Ray and Elise Dilfield moved to Eureka 20 years ago and took over the ca.1881 Crescent Cottage Inn on Spring Street in 2000. After operating the business for 17 years, disaster struck. At about 9 a.m. Friday, Sept. 22, 2017, they were on the back porch finishing up morning coffee and tea when they heard the smoke alarm from the dining room.
“I went in through the kitchen to investigate and when I opened the doors to the dining room, the smoke was too thick to see light from the front parlor windows,” Ray said. “Elise grabbed her purse, cell phones, tablets, chargers and such while I ripped the cables out of the computer tower and we were out the door and across the street calling 911. Fortunately, we had no guests the evening prior, but we were expecting a full house for the weekend arriving that afternoon. Our B&B Alliance friends stepped in and found alternate lodging for all of our reservations because that’s the kind of town we live in.”
The fire turned out to have originated from a defect in the combustion chamber of the gas dryer located in the utility room below the parlor. Two days after the fire, Ray sorted through debris in the remains of the utility room enough to get to the charred hulk.
“I opened the door to find the load of towels that had been running at the time of the fire were damp but otherwise untouched,” Ray said. “Kenmore makes an impressive product except for that whole burn-your-house-down thing. Granted, the dryer was thirty-ish years old, but still…”
There was fairly substantial structural damage throughout the first floor, as well as to the parlor floor joists and the exterior wall facing Spring St. The greater issue was the smoke and extreme heat to which the rest of the structure was subjected. The entire interior had to be stripped down to the studs and, once stabilizing structural repairs had been completed, sprayed with 86 gallons of shellac and Kilz primer to seal in the smell of smoke.
“Only then could we begin the process of completely rebuilding the interior with all new plumbing, electrical, and sheetrock,” Ray said.
The issue wasn’t just the structure itself, but the clothing, furnishings, art, collectibles, books, and even the kitchenware that had to go for cleaning, ozone-ing, refinishing, reupholstering, and storage until they had a place to put them. After that, they had a crew begin interior demolition of everything that remained and started filling what would eventually be seventeen 30-cubic yard dumpsters.
“It was close to Thanksgiving before we could begin the actual rebuilding,” Ray said. “The rebuilding process went on until the early spring of 2019 when we could move back in, even though ‘finishing touches’ continued on for some time. Being listed on the National Register kind of carries an increased degree of difficulty, in addition to the self-inflicted sense of duty inherent in accepting the stewardship of such a structure.”
The rebuilding process undoubtedly could have been completed in half the time – and definitely at lower cost – had the original structure simply burned to the ground. Replicating new pieces to fit a 135-year-old puzzle is another matter entirely.
“For example, there are four tongue-and-groove insert panels on the front porch façade,” Ray said. “Two of them had been chain sawed through by firefighters putting out flames within the wall. We found that matching trim was no longer made in the sizes we needed, so I repurposed some lumber salvaged from the parlor’s coffered ceiling and milled duplicates of the originals.”
They had a core crew of five working under Randy Fairbanks.
“I would highly recommend him to anyone asking,” Ray said. “He was great to work with. Also, we had specialty services from Billy Williams and Wes at Economic Plumbing, Randy Hayes and gang from Hayes Electric, boiler and radiator specialists from Springfield, a guy over in Fayetteville who does vapor blasting metal cleaning who helped me refinish some chandeliers, a couple guys who do location sandblasting of radiators – ever considered having to move 14 cast iron radiators weighing about 350 pounds each? Don’t. – and more obscure Internet vendors than I can count for esoteric period hardware and supply needs.”
They needed somewhere to live while the home was rebuilt. Through a stroke of luck, the rental house next door become available at the beginning of October and they moved in for the duration.
Often business can’t afford the downtime during major repairs. But Ray said they were blessed with “golden insurance” thanks to Virgil Fowler, which included coverage for loss of business and additional living expenses.
“We’re only just now beginning to appreciate the psychological effects, though,” Ray said. “After the initial shock of the loss, we were plunged right into a survival and recovery mode, which left little time for processing everything we were going through emotionally. Then, after being in construction management mode for over a year, we find ourselves dropped right back into innkeeper-mode. Different skillset, different mindset, and definitely different hours.”
Ray found the biggest overall challenge was maintaining a balance between historic originality and modern convenience.
“I think we managed to do a pretty good job of keeping the spirit intact while incorporating some significant upgrades,” Ray said. “As far as a specific restoration challenge, I’d call it a tie between the parlor’s brass chandelier and the original walnut stair rail, balustrade, spindles, and newel post. Both had been subjected to some pretty intense heat – Jim Kelley estimated temperatures approached 1500° near the core of the fire – and each presented unique restoration and refinishing challenges.”
They have been officially reopened since May in the home that has four guestrooms.
“We’re fortunate to have a solid base of loyal guests who have been anxiously awaiting our reopening,” Ray said. “There is still, of course, always a backlog in getting the pipeline filled again. Things are steadily rebuilding just as did the house itself.”
People who want to see the restored Crescent Cottage Inn will have a chance to do that coming up on Dec. 7 as the home is part of the Eureka Springs Preservation Society’s Christmas Tour of Homes that begins at 3 p.m.
“Elise is a past president of the Preservation Society and we’ve always been supporters,” Ray said. “Decorating a house this size is always a multi-day project. Especially after our restoration, it’ll be nice to have a bigger audience than just our guests come see it all. We’re proud of how it’s all turned out.”
As best that they can determine from the records, Powell Clayton had the home built ca.1881 as a temporary residence while leading the Eureka Springs Improvement Committee in developing the city and building the Crescent Hotel.