ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Over a year ago, an historic house, the Reeb House in Florissant, was heavily damaged by a fire.
"The Reeb house is one of the oldest properties in Florissant, I guess, in St. Louis County in general," said Abby Martin, a journeyman carpenter with the Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council. "All wood, built by a carpenter, one of the first residents in Florissant and kind of an important property to save."
The 150-year old Reeb house would have been torn down, if not for a large volunteer effort to shore it up.
"When the house caught fire, which obviously is a shame, thankfully the front half of the house didn't suffer too much damage, it was the back half that was almost completely destroyed," said Mid-America Carpenters Communications Director Matt Murphy. "It would've been a real shame for the community of Florissant to lose this architectural gem when contacted us about helping us."
Over the weekend, the volunteer efforts to help preserve the house continued from several groups. Some of the volunteers who helped included women who are a part of Mid-America Sisterhood of Carpenters.
"I think we saw up to a dozen volunteers of women that were interested in either joining the trades or just being a part of the preservation of the property," said Martin. "It's really a good opportunity to help recruit women into our trade."
Martin says over the last year, they have committed to rebuilding the back porch of the property, which Martin says was burnt by the fire beyond repair.
"We demoed the back porch area. It wasn't enclosed but it had a roof over it that ties in with that mansard roof on the back side," said Martin. "And so we poured the piers, and we stood posts and this last Saturday, we were to start able to start framing up the back deck there."
Murphy notes the house is a prime example of French-style architecture.
"This is why it be such a shame if you lose something like this," said Murphy. "What makes a community a community, what differentiates Florissant from Kirkwood and Chesterfield is the architecture. These are people who brought their architecture from their homeland."
"In Florissant, you have a lot of French architecture, which is what the Reeb House is. It's a good example of old-style French architecture."
If you want to donate to the efforts, donations can be made at historicflorissant.com