OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV)
- A local non-profit is saving and revamping home of Hollywood star
- The house remained vacant until 2018
- Video shows the only outlet panel in the entire home
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
People update their houses every few years, this one is being preserved and renovated after nearly a century… I'm Maria Osnaya your South Omaha reporter where i’ll tell you whose house this is and why they’re fixing it up…
What looks like an old home…. is a historical site to some…it belonged to a well known artist from Omaha ….his name …Fred Astaire…..
The house of the Hollywood star was built in 1880. No renovations have been made since. Until local non-profit 501(c)(3) dreamed of turning the home into a museum.
City leader Ron Hug says it took a while to get his hands on the home, including buying out the house heirs, but it was worth the 2 year long wait.
He says, “its important that we preserve a piece of history so people can come experience how the average family would've lived in 1800,1890,1900s.”
Hug showed me around the property. Astaire’s home is a two bed one bath with quite literally one outlet. It remained empty for a few years.
“It almost like somebody walked out that door in 1920 and closed the door and didn’t come back in this house until we purchased it,” said Hug.
Funny enough, they're starting with an electrician.
Hug wants to tear down everything except the woodwork and re-model it to be a home from the 20th century.
City leaders are hoping to be done with the project this time next year, in South Omaha, I'm your neighborhood reporter, Maria Osnaya.
