The Haunted Bookshop

The house went up in 1847 for Jacob Wentz, a German immigrant shoemaker. It was cut into apartments long before it held books. Native stone, Greek Revival, two storeys, National Register since 1974 — one of the few native stone houses left in Iowa City, and rarer still for having two floors. Nialle Sylvan bought the shop from Tom and Jen Fast in 2004 and moved it here in 2013, its fourth address. The name comes from Christopher Morley's novel. Ten rooms. More than eighty sections, over 50,000 titles, roughly 14,000 of them searchable online first. The room to find is Weldon's, which holds the Iowa writing and the food books. Seven used bookshops once stood downtown; this is the one left, and its tax bill has gone from $6,000 a year to $12,000.