Full house for Zelienople Christmas home tour
ZELIENOPLE — The people lined up in the rain and wind Saturday morning behind St. Peter’s Reformed Church, 320 E. Grandview Ave., weren’t hoping to score the latest must-have Christmas toy.
They were waiting to get a glimpse of the homes and businesses featured in the Zelienople Historical Society’s 29th Annual Christmas Home Tour.
After turning in their tickets for the door prize drawing to take place during the tour’s noon luncheon at the church, the viewers were given a sheet with directions and information about the 11 locations on the tour, as well as masks and shoe covers.
Marietta Reeb, of the society’s ways and means committee, said the tour, the society’s biggest fundraiser, was completely sold out of its 155 tickets.
The tour ran from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a one-hour break at noon for lunch and an annual quilt drawing.
Reeb said it wasn’t hard to line up homes willing to host the tour.
“People are very cooperative and very generous with their time,” she said.
Gary and Mare Miller of Zelienople were repeat tour guests.
Gary Miller said, “We’ve gone quite a few times. Each house is unique, and you get a lot of ideas, decorating ideas.”
Mare Miller said, “When you drive by, you don’t see what you can by being in the house.”
“What I notice is the warmth of the people we meet. They are very welcoming. It’s very enjoyable,” said Gloria Shoemaker of Sewickley.
Beth Madrishin of Ross Township, Allegheny County, said the tour was a chance to spend time with her friends, Kathy Selvaggio of Grove City and Sarah Yetman of Zelienople.
Yetman said, “We like to know the historical aspects of our town.” She praised the tour’s organizers. “It’s very well organized; they are on it.”
Just up Grandview Avenue within walking distance of the church, Bob and Mindy Spirk were welcoming tour-goers into their 1910 country-style Victorian home.
“We’ve gone on the tour several times. We wanted to show off the house,” said Bob Spirk, who bought the house and moved to Zelienople when he retired in 2014. He grew up in Allison Park and spent 30 years in Harrisburg. The Spirks decided to move back to Western Pennsylvania to be closer to family.
He said they redid part of the house, including rebuilding the front porch steps and reinstalling the original iron porch railing and adding antique corbels over the entrance to the porch.
The Spirks wanted an old house to show off their collection of antiques.
“I collect antiques, mostly Victorian late 1800s, early 1900s. I refinished most of the antiques. I like to buy project pieces and restore them,” he said.
He directed visitors’ attention to the firearm mounted on one wall.
“That was my wife’s great-grandfather’s gun from the Civil War. My great-grandfather was in the 6th Cavalry at Gettysburg. I’m a Civil War history buff,” he said.
Two doors down, Cathy Gilg welcomed visitors into 328 Grandview Ave., a Sears & Roebuck Catalog Home built in 1914 that has been converted into a guesthouse.
Gilg said there are several Sears & Roebuck Catalog homes on the street. “They were a rebellion against the gingerbread homes,” she said.
Gilg said Pat Boylan, owner of the neighboring Boylan Funeral Home, wanted to have a guesthouse that offered a place to rest or even stay overnight for relatives coming to town for a funeral. She designed the four rooms on the first floor and four rooms on the second with this use in mind.
“I tried to make it so there are little individual sitting areas, so people can gather in the different rooms. There is a full dining room and full kitchen and a laundry room — just about everything anyone would need,” she said. “I wanted to make it comfortable for people so they don’t have to stay at a hotel.”
