1900 S. 25th Street (Christina & John Heinrich Yost House)
Current owner: Dallas Jones
Built in 1912
George A. Berlinghof, architect
Nathan Bishop, contractor
Estimated Time to Tour: 15 min
Key Things to See:
★ Grand Renaissance Revival design by George Berlinghof—a showcase of early twentieth-century luxury.
★ Ornamental pergola-like porch with wide eaves and red tile roof—a dramatic and memorable exterior.
★ Historical connection to a German-Russian immigrant success story—and Lincoln’s building boom.
The Yost House weaves together multiple strands of Lincoln’s early twentieth century stories, as well as anchoring one of the finest blocks in Franklin Heights in the Near South neighborhood. Nathan Bishop built the Renaissance Revival Style house in 1912 for an estimated $15,000 ($498,000 today), from designs by German-born architect George Berlinghof. Their clients were John and Christina Yost, both of whom were born in Russia to ethnic German families.
John Yost (1859-1939) emigrated from Russia in 1876 with his family settling briefly in Wisconsin. He came to Nebraska while still in his teens, working for Burlington Railroad like many German-from-Russia immigrants, then in lumber yards. Next he acquired part interest in a lumber yard, then his own establishment, and eventually a string of sixteen lumber yards in eastern Nebraska, including one in Havelock. The family moved to Lincoln in 1911 and commissioned the Yost House. It is both emblematic of their success and a conspicuous display inside and out of the range of fine building materials that John Yost sold. Christina (1860-1931) and John Yost both resided at 1900 South 25th Street until their deaths, her in 1931 and his at age 80 in 1939. The family retained ownership of the house until 1976, a span of 64 years.
Nathan Bishop, the contractor for Yost house, was born in Indiana and came to Lincoln in the boom years of the 1880s, arriving in 1886 at age 45. He helped finish the interior of the “second” Nebraska State Capitol early in his Lincoln tenure and went on to build many residences and the Christian Science Church on South 12th St.downtown. He died in 1928 at age 87.
George Berlinghof (1859-1944) studied architecture and building in his native Germany before immigrating to Omaha in 1881. He came to Lincoln in 1905 and had major commissions including libraries, State buildings, and county courthouses throughout Nebraska and the Midwest. He partnered with Ellery L. Davis from 1910-1917 and their joint projects included Lincoln High School (1913-1915), the Law College on the University of Nebraska City Campus (1913, now part of the Architecture Hall), and two buildings downtown at South 13th and O Streets, for the Miller & Paine Department Store (1914-1916). Berlinghof and his wife lived in the Near South neighborhood at 1515 South 21st St. Among his relatively few residential designs, those in Near South included the Yost House, the Koop House at 1401 South 15th St. (1915) and the Doyle House at 1806 D St. (1916). They demonstrate the stylistic range of his designs, and his fondness for large scale decorative elements on substantial buildings. On the Yost House, the pergola-like front porch, spanning between the carriage porch on the south and sunroom on the north, the wide eaves with huge brackets, and the red tile roof are especially distinctive features.