Richards House Bed & Breakfast — Hotel in Dubuque

I want to be perfectly honest in this review as this place does have some issues. My hope is if you stay here knowing what the issues are, your expectations will be realistic. First of all, this is not a hotel. You are staying in someone's home. If you don't have a love for old historic homes and antiques, don't stay here. If you have a love for old historic homes and antiques, I can say without hesitation that despite the issues, I would still recommend The Richards House B&B.|| ||The Good: This is the most historically intact Victorian Era home that I have ever been in (outside of a house museum). Unlike a house museum, instead of looking at the beauty from behind a rope, you actually get to walk in the room, sit in the furniture, sleep in the gorgeous beds and pretend it's 1883! The interior is absolutely stunning! The woodwork is beautiful, the antiques are amazing and there is gorgeous stained glass everywhere! Everywhere you look, you will notice little details, like original hardware, decorative tiles, built ins, light fixtures and historic wallcoverings. It is truly a feast for the eyes! The price for a room is very inexpensive and if you stay during the week, it drops $10/night. We stayed in the library suite on the first floor by the front entrance. If you are debating between the library suite and one of the regular rooms, I would say it is absolutely worth the extra $10 for the suite (if you don't mind not having a shower). The bedroom area is flanked by antique bookcases and stained glass. There is a large flat screen TV, a fireplace and a small bathroom with toilet and sink. . The other section of the suite consists of a claw foot tub in front of another fireplace and a nice sitting area. There were two window air conditioners in the sitting area and despite hot temperatures outside, it was very comfortable in the room. The bed is the most spectacular walnut half tester bed I have ever seen! The mattress was very comfortable as were the pillows. It was quiet and I did not hear any interior or exterior noises. The breakfast is delicious and plentiful! I read some reviews that said it was too over the top. If over the top is not for you, stay in a hotel and get your stale doughnuts and cereal! The highlight of any bed and breakfast is the breakfast and this one did not disappoint! Each day we had fresh orange juice, coffee, some type of baked fruit, waffles or crepes, coffee cake or muffins, bacon and quiche. It was very good and we never left hungry. The owners are quiet but they are helpful and accommodating. We enjoyed our afternoon chats with Michelle. Upstairs, there is a refrigerator filled with sodas and boxed wine. There wasn't any bottled water but the soda and wine were a nice perk and it was handy to have a fridge to put leftover food in from dinner. In addition, there is always some kind of treat left on the antique buffet for guests to enjoy. ||||The Bad: When we arrived, our hostess was babysitting for two toddlers. I felt bad for her because she seemed overwhelmed with trying to give us a tour while dealing with two crying children who didn't want to be put down. In fairness, they did allow us to arrive early so perhaps that was part of the issue. Their mother picked them up shortly after our arrival and we never saw them after that. As other reviewers have stated, we did notice a few toys strewn about in the common areas. It was not a super big deal but seeing plastic brightly colored toys does kind of detract from the amazing historic interior. As for the exterior...I am not going to lie. It is truly a hot mess! We stayed here 15+ years ago and the exterior really doesn't look any different. I own an old house so I kind of understand. Old houses can be overwhelming. I understand how little projects mushroom into bigger projects. I understand how money is earmarked for one thing and something else breaks down and gets attention first. I understand how things like plumbing and electricity are necessities that cost a lot of money but are things that no one truly appreciates (kind of like new tires for a car). I understand as we all get older, things take longer, priorities change....Believe me, I understand. I can only imagine how difficult it is to try to do repairs and upkeep while trying to run a business in your home. I'm sure the upkeep and repairs are very, very costly and if they're doing the renovation themselves, everything takes much, much longer. Fortunately, we knew what to expect when we drove up to the house but we just couldn't resist humming the theme song to The Munsters. There is scaffolding up all over the front and the front porch appears to be held up by a stack of cinder blocks. There is a floor lamp for exterior lighting on the porch--not ideal but I guess it does the trick. You will be scared to go in but I promise if you can get past the exterior, you are in for a treat when you see the interior!. Yes, the neighborhood is sketchy. I did not feel unsafe but we were generally in our room by 8-9pm. We parked our vehicle on the street. No one bothered it or us during our stay. The only time I ever heard a siren was on our last day of a 3 day stay. I hear more police sirens where I live! Our friends did complain a bit about hearing exterior "street noise" at night so I would suggest the library suite or a room towards the back of the house. Some reviewers mentioned the smell of cat pee. I will say without a doubt, I never once smelled cat pee nor saw a cat during my stay there. I will say that after returning to the room after it being closed up all day, it did have a slight odor. Definitely not cat pee, more like an "old" smell. It wasn't that bad and we didn't notice it after being in the room for a bit. Some reviews mention the noisy creaky stairs. Yes, the stairs do creak and crack. It's an old house! I creak and crack and I'm not nearly as old. It is a bit dusty. Is it dirty? I would say the common areas and rooms are generally clean. The really important things like bedding and bathrooms are clean. It is lacking in the detailed cleaning and upkeep. The curtains are dingy and are in need a good washing or replacing. There is window plastic for weather sealing that is hanging in places and needs to be replaced. There are windows that are boarded up or held together with duct tape. If you look out some of the windows by the second floor, you will notice an overflowing ash tray and beer cans in the "consruction area." I noticed a layer of dust on some of the antiques on the high shelves by the fireplaces. If you have allergies, you may want to take some medication. The carpet in the library room has some damage where there is a split running across the length of the room and there was a hole in the wall and floor behind the chair in the sitting area. The bathtub in the library suite is kind of in the open next to one of the fireplaces. It's a little bit of an odd placement but again, it's an old house. You have to work with what you've got . There is a privacy screen surrounding the back half of the tub but it is badly water stained. The pictures show a hand held shower attached to the claw foot tub. It is no longer there. I'm assuming it may have been removed due to leaking? That was not a big deal for us because we like taking baths but it might be an issue for others. The tub took (and I'm not lying) at least 30 minutes to fill. The water was nice and hot though and I enjoyed a comfortable soak once the tub was full. I realize some of the "bad" makes this place sound awful and it really isn't. The spectacular interior still outweighs all the bad. I do, however, think there are some things on the "bad" list that could be addressed easily and without a great deal of expense--such as new and/or clean curtains, decorative fabric for the privacy screen to get rid of the water stains and clean up of the "construction area" outside the second floor window. If some of the little detail issues are addressed, it makes it a lot easier to overlook the exterior. ||||The Ugly: Our friends stayed in the Blue Room. There was a large brown stain on the half tester canopy. I'm assuming it was a water stain but it looked awful and really detracted from the beautiful bed. In the library suite, the fabric had been removed from the canopy part of the tester bed. I would highly recommend this be done to the bed in the Blue Room because no one wants to lay in bed at night and look up at an ugly brown stain. Also the curtains in this room were dingy and frayed/falling apart. Two of the three days we stayed here, there was a loud argument/yelling going on in the kitchen during breakfast. Unfortunately since some other reviewers have mentioned this and the fact that it happened 2 out of 3 days, I can only assume that this might be a regular occurrence. It made all of us very uncomfortable. The room went from everyone talking laughing and enjoying breakfast to silence. You could have heard a pin drop. I hope whatever issues are going on get resolved. ||So....having given you the good, bad and ugly, would I recommend The Richards House? Yes, but only to certain people who I think can look beyond some of the bad and appreciate what is good about it. Would I stay here again? Believe it or not, ABSOLUTELY! At this point, the good outweighs the bad. Despite it's issues, it is still an amazing property and we enjoyed...

We knew ahead of time that the exterior was going through some renovations and the area it's located was not the safest. None of that bothered us, most of the interior was beautiful with some of the original material still intact. The breakfast according to my husband was ok, I did however reached out to the owner ahead of time to see if they offer vegan options and I was informed that they did and would accommodate me. The morning of, I was not offered any vegan options and was told there would be bacon and French toast. I asked Michelle if she had received my request and she simply said "I forgot, I wasn't reminded". I usually ask ahead of time as many places don't have options and I prepare ahead of time and bring something, she offered to make oatmeal and I settled for that. They had cookies and pastries throughout the house for guests to help themselves, I found that to be very thoughtful. We were also offered to help ourselves to beverages in the refrigerator located on the guest floor, that also was great if you're a soda drinker or box wine drinker, maybe bottles of water would be good idea to have too. The lack of engagement from the owners didn't sit well with us, barely spoke to us only to point out a few things, the husband didn't even say good Morning as he walked by several times during breakfast. Overall just meh. The décor in the house is lovely but a bit neglected in some areas, our room specifically was missing a curtain, streak marks on the mirror, a lot of dust on the corners of the carpet which is very noticeable, key hole broken on door and difficult to put key in and open door, there was a bunch of empty soda boxes just thrown in the corner outside our room. I immediately started itching when we got in the covers and kept scratching what appeared to be insect bites. We've shared bathrooms in the past with many other B&B's around the world and never had an issue, cleanliness however was lacking in this particular bathroom. It seems like it hasn't had a deep cleaning in a long time, the tile and edges of the shower door can use a nice dose of Tilex, it looks pretty gross to see how much mold and mildew has accumulated. The floor itself needs a good cleaning too, on the corners and behind the toilet and below the sink, not to mention the sink. I know they are working on the interior/renovating as well but attention to detail is crucial when it comes to cleanliness and it's the simplest thing that doesn't cost a thing. There was clutter in some of the common area, newspapers piled up, pictures frames on the floor that took away from some of the beautiful pieces in the house. The mud room was full of small kitchen appliances, just left on the floor along with many other items just left there that were very visible as you go up the stairs or pass by to go to the dining area. Overall, I wanted to love this place so much because we wanted to come back, we will not be returning and would not recommend this place, too many little things that added up and left a...

As many others have pointed out, the exterior & rough steps to enter this historic home belie the beauty and, yes, comfort of the amazingly restored interior. Michelle gave us a tour of the house and she is obviously and justly proud of how they managed to not only restore a home built in the 1800's, but turn it into a comfortable and well-located B&B. There were so many beautiful details - they certainly "don't build 'em like that anymore"!

As you approach on Locust St - look for the house covered with scaffolding! Don't be dismayed - you will enter a time warp after stepping through the two sets of front doors, but one with modern comforts such as good showers, fixtures, towels & toiletries, no-password wifi, air-conditioning, and a hall with homebaked goodies next to a refrigerator stocked with cold drinks for guests. Welcoming indeed! And in a most charming, antique-filled room!

The amenities provided were just right & thoughtful, too - there was a place to hang our towels, a spot to put our toiletries, and the window dressings & shades were wonderful - privacy and light in the daytime, but I was able to draw the shades in the morning so my husband could sleep a little longer.

Location is terrific, too - we walked to Dubuque's downtown for an excellent dinner, and then up stairs on the hill to admire the beautifully painted older homes - some kind of a historic district?

Breakfast was substantial (to put it mildly) and excellent - fresh strawberries, an omelette, bacon, home-baked coffee cake (Michelle gets up very early to bake it so it was warm out of the oven!), french toast with different syrups, hot drinks & OJ. Michelle & Dave are both vaccinated and they also seated guests (in the beautiful dining room & sitting area) apart from each other for social distancing with separate serving dishes for different parties. Breakfast time was flexible depending on travelers' needs/schedule. True thoughtful hospitality.

Free street parking in front of the B&B, no problem.

We are retirees from Chicago, and we were so impressed that we're considering a return to Dubuque just so we can stay at the Richards House again! Thank you,...