FARMINGTON — It's been two years since Bob Aamodt bought the rock home built in 1880 by Walter Grover. After 11 months of construction, he's ready to open the home to the public.

Aamodt will hold an open house today from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. to show off the home's 2-feet-thick walls and various other historical features of the home.

After today, Aamodt's wealth-management business, Bob Aamodt Inc., will reside there. According to a news release from Aamodt, the home at 630 N. Main is one of 37 such rock homes in Farmington.

Aamodt told the Deseret News that he had been doing business at an office in western Kaysville and, while passing through Farmington in 2006, noticed the 1,100-square-foot home was for sale.

He stopped in, talked to the owner, got a vision for what the home could be and made an offer.

"For a long time, it's needed some tender love and care," Aamodt said.

Over nearly the past year, that's what Aamodt has done, sinking more than $500,000 into the home to expand its footprint from 1,100 square feet to 4,000, adding replica windows and doors and adding decor and furnishings to evoke the building's pioneer heritage.

Aamodt said he had to request a rezone for the home and was instructed by city officials to preserve the home's look and feel.

Aamodt's news release details the home's history:

Walter Grover was 19 years old when he began building the home for his mother, Elizabeth, the sixth plural wife of Thomas Grover. The home became Elizabeth's permanent residence.

Walter Grover began by chopping logs in Farmington canyons and hauling rock from the city's foothills. Sand and clay for the mortar came from the shores of the Great Salt Lake.

The pioneer heritage was important to Aamodt because his great-great-grandfather, Leonard Rice, helped settle Farmington, and a conference room in Aamodt's new office is dedicated to the Rice family.

"I saw this structure as a great opportunity to preserve a part of this town's wonderful pioneer legacy and some of my own family heritage," he said in the news release.

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E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com