Preservation is Everyone's Business
This Sunday Historic York, Inc. will be holding its annual Historic House Tour, minus the houses. Instead, the organization adopted the theme of “Preservation is Everyone’s Business” to promote the importance of historic preservation within a business context. The downtown York tour will feature several notable buildings that are historic in nature. Some, like the Yorktowne Hotel, still serve the same purpose for which they were built. Others, like the Zachariah Spangler House, were adaptively reused for other purposes.
The fundraising event will be held on Sunday, October 7 from 12 noon to 5 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to stop by an open house at the Architectural Warehouse after touring the businesses. The newly relocated Warehouse is at 465 East Prospect Street. The Yorktowne Hotel will serve as the kick-off point for tours.
This year, Historic York, Inc. is offer walking tours. Participants will be able to tour the inside of the featured buildings, and learn architectural history in between!
Featured buildings include:
Yorktowne Hotel – TOUR HQ
48 East Market Street
This grand 1920s hotel is a Historic Hotel of America, a designation from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Philip A. Small House
(Lafayette Club)
53 East Market Street
This Greek Revival mansion was constructed by one of York’s most prominent citizens and has housed the Lafayette Club for several decades.
Zachariah Spangler House
114 East Market Street
Zachariah Spangler was a sheriff in York in the 19th century, and his home provides a rare glimpse of the Federal style so prominent in York during the late 1700s and early 1800s.
Iron Gate Antiques
120 East Market Street
Located in the former Jewish Community Center, the beautiful parlor of Iron Gate Antiques takes visitors back to another era. With a coffee shop and large antique hall, the building showcases how to reuse a prominent building for retail.
York Water Company
130 East Market Street
The Neoclassical building is unique to the area in two ways: first, its beautifully restored ceiling frescos that incorporate water stories from various mythologies; second, the columns on its front façade feature Egyptian-inspired palm capitals.
Manufacturers Association Building
25 North Duke Street
Now home to multiple office suites, this 20th century building was recently restored to the era when York City was the hub of the regional manufacturing industry.
Spahr House
(Kling Bros. Insurance)
43 West King Street
The Spahr family constructed two homes on the first block of West King Street, and this Queen Anne building has many beautiful high-style features that showcased the family’s wealth and success.
Tickets are $10 for the walking tour / site visits or $5 to just visit the sites. For more information, contact Historic York at 717-843-0320. This year’s event is being sponsored by LSC Design, Strathmeyer Forests, and Wagman’s Urban Group.
