The fate of the last of the four properties I had identified several months ago as being in limbo has been revealed.

The former Sigma Phi Delta fraternity house, also known as the McIntosh house, at the northeast corner of Fourth and Chestnut streets, is being spruced up in preparation for becoming a student outreach center for a Jewish organization called Chabad, according to a story by Larry Mitchell that appeared in the E-R earlier this week.

That means all four of the vintage properties I've written about have had a good outcome. They were all hovering between life and death, but now they're getting a new lease on life. They'll probably be around for another century.  (See "Doing the limbo rock," July 15; "Back among the living," May 22; and "Moving out of limbo," May 3.)  

A recent Chico Heritage Association newsletter notes that the McIntosh house, which was built exactly 100 years ago, was once one of the grandest homes in Chico.

The newsletter also points out that the Eames House, on the north side of Fifth Street just east of the businesses at the intersection of Fifth and Ivy streets, is undergoing major renovations inside and out. This is one of three Chico houses famed architect Julia Morgan had a hand in designing. The house hasn't been in limbo. It's occupied by Theta Chi Fraternity House, but it has been looking pretty ragged. The fraternity is having the work done. The house was built in 1895. Morgan designed a major remodeling for it in 1910. When the Eames family sold it in 1941, it became Nellie Taylor's Rest Home and then a sorority before becoming a fraternity.
 
Both of these South Campus neighborhood structures are on the Heritage Association's historic building inventory, which was put together about 25 years ago. It's great to know they will be getting some tender loving care. I'm sure the cost of the renovations doesn't come cheap.