Wesley on Grand Celebrates History & Future

Thursday, July 6th, 2023

Last week, WelseyLife celebrated the grand opening of Wesley on Grand, the organization’s flagship Community for Health Living located in the heart of Iowa’s vibrant capital city, Des Moines.

The Wesley on Grand campus — formerly known as Wesley Acres — offers residents a variety of living options with access to on-site fine dining, wellness center and events as well as convenience of nearby restaurants, shopping and entertainment.

To modernize and improve the campus, WesleyLife partnered with Pope Design Group to design a strategic $25 million renovation with enhancements to amenity spaces, including a new auditorium, new/remodeled wellness space, updated dining areas for the Central and Grand building, and a new vision and design for the historic Chamberlain building (which is on the National Register of Historic Places).

The cornerstone of the campus is the Chamberlain Mansion. Completed in 1904 as the home of D.S. Chamberlain, the mansion transitioned to a home for aging adults in 1949, initiating the beginning of WesleyLife. From the very beginning, the Chamberlain Mansion has been the inspiration behind this flagship campus.