CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — One hundred years ago, Irene Douglas noted in her check register the payment of $182 for her daughter Barbara’s sleeping porch.
That August 1925 payment was to artist Grant Wood, just five years before his iconic “American Gothic” painting was completed at his Cedar Rapids studio.
Brucemore hosted a birthday party Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Wood painting a decorative mural on the sleeping porch, which remains at the historic estate at 2160 Linden Dr. SE.
A visitor uses water colors to capture a scene of the Brucemore gardens during the 100th birthday anniversary of Grant Wood’s sleeping porch. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Visitors could tour the Queen Anne-style mansion, learn from presentations by Grant Wood experts and try their own hand at painting, with instruction from Crystal Hird of the Eastern Iowa Arts Academy. The event also featured a food truck and birthday cupcakes.
Wood, who built an international reputation for his art, was supported on a local level by Irene Douglas, whose family was the second owner of the Brucemore estate, and other arts patrons.
Before the invention of air conditioning, homes often had sleeping porches that were open to the cool night air, where people slept during the summer. Barbara’s sleeping porch previously did not have windows, as it does now.
A squirrel is among the woodland creatures Grant Wood created for the sleeping porch at Brucemore in 1925. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Wood applied plaster on top of the porch’s original brick and crafted a design of curving vines, with hand-molded flowers and woodland creatures, such as squirrels and birds.
He then coated the plaster with several layers of paint washes.
Visitors can see the second-floor sleeping porch and other parts of the 1886 mansion during regular tours at Brucemore.
See photos from a past Brucemore tradition and more from the 100th birthday celebration, below:
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