C.S. Stearns House

Garden Grove, United States

Exterior only

Visible from the street; the inside is private.

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Heritage registerNational Register of Historic Places↗

Built in 1885 in Garden Grove, Iowa, the C.S. Stearns House is a Queen Anne residence that exemplifies the vernacular interpretations of this style favored by prominent citizens in late-nineteenth-century small towns. The owner, C.S. Stearns, was a local merchant and banker associated with C.S. Stearns & Bros. and the First National Bank. The house displays characteristic Queen Anne features including an irregular floor plan, a varied and cluttered roofscape, diverse surface textures, and tall chimneys embellished with decorative brickwork. A prominent semicircular bay projects from the main facade, a hallmark of the style's emphasis on visual complexity and movement. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, the house survives as a well-preserved example of domestic architecture among Iowa's prominent mercantile families of that era.