Bregant House

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[Narrator] In downtown Council Bluffs near the intersection of 4th Street and Story, sits the Bregant House. Nestled tightly between two larger homes, this quaint three-quarter sized 1912 Craftsman bungalow was built specifically for entertainers Jean and Inez Bregant.

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[Michelle Mutchler-Burns] Jean was 46 inches tall. Inez was 42 inches tall. It was custom built for their special needs.

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[Narrator] The Bregant's were Vaudeville performers at Coney Island in the early 1900s. They were married in 1905. And in 1906, they decided to move back to Inez's hometown of Council Bluffs.

[Michelle Mutchler-Burns] And so when they came back here, Jean opened a grocery store on North 8th Street. And they went in to buy candy for the grocery store from the John G. Woodward, The Candy Men of Iowa, the candy store or a candy company. And essentially, they became affiliated with that because John G. Woodward had a marketing idea for them. He wanted to use them as his, basically his representatives. So, they represented themselves as the Woodward Candy Kids.

[Narrator] Jean and Inez traveled across a 20-state territory representing the Woodward Candy Company. Their images were seen all over the United States on Woodward advertisements, posters and products.

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[Michelle Mutchler-Burns] They were unique. They dressed the part. They talked the part. They represented Woodward Candy traveling.

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[Michelle Mutchler-Burns] They had their name out there and they got the Woodward Candy name out there as well. It's a charming story, it really is.

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[Narrator] The Bregant's would spend the rest of their lives in the home until Inez passed away in 1969. After some years as a rental property, the house was purchased in 2012 by the non-profit organization Preserve Council Bluffs, with help from an anonymous donor. It has since been restored and is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.

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[Narrator] Though there is no record of the architect, the designer of the Bregant House put careful consideration into this one-of-a-kind Craftsman bungalow.

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[Michelle Mutchler-Burns] These are the original leaded glass windows and they have been redone, the ones that flank the fireplace, the piano window and the dining room window, and this is the original glass. The light switches are all at a lower level. The built-in cabinetry in the dining room is at a lower level. And you can see the fireplace mantle is low, the built-in boxes on either side that flank the fireplace are also low. And that served as seating. They had average sized friends and so the ceiling is eight feet high. And the one thing that sets it out and makes it appear proportional is instead of this being a 1x6 on the edges, it's actually 1x4 and three-quarters. And so, when people walk in, I think they're surprised that it appears to be proportional. Most people think they're going to have to duck when they walk in the door. They don't envision that it's going to have an eight-foot ceiling and things like that. People feel pretty comfortable here. They feel like they could live here, of course updating some furniture and things like that, but it really doesn't come across as all that tiny, per se. I do refer to it as the original tiny house. Again, a 700 square foot home, one bedroom, one bath, a beautiful dining room built in and things like that. And so, it was pretty much the style of the times. There's not another one like this on the planet.

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[Michelle Mutchler-Burns] It's really tiny.

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