Vernon’s Nook
A very distinctive and rare example of architecture can be found in Antioch Park (6501 Antioch Road.) Known today as Administrative Buildings A and B, the unusual English cottage style structures were once part of a country estate called Vernon’s Nook.
The name, Vernon’s Nook, came from the builder and original owner of the home, Grace Vernon. She purchased the scenic property on April 2, 1923, with the intent of building an English country style home. The estate eventually featured several other buildings including a guest house, stables and tenant housing. Starting in 1931, the property changed hands several times until the final owners, Geraldine and Lathrop Backstrom, Sr., sold it in 1956 to the Johnson County Park and Recreation District. Antioch Park, which opened to the public in 1958, consists of 44 acres of land, two lakes, the original home and associated buildings from the estate. Today, the two remaining original structures, the home and guesthouse, house some of the administrative offices for the Johnson County Park and Recreation District. A large wrap-around porch was added to the main home in later years to provide additional outdoor picnic table space. Although the porch does change the outward appearance at first view, it cannot hide the unique architecture of the building itself.
The architecture of the house is a very distinctive sub-set of the Tudor architectural style called English Cottage. Vernon’s Nook showcases a defining feature of this style, a false thatched roof consisting of a composition roofing material that is rolled around the eaves and rakes of the roofline to mimic the look of a thick layer of thatch. Other English Cottage features visible at Vernon’s Nook are sash windows divided into several panes and dormer windows. This home features a very distinctive curved “eyebrow” dormer that further emphasizes the rounded edges of the roof. Most examples of this style of home date from the 1920s and 1930s, although it was never a common style anywhere in the United States. Preserved within the county’s parkland, Vernon’s Nook is unique treasure that adds to the diversity of the built environment in Johnson County.
--ALBUM vol. 17, no. 4 (fall 2004)