A historic Driftless area home will soon be featured in an episode of the series “In With the Old”, produced by the Magnolia Television Network.
The episode, titled “Return to Horn Hollow in Decorah, Iowa” will premiere Friday, Dec. 29, on Max and Discovery+.
After building her career in New York and Los Angeles, area native Danielle Dotzenrod returned home to Iowa to renovate a beloved old house.
Dotzenrod found the perfect house – an Englishman’s manor on the National Registry known in Winneshiek County as “Horn Hollow”.
When interviewed earlier this year as the renovation took shape, Dotzenrod said she credited the rich, significant history of the home and its first owner with propelling her to the project.
Dotzenrod, who grew up on her grandfather’s dairy farm in Winneshiek County, will be the host of the episode, and anticipates that some parts of the rich description of the original owner, Henry Harcourt Horn’s life and the history of the residence, will to be shared with audiences.
She has been working on other renovation projects in the area and has a company that sells leather to designers sourced from responsible ranches.
“That’s the most basic way I can think of saying it,” Dotzenrod said, “The real pitch is that my company sells leather to brands sourced from ranches that have high animal welfare and regenerative agriculture standards.”
About the series
“In With the Old” is a series produced by the Magnolia Network and Chief Creative Officers Chip and Joanna Gaines.
Designers, builders and old-home enthusiasts across America reimagine and transform abandoned structures by preserving their historical integrity while giving them new purpose.
The production team’s representative, Heidi Spring, revealed, “The episode will drop on streaming only (on Dec. 29), with the cable premiere coming early 2024. Right now, that looks like early February but is subject to change.”
History
The historical Horn House, which boasts an old ballroom complete with original piano, has sat empty for the past several years, and the ongoing remodeling has been challenging.
Dotzenrod, assisted by her boyfriend Jim Wicka, her father, Jimmy Dotzenrod, and her stepdad, Mark Sweitzer.
She said they spent the winter and spring months doing what she calls “destruction/discovery”. Those efforts were recently completed.
“Everyone who has had the house has loved it, and they’ve done their best with improvements,” Dotzenrod said. “But it was time for a full-blown remodel.”
Dotzenrod is passionate about the historical importance of the residence.
“I’ve learned so much about this house,” she exclaimed.
“This is the only house of its kind in Winneshiek County that is situated in the rural countryside,” she said, “as opposed to being in Decorah or in town.”
The house was built by English immigrant Horn back in 1869. It is situated a few miles northwest of Decorah. The residence has a detailed, rich history. Horn wrote a book about settling here in Winneshiek County, and he penned several pages about the home construction. The book’s title is “An English Colony in Iowa”, and it tells the story of the voyage to America, the journey westward, and much more.
His riveting musings about the train ride to Chicago, Ill., and Milwaukee and Prairie du Chien, Wis., were capped by his first view of the mighty Mississippi River.
Horn’s travels by train ended in Ridgeway, where he found a “Concord Coach” waiting to take him and several other passengers on a one-hour trip to the town of Decorah – his final destination.
In detailing his journey to Decorah in the fall of 1868, the then 23-year-old Horn wrote that he traveled here by train and coach and that he found a “an English colony with some living in town and others on farms scattered over the country roundabout”. He found a boarding house with about a dozen other boarders and began exploring the town.
“The quantity and class of goods displayed was astonishing,” he wrote. “The storekeepers were keen, bright and up-to-date … they received us with great, cordiality, exhibited their wares, but made no attempt to persuade us to buy.”
He found “well-to-do families, many of the younger set,” in an area north of town.
“It was quiet and peaceful,” he shared about the Decorah vicinity, “free from noisy brawlings and disturbances. No place of its size within a reasonable distance could show a cleaner record…the absence of the railroad is a contributing factor in keeping away hoboes and other undesirables.”
He wrote that Decorah was “a model town” boasting a good wagon factory, a fair-sized flour mill, a woolen mill and a cracker factory.
Horn also boasted of the “fine Luther College overlooking the town.” He shared his observances over his years in Decorah, as the railroad came to town.
The Horn House
The Horn House, as it is affectionally known, is a Georgian structure constructed of red, clay brick reported purchased from an establishment in McGregor. The house was built on a foundation made of stone around 1869, boasting grand, tall windows. The use of brick and stone reflected in the home were carried out by English bricklayers and carpenters. History of the home includes details about the main house and a servant section.
The historic home features several crowning features from the Georgian period, with 12-foot ceilings on the main floor and 11.5-foot ceilings on the upper floor, two chimneys, wide eves, classic, arched windows. The doorway of the Georgian home was one of the central features of the façade.
Historical records indicate Horn moved back to town in 1873, and as he states, “it did not take very long to convenience me that farming was a snare and a delusion, so far as I was concerned … whereupon I sold it and moved into town.”
It is estimated that the historic residence was originally built at a cost of close to $12,000.
Exterior of Horn Hollow after a long renovation
The episode, titled “Return to Horn Hollow in Decorah, Iowa” will premiere Friday, Dec. 29, on Max and Discovery+.
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I can’t wait to see it. I am from Decorah having moved there in Fifth grade and stayed there until my parents moved back to Waterloo in 1970. Though not born there those few year have burned into my soul so much that I feel like a native.
I watched the episode. I would love to see the bathroom(s) Reno
Go Danielle! Another beauty saved.
Just watched it, she didn’t bring it back to its original glory by no means, first of all you don’t paint the original wood and call it restored. So she saved it but definitely didn’t do it correctly
Upstairs? Dying to see the second floor!!
Love to see more of the house! I’d also love to know who makes the kitchen light fixtures
Old and new look in one.
This was an incredible restoration. One of the best I’ve seen on Magnolia Channel. Well done, thoughtful adaptive restoration. Kudos to the owner(s)!