarter sawn oak matches the rest of the first floor.

A metal balustrade is lifted onto the roof of Luther and Debra Larson's Joslyn Castle Neighborhood home in Omaha on Monday, April 3, 2023.

The tin house is wearing a new "crown."

A crane hoisted the 7-foot-by-17-foot balustrade to the top of the Omaha landmark near St. Cecilia Cathedral last week.

"We came in and wanted to restore it to the way it originally looked," owner Luther Larson said.

The house was built in 1905 by Gustave F. Epeneter, who owned Eagle Cornice Works. It has extensive stamped and wrought-iron details on the exterior and some amazing tin ceilings inside.

Luther Larson and his wife, Debra, moved into the house in August 2019 and then started on the replacement of the balustrade two years ago.

A decorative tin ceiling vent in the third-floor ballroom allowed access. Larson had to take down the pieces of the original balustrade that remained, have a new base built and then find someone to replicate the ornamental zinc that covers it.

They chose W. F. Norman Co., a family-owned business in Nevada, Missouri. It is one of the original manufacturers of tin ceilings.

"I went down when they made it and watched it be made," he said.

Although the zinc crown weighs 300 pounds, it took just seconds for the Lift-All Crane Service company to fit it in place. Larson said the frame was built to withstand Nebraska's ferocious winds.

The "crown" project already has cost more than $20,000, but Larson may still build a skirt around the base to hide the roof line. The zinc patina will never fade.

"Hopefully, it lasts for 100 years," he said.

This is the seventh house in the Cathedral-Duchesne area that the Larsons have restored in the 10 years since Luther retired from managing IT professionals.

This one sagged in the middle when they bought it and had to be leveled, but it had the original windows and unpainted woodwork that they always seek in their houses.

They both grew up on farms and aren't unafraid of the effort involved in restoring a house. They hire professionals to do the work that requires a permit, but that still leaves plenty of jobs.

"A lot of people would like to call you ‘house flippers,’" Larson said. "We always said we restored houses, we didn't flip them. It was always about making the features of the house that were originally there stand out."

They updated the kitchen with quarter sawn oak cabinets to match the original pantry cabinets and trim boards throughout the first floor. They’ve added three bathrooms and knocked down a wall to a smaller room to make the main bedroom larger.

Painting and restoration of the exterior has been another long project. The effort has been ongoing for the last two years with about 80% completed. The tin-clad front porch still remains.

The new paint job better shows off the metal details above the windows and under the soffits.

Once that's done, they still have a carriage house to tackle.

They are taking advantage of the Valuation Incentive Program administered by the State Historic Preservation Office within History Nebraska that will freeze the property evaluations on their house for eight years. To be part of the program, a house must be listed on the National Register or a locally designated property.

Many think the house, with its four floors of livable space, is too much for the couple. But the ballroom has proven a great place to gather with their 21 grandkids, with two more on the way this summer.

Although they’ve lived in several of their houses that have been restored, they are in no hurry to leave this one.

"It's fun to bring a house back to life," Debra said. "Most of them we started were in very sad shape."

It's also a way to give back to the community.

Luther Larson said that's their goal.

"Help revive the neighborhood," he said. "Getting homes a family would want to move into."

Nic Sekera guides a metal balustrade as it is lifted onto the roof of Luther and Debra Larson's home.

Luther Larson christens a metal balustrade before it is lifted onto the roof of his home.

A 1912 photo of Luther and Debra Larson's home.

Debra Larson, right, and friend Robyn Tait, take photos as a metal balustrade is lifted onto the roof of Larson's Omaha home.

Larson places a metal balustrade that was lifted with a crane onto the roof of his home.

A new crown sits atop Luther and Debra Larson's home.

The original tin ceiling in the living room.

The kitchen in Luther and Debra Larson's home. The quarter sawn oak matches the rest of the first floor.

The original pantry off the kitchen.

The second-floor bathroom. They added three.

The third-floor access to the roof.

The ornamental zinc part of the balustrade was made in Missouri.

A new metal balustrade sits on the roof of Luther and Debra Larson's historic house.

The fall colors are one of the reasons the Larsons purchased the home.

The house details before they started painting it.

They saved the parts of the old crown that had fallen to help with the design of the new one.

More than half the balustrade had been destroyed when the Larsons moved in in 2019.

The Larsons are painting the house to bring to life the stamped and wrought iron details.

[email protected], 402-444-1034, twitter.com/mduceyowh

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Marjie Ducey writes about homes, weddings, outdoors, animals, the zoo and many other topics for The World-Herald. Have a good story idea? Email her at [email protected].

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