A creative couple with a vision bought a vacant, century-old school building in Iowa and turned it into the living and working space of their dreams. Now it’s worth $1.75 million, and the renovated interior is a must-see.
Dean and Diane Jensen, both aged 68 and former educators, settled with their three children in Ames, Iowa, in 1996 after several years spent moving around the Midwest and the East Coast. Mr. Dean Jensen, a “creative and a dreamer,” wanted to construct a space within which he could live and work and share the space with others. His wife supported his vision.
When they bought the run-down Milford school in rural Nevada, Iowa, the restoration project became a family affair.
“Milford School is what’s called a township school,” the couple’s son, real estate broker and developer Luke Jensen, 40, told The Epoch Times. “It was built in 1923. ... It was a K-12 school until the late ‘60s, and then it consolidated and became a K-6 with the last class in 1991. The property generally sat vacant from 1991 until my parents acquired it in 2006. That’s when they purchased the school and then began the renovations.”
The Jensens bought the 27,000-square-foot school property for around $27,000. Their buy helped save hundreds of thousands of dollars, which would have otherwise been spent pulling down and disposing of the structure.
The school had deteriorated in the 15 years since its last class, yet, comprised mainly of durable brick and block concrete masonry, its structure was sound, and nothing needed to be demolished. However, the roof was a major issue.
“The roof had failed,” Mr. Luke Jensen said, “and that was the first project that they did, was secure the roof and create a great, watertight property.”
Next came what Mr. Dean Jensen referred to as “salvaging,” which included restoring wooden floors, chalkboards, and light fixtures, with even an original urinal being pulled out of a school bathroom to be refurbished and repurposed. Old classrooms were reconfigured to create three stories of liveable space.
Cracked plaster on the walls revealed the unique texture of exposed brick underneath, and the couple leaned toward a neoclassical style for the interior. Mr. Luke Jensen and his two younger siblings used their expertise in real estate and construction to help their parents’ vision come to life.
“We had a lot of relationships with people in Ames, at Iowa State University, or some of the area high schools, so we were able to hire a workforce to do a lot of the work,” Mr. Luke Jensen said. “There wasn’t a formal contracting company or a builder, that was self-performed.”
Needless to say, a project of such magnitude comes with its challenges with one of the major ones being the time it took to bring their vision to reality. An average house, Mr. Luke Jensen said, takes seven months to build. However, his parents’ house took six years.
Through it all, his parents stood firm.
“I think one of the great qualities of my parents is perseverance,” he said. “They had a vision, it was very clear to them what they wanted, and they were able to persevere to achieve that. There was no blueprint of how to do this; there was no step-by-step guide. They had to kind of self-initiate a lot of those tasks.”
Finally, in 2012, the Jensens moved into the three-bedroom, three-and-half-bathroom private residence on the third floor, which included a library, media room, and the old principal’s office that became their “little bit of den.” Meanwhile, the second floor was converted into a ballroom, conference room, game room, and four suites for guests.
The first floor was made into a woodworking shop, a drawing or painting area, and a ceramic studio, and has the building’s mechanical system. The building uses an energy-efficient geothermal system for heating and cooling.
One of Mr. Luke Jensen’s favorite spots in the refurbished home is the kitchen.
“The kitchen is just a great spot to gather,” he said. “It’s a large space, but it also feels cozy, and there’s a fireplace nearby. There’s a lot of light that comes in, so I can just recall some great breakfasts, getting up early and having coffee, talking as a family, and just being gathered around.”
The third story is also “pretty cool” he said, since it boasts views of cornfields and the surrounding Iowa countryside for miles.
The Jensens were so pleased with the outcome of their six-year renovation of the Milford school that they took on two additional projects, turning Iowa’s old Roosevelt and Crawford public school buildings into 50 condominiums in 2015 and 2019 respectively.
Mr. Luke Jensen said: “Now there’s 50 families that live in these buildings, so there’s a redemptive element in this, of seeing something that was forgotten and abandoned and putting new life into it. As a Christian–our family is a Christian family–there’s an element of that that’s really important to us.”
Recently, Mr. Dean Jensen has been suffering from ill health, thus, after over a decade of living in their unique refurbished home, he and his wife listed the Milford school for sale in September 2023. The listing price is $1.75 million. Their three children and 11 grandchildren, who all live locally, have been supportive of them in downsizing after a memorable chapter in the home of their dreams.
