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The Morning Call: Bethlehem’s Rooms to View Tour: Historic treasures to modern delights
May 30th, 2017 | In The News
Written by Jennifer Sheehan for The Morning Call
When she bought her Center Valley home 11 years ago, Billee Hurley saw past the decor that wasn’t quite her style.
From the front of the home, she could see the Star of Bethlehem and enjoy an amazing woodland view from the back.
“No matter what was inside, the outside was so striking,” Hurley says.
She began to transform the French Norman-style home into a spectacular showcase featuring antique beams in her kitchen from a barn in Vermont, a sunroom with a painted ceiling by a noted Bucks County artist and a master bathroom that’s more like a spa.
Her home is one of eight you can see at the 25th annual Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites’ Rooms to View Tour, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 3 at homes in Bethlehem, Center Valley and Coopersburg. From extravagant new construction to gorgeous outdoor spaces to renovated historic beauties, the tour is celebrating its milestone year with something for everyone.
The tour features a diverse array of home styles, decor, architecture, landscaping and outdoor features, offering plenty of opportunities for you to get ideas and inspiration for your own home, says LoriAnn Wukitsch, vice president and managing director for Historic Bethlehem.
“When someone completes the tour, there’s something they can take away,” Wukitsch says. “They have learned something and it’s within reach.”
Over its quarter century, the Rooms to View Tour has evolved, starting as a program by Bethlehem’s Kemerer Museum of Decorative Arts. Wukitsch says over the years the tour has had different focuses (outdoor spaces, architecture) but now it’s back to primarily homes.
Before the tour gets officially underway, there’s a preview soiree Friday, June 2 at a spectacular home in Saucon Valley with beautiful views of the 18th hole of the Saucon Valley Country Club golf course. The home, designed by Jack Arnold, a nationally acclaimed architect of high-end authentic European cottages, was constructed from solid stone taken from a quarry in Pen Argyl. The inside of the home features gorgeous exposed 250-year-old wooden beams and antiques purchased in England, Ireland and France. (This home is on view during the preview soiree only.)
On Saturday, June 3 you can begin your tour at any of the participating homes. Here’s a little info on some of them:
* In Bethlehem, there are six architectural treasures to see.
On East Market Street, you can see a example of mid-Victorian architecture, built in 1857 with a modern addition and a custom-designed potting shed in a meticulously designed backyard.
On West Market street, there’s a home once known as the Lehman House, which had a residential portion that was once home to Ernst and later Bernard Lehman, who was an accomplished musician and artisan. Brass instruments, including trombones made for the Bethlehem Trombone Choir, were once produced in the shops behind this residence. The current owners recently converted the building to house their family business while carefully preserving the wallpaper, tile, woodwork and stained glass that are part of the home’s grand history.
Also on West Market is a Dutch Colonial that has been owned by only two families in its 100-year history. The home is meticulously restored and maintained with chestnut woodwork and vintage English wallpaper, floor-to-ceiling custom cherry cabinetry and more.
Church Street features two properties: There’s a French Second Empire home built in the 1860s, featuring architectural details such as carved doors and mantels, decorative windows with leaded, stained and cut glass, and a tiled solarium. An extensive and eclectic collection of artwork, including ceramics, glassworks and outsider art, is displayed throughout the expansive main floor. Another historic home, built in 1860, featuring a carefully preserved front door. In the 1950s, an addition was added that included a maid’s room over a mudroom that holds a recessed brick oven. Entryway wallpaper, handcrafted by Farrow & Ball in Dorset, England, ushers guests into a living room filled with artwork from the various places the current owners have lived, including New Orleans, Baton Rouge, London and the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Near the Monocacy Creek is a unique property, Conestoga Court. Its location beside a swift stream and natural waterfall first attracted early Bethlehem settlers to build it on the site in 1890. Since then, this site has been home to the Krauss Sausage Co., Avondale Farms Dairy and a corset factory for Cupid Manufacturing. In the 1980s, the building was turned into 14 condos where residents can enjoy views of Colonial Industrial Quarter.
* In Center Valley’s Weyhill Woods, there is a stone and stucco home surrounded by lush landscaping and featuring a stone patio complete with striking dry-set boulder walls and Amish red stone. Inside there’s solid custom woodwork and artwork from Bucks County artist Dot Bunn.
* In Coopersburg, there is a spacious home with an open-concept layout perfect for entertaining. The home also features impeccable decor, a renovated kitchen and a dining room filled with natural light that streams in from the French doors and surrounding windows. Outside lies a charming patio that overlooks delicate landscaping and an inviting pool complemented by a gorgeous stone pathway.
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THE DETAILS
Rooms to View House Tour
What: Eight homes in 25th annual self-guided tour presented by Historic Bethlehem
When: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, June 3
Where: Various homes in Bethlehem, Center Valley and Coopersburg
How much: Tour tickets: $40; $30, Historic Bethlehem members
What else: Preview soiree, 6-9 p.m. Friday, June 2 at a Saucon Valley home, featuring hors d’oeuvres from Catering by Karen Hunter, drinks and live music from the Peter Johann Band, $85, includes tour ticket. Post-tour wine and cheese reception 4-5:30 p.m. at the Kemerer Museum garden, reminiscent of an English Pea Gravel Courtyard, free.
Info: 800-360-TOUR, historicbethlehem.org
