Endangered: Albertson House

Preservation Iowa's 2020 Most Endangered List: Albertson House, Woodbury County

This Prairie School style home at 3927 Country Club Boulevard was built in 1927-1928 for Oscar F. Albertson a pioneer in electric and pneumatic power hand tools. The house was designed by local Swedish-born architect Knute Enoch Westerlind and features a wood-frame structure with a brick veneer, stone trim, a green clay tile roof and a rear solarium. The house is not typical of Westerlind whose other designs were mostly Art Deco and Streamline Modern style.

Oscar Albertson immigrated from Sweden and worked as a tool maker in New York and Chicago before coming to Sioux City in 1912. He was one of the founders in 1914 of Albertson and Company which manufactured automobile parts and tools and continued to do so until it closed in 2002. By the 1920s the business had expanded to produce early electric hand tools under the Sioux Tools brand name which were sold worldwide. By the 1940s, the company was producing pneumatic tools for the airline industry. Oscar Albertson held at least 84 patents and served as President of Albertson and Co. until his death in 1958. At its height Albertson and Co. employed over 400 and operated plants in LeMars and Norwalk, CT.

The home has been unoccupied for over ten years and is currently red tagged due to neglect of the property by the current owner. Deficiencies include water damage, compromised electric system from vermin infestation, compromised plumbing from an extended period of exposure to freezing temperatures and damage from vandalism.. Damage to the fascia indicates a leaking roof. The city has deferred razing for now and there is hope that a new owner can be found who appreciates the significance of the structure and is interested in its restoration.

Albertson House (Preservation Iowa 2020 Most Endangered List)

Preservation Iowa’s Most Endangered Property program was started in 1995 and implemented to educate Iowans about the special buildings and historic sites that are slowly and gradually slipping away from us.  In the past 20 years, Preservation Iowa has designated over 140 archaeological sites, churches, landscapes, and a variety of other buildings.

The full list of Preservation Iowa's 2020 Most Endangered Properties