Former Bush family home to become a museum

The dilapidated little bungalow that briefly housed two future US presidents named Bush in California more than a half-century ago will be turned into a museum.

“My hope is that kids will come here and say if two presidents lived right here in Bakersfield, maybe I can accomplish great things too,” said the home’s owner, Republican political consultant Mark Abernathy, who also plans to build a children’s reading centre in the back garden.

George and Barbara Bush rented the two-bedroom, 950-square-foot white frame house on Monterey Street with their three-year-old son, George W, while the elder Bush was working as an oil-field equipment salesman.

Kern County officials approved the museum project last month. The long-vacant home’s hardwood floors are mostly covered by green shag carpeting, and a chain-link fence surrounds the property.

Abernathy said the museum project will be funded by private donations. The museum is due to open in 2007.