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The French Spy moves into Carnegie

By Katherine Mansfield staff Writer mansfield@observer-Reporter.Com 6 min read
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Photos: Katherine Mansfield/ Observer-Reporter

Tim Brock and Eva Ziegler opened The French Spy in downtown Carnegie July 22, three months after signing a lease for their historic space. The business partners have artfully filled the space with intriguing furniture and home decor, and every piece comes with an interesting story.

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Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter

Even the cash register inside The French Spy has a story: Co-owner Tim Brock, left, purchased the register from an antique store owner he shopped with when the gentleman retired. Brock and his business partner, Eva Ziegler, right, enjoy repurposing and sharing their passion for old things with customers.

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Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter

The French Spy’s co-owner Tim Brock has an affinity for general store and pharmacy-related items. This apothecary cabinet with original pools is for sale inside the beautiful storefront along East Main Street in Carnegie.

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Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter

The French Spy, an antiques boutique that opened in Carnegie in July, is filled with “items for the carefully curated home,” said Eva Ziegler, who owns the shop with her business partner Tim Brock. The duo treasure hunts for interesting items at auctions, flea markets and fairs, researches nearly every find and connects novice and established collectors alike with the wonderful pieces.

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Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter

The French Spy takes its name from Peter Chartier, who once traded in what is now Carnegie before becoming a French spy during the French and Indian War. The antiques boutique is artfully staged by owners Tim Brock and Eva Ziegler.

Tim Brock and Eva Ziegler are in the business of old things. Even their storefront in downtown Carnegie was dusted off and repurposed to bring joy to and spark inspiration in visitors.

This summer, Brock and Ziegler opened The French Spy, a boutique that caters to well-versed and novice collectors alike. Guests are greeted by a charmingly old-fashioned doorbell that signals a step back in time, into a space more akin to a movie set than the dank, dark rooms that spring to mind when one thinks “antique store.”

“We certainly are aiming to inspire people, whether they leave with nothing that day or a ton of stuff,” said Ziegler, who received a degree in art education, museums and cultural institutions from Penn State University.

The French Spy is a feast for the eyes. It’s artfully filled with historic furniture and home decor, and nearly every piece is researched by the owners. Stories attached to the Victorian couches, busts and other curious collectibles makes those pieces all the more compelling.

“I love the history behind things,” said Ziegler, who arranges binoculars atop old spy books and sets antique tables for elegant dinner parties. “That’s also how we came to choose our name.”

Brock and Ziegler met a handful of years ago at Off the Avenue Antiques in Coraopolis, where each sold carefully curated wares to loyal customer bases. Buyers often commented that someday, the two friends would have their own storefront.

“When we talked about possibly having our own shop, we both were in agreement that not only did we want it to be an antique shop where people could buy cool things, but we wanted it to be an experience,” said Brock, whose passion for antiques dates to childhood. “Regardless of whether you purchase something or not, come in, and people are going to talk about it. Like, ‘Did you see that place,’ you know, and feel a certain way when you see certain things.”

Because Ziegler and her family travel often (she accompanies her husband on business, and always spends a day searching for treasures in places like Paris and London), the enthusiastic collector wasn’t sure a brick-and-mortar was in the cards.

But earlier this year, a building owner posted his property to Facebook. Coincidentally, Brock knew the man and had always considered Carnegie a wonderful town in need of an antiques shop. He and Ziegler toured the space.

“We saw the place and we saw the exposed brick and the history of the building and three days later, we signed the lease,” he said.

Brock and Ziegler learned their storefront, which sat vacant for 12 years, served as Horowitz Cleaners in the 1950s and ’60s. Ever the historians, the business partners delved deeper into their shop’s history. The research played like a movie.

“Once we started researching the town, the building, we learned that Carnegie used to be two cities,” said Ziegler.

The two cities were Chartiers and Mansfield. Mansfield Brown owned the downtown block on which The French Spy is located.

“Pierre Chartier (char-tee-aye), later Peter Chartier … his father was a fur trader and he had a trading post that was local to here,” said Brock. “Even though he spent most of his time trading with the Indians on the Indians’ behalf, he later became a spy for the French and fought on behalf of the French in the French and Indian War.”

A plaque on The French Spy’s exterior pays homage to Mansfield Brown, and the store’s name and signage is a nod to Chartier, the spy.

“We really wanted to be historically relevant to the area and maybe an obscure piece of history that people weren’t completely familiar with, to create a little intrigue, mystery,” Ziegler said.

The French Spy certainly is intriguing. Guests are welcome to ogle the beautiful oddities, like a doctors scale last used in the 1950s to weigh in the Mt. Oliver football team or a mint-condition scientist’s microscope kept carefully in its shiny wooden case.

“We wanted it to be an experience, almost museum-like,” Ziegler said.

The business partners only curate items they themselves would display in their homes.

While Ziegler enjoys collecting and selling art and decorations (she loves the taxidermy parrot currently looking for a new home), Brock is interested in general store and pharmacy items. He loves things with drawers – old card catalogues, haberdasheries and medical cabinets.

“It’s addicting to find stuff that could have been thrown away, see how the customer repurposes it in their home and what they use it for, whether it’s a kitchen island or their closet. That’s the fun part, too,” Brock said.

Brock and Ziegler believe the past binds people together. The French Spy is living history, an awe-inspiring vessel that connects visitors to different times, cultures and people.

“Anybody can get furniture from Ikea or At Home, but when you have something that serves a purpose and you’re reusing it for something else and it has a history and it ties back to something and you can tell a story, people love that,” Brock said.

Upcycling is trendy, too, Ziegler noted, especially with climate change and sustainability frequently making news headlines.

“This is the highest form; maybe not the highest form, the most sophisticated form, of recycling,” Zeigler said. “Everything is pre-owned; there’s no energy that goes into creating these pieces. They’ve already existed. And I feel like we’re honoring pieces that have a history to them by presenting them to customers in a sophisticated way.”

Whether visitors leave with a small knick-knack to be displayed on a bookshelf or a new-to-them vintage peacock chair, Brock and Ziegler are excited. They enjoy watching people fall in love with historic items and love receiving photos of pieces in customers’ homes.

“We both have – and you can tell, as soon as you speak with us – a passion for what we do,” Brock said.

“It’s really exciting to see what people are excited about, what people are collecting,” Ziegler added with a smile. “Because we’re into the history of things, we enjoy having those conversations with customers.”

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