Our friends at limeworks.us put together this video about their work on a Victorian house restoration for Alfred’s Victorian Restaurant in Middletown, PA.
httpv://youtu.be/nf7F3B1QQT4
History of the House
Middletown is Dauphin County’s oldest community. Located halfway between Lancaster and Carlisle. Quaker George Fisher, on the site of an earlier Native-American village, laid out the town in 1755. Middletown was an important 19th century manufacturing and transportation center along the Union and Pennsylvania Canals, and the Pennsylvania Railroad.
North Union Street was the most fashionable boulevard west of Philadelphia. In the 19th century, Charles Raymond, partner in the Raymond & Campbell Stove Works, built this mansion in 1888. Designed by architect Joseph Dise of SpringGlen, PA. The house is constructed of brownstone from the Hummelstown Brownstone Quarries nearby. Charles W. Raymond eventually overextended himself with the extravagance of the mansion, and in 1896 it became the property of the Middletown National Bank for the benefit of his creditors. In 1898, Redsecker Young purchased the mansion for $6,600.00. Four years later in 1902, Simon Cameron Young bought it. He eventually bequeathed it unto his family, Emma and Eliza whose ghosts, some say, still dwell within. In 1949, Herman and Sara Baum began their twenty-year residence in the mansion.
Victorian House Restoration and Adaptive Reuse
Alfred Pellegrini of Hershey purchased the Raymond-Young Mansion at 38 North Union Street. The property’s craftsmanship, strength, and beauty gave the Pellegrini family a vision for renovation to create a unique setting for memorable dining. Orginal fixtures were repaired, walnut, cherry and chestnut woods were polished, and stained glass was cleaned to reveal striking beauty. The Burgundy Room’s original wallpaper was restored while the other rooms were covered in reproduction prints
In July of 1970, the restaurant opened its doors for business. It has grown into a Central Pennsylvania landmark and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Through the years, the back yard has been turned into the chef’s herb garden and dining has been added, al fresco, under the magnolia tree. Alfred’s Victorian has grown into a Central PA landmark, winning awards of local and national acclaim. The Pellegrini’s second generation continues the tradition of dining excellence in the Harrisburg area.
Alfred’s Victorian Restaurant is still a cornerstone of the town and current owner Robin Pellegrini was determined to restore it in an appropriate manner while also being conscious of the environmental impact. The LimeWorks.us Technical Install Team went to work using Natural Hydraulic Lime mortars and Lithomex to repair in-kind any damaged or missing brick, stone and mortar.
100 years after its original construction, Alfred’s Victorian couldn’t look better!