CBS News Remembering Charles Curtis, the first Native American vice president two domes. "My mom loved the house; it's probably one of the prettiest houses in Topeka," said Patty Dannenberg. Her parents, Nova and Don Cottrell, purchased the local landmark in 1993. "It hadn't been well cared for. It needed a lot of work," Dannenberg said. Although the couple was retired, they spent the next 25 years painstakingly restoring the home's parquet flooring, gleaming chandeliers and stained glass, eventually opening it to the public as a museum, dedicated to the man who once lived there: Charles Curtis. Dannenberg said, "I don't think many people around really knew much about him or realized how remarkable he was."