I believe it is the family of the original owner of the house (J.C. Buruss) who are restoring it.
If it's someone from the Burrus family, that's very interesting. Back in 2004, they were trying to unload it. It was on the market for a mere $60,000...but with the stipulation that whoever was to buy it had to restore it to its "former grandeur." It was the featured house of This Old House magazine's "Save this old house" monthly column in the January/February 2004 issue. The article stated that Burrus heirs did put a new tin roof on it after a 2003 tornado tore off the roof and water massively infiltrated and accelerated decay, but they let it get into a pretty bad state;the article also said that it had not been lived in full-time since
1917!!
Anyway, the '04 article apparently is not available online (I happen to have a paper copy), but the house was featured a few years later in This Old HOuse's "Save this old house: Update" feature, where they go back and see what has happened to houses that were featured in the past. Here is a link of that column:
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20210666_20479044,00.htmlIt doesn't say when the update article was published, but it does say that "a new owner" is "patching it up and replacing the columned façade that blew off during a 2003 tornado." It also states that they weren't able to track this owner down, but if it ultimately is the Burrus' that are doing this, it's great that they finally are able to do what they wanted done in '04.
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