Historic Homes Tour
The main stairwell at the Belvedere Inn, 421 Bird Street, Hannibal, reaches four stories, the top being a cupolas featuring a 360-degree view of downtown Hannibal and its surroundings. Participants in Sunday's Friends of Historic Hannibal's tour enjoyed the breathtaking view. MARY LOU MONTGOMERY
Historic Homes Tour affords homeowners opportunity to share behind-the scenes stories
MARY LOU MONTGOMERY
www.maryloumontgomery.com
Pat Yapp, co-owner of the Belvedere Inn, had sisters Irmgard Marsh, Erika Pappenfoht and Anna Lowery of Macon in tearful laughter Sunday afternoon, during the Friends of Historic Hannibal’s Historic Homes Tour.
Yapp described – in animated detail – how she and her husband, Bob, obtained a four-poster bed for the front bedroom of their new bed and breakfast.
The bed she wanted for the room – sturdy enough to accommodate any visitors – retails for up to $15,000, she told the three sisters from Macon. But she was lucky enough to find a used bed for only $1,500. After carting the bed to their new bed and breakfast at 521 Bird Street, and assembling it, they realized that the frame which supports the bed was missing – thus the lower price.
Bob, a nationally recognized craftsman, was able to construct a frame out of wood, resulting in a very, very heavy bed. Pat told her tour guests that if they ever decide to sell the house, she won’t be moving that bed from the premises; instead it will remain with the property.
The Yapps’ house - an Italianate structure known as the Lamb-Munger House, was one of six featured on the tour, which raised money for Friends of Hannibal.
Annie and Jeff Thomas opened their home at 401 N. Sixth Street for tours. The young couple has made modern adjustments to the house to make it more livable for their family. The Queen Anne style house was built for Mrs. Benton Coontz before the turn of the 20th Century. The expanded curved porch offers a view of the Mississippi River, as do the upstairs bedrooms.
The tour included four homes, a commercial building turned into a residence, and one of Hannibal's oldest churches repurposed into an event space.
A floor-to-ceiling window on the second story of the Belvedere Inn, 421 Bird Street, Hannibal, offers natural light to a staircase connecting the home's floors. The home was included in the April 26, 2015, Friends of Historic Hannibal's spring tour. MARY LOU MONTGOMERY
Contrasting narrow and wide plank floors are featured on the first floor of the Belvedere Inn, 421 Bird Street, Hannibal.
Visiting the Belvedere Inn, 421 Bird Street, Hannibal, during the April 26, 2015, Friends of Historic Hannibal's spring tour were three generations of a Monroe City family, from left, Lizzie Hagan, Valerie Hagan, Mary Hills and Holly Parn. MARY LOU MONTGOMERY
