Hayes Home Restoration Brings New Life to a Presidential Landmark

For more than 150 years, the home of Rutherford B. Hayes has stood as the centerpiece of Spiegel Grove in Fremont, captivating visitors with its stately presence and rich presidential history. Now, thanks to a $708,000 grant from the Jeffris Family Foundation, the residence is undergoing its most significant restoration in more than a decade.

“It is just an exquisite example of 19th-century architecture,” says Christie Weininger, executive director of the Hayes Presidential Library & Museums. “… But the other cool thing about the Hayes Home is that everything that’s in it is original. … It’s their actual furniture and their paintings, their knickknacks.”

Built between 1859 and 1863 and added onto in subsequent decades, the Hayes Home is an architectural patchwork showing the evolving tastes and needs of four generations of the Hayes family.

An earlier phase of restoration, completed in 2012, focused on structural stabilization and select interior work. The upcoming project plans to build on that first phase, turning attention to areas that have remained untouched.
The idea began in 2020, when the Hayes Presidential team received an unexpected call from the Jeffris Family Foundation, which supports the restoration of historic sites in small Midwestern communities. The initial call led to what has now become a $2.2 million effort to preserve and reanimate the landmark.

“We’d not heard of them, but they love to fund historic properties [and] presidential sites,” says Sue Berryman, development director at the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums. “I mean, that’s a phone call you love to get.”

One of the most exciting elements of the restoration is the planned reopening of rooms previously unaccessible to the public. Most of these spaces have not appeared on the standard tour route, while others have only been accessible on special occasions.

Among them is the upstairs bedroom of Fanny Hayes, the only daughter of Rutherford and Lucy. Thanks to preserved receipts, personal letters and a rare photograph, the room can be restored to its late-1800s appearance.

“This furniture was made for her White House bedroom, which is pretty cool,” Weininger says. “When the Hayes administration was over, they brought it back to Spiegel Grove.”

The home's dining room — where the former president and first lady hosted guests in the years after leaving the White House — is also undergoing restorations, which plan to return the room to its late 19th-century splendor, offering visitors a sense of how the couple lived and entertained.

In a lesser-known corner of the house, researchers recently confirmed the existence of an early photographic darkroom, used by one of Hayes’ sons and a cousin. The team plans to restore the space and create a miniature exhibit featuring photographs that were developed there.

The project also seeks to tackle important preservation work to improve the building’s longevity, including foundation stabilization, updated electrical systems and exterior repairs.

Because the Hayes Home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, all restoration plans must be approved by the State Historic Preservation Office. Behind-the-scenes research and preparation are set to continue through fall and winter, and visible construction is expected to begin in spring 2026. The project is expected to be fully completed by 2030.

Hayes Presidential is looking to raise the remaining $1.47 million needed for the restoration through a capital campaign, currently in its infancy.

For Weininger and Berryman, the project is more than a preservation effort. It’s a chance to reintroduce the Hayes Home to both longtime supporters and new visitors.

“It’s just heartwarming for us when they walk in that front door, and their jaw just drops because it is a stunning front hall, and it has this beautiful spiral staircase,” Weininger says. "People are already impressed, but the fact that we get to impress them a little bit more is pretty cool.”

For more information about the Rutherford B. Hayes Home and Spiegel Grove, visit rbhayes.org.

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