Public invited to tour historic Brownlee House in honor of 175th year
The Historic Samuel T. Brownlee House established in 1848
An authentic 1855 Chickering Piano, which was the first antique item donated for the Brownlee House, and the Brownlee Harp are on display in the Music Room.
Samuel T. Brownlee & Catherine Clark Brownlee
Eighty Four – The Washington County Community Foundation will open the doors of the historic Samuel T. Brownlee House in honor of the home’s 175th anniversary.
The open house will be held Thursday, Aug. 24, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the house, located at 1253 Route 519 in Eighty Four.
Built in the antebellum period when the United States flag had only 30 stars, James K. Polk served as president, and the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 ignited the women’s suffrage movement in the United States, the Brownlee House has weathered many storms, both political and physical.
Samuel T. Brownlee commissioned the house to be built on the family’s sprawling sheep farm as a wedding gift to his wife, Catherine Clark, in 1848. From a written account from Charles Miller who owned the house when it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, it is believed that most of the materials to construct the house were obtained locally.
The Brownlee House is a two-and-a-half story, five-bay, brick house of the Georgian-Greek Revival style, which was popular in the region in the 19th century. The brick portion of the house is Georgian, also referred to as Federal style, with a symmetrical floor plan consisting of a center hall flanked on both the right and left by two rooms. The Greek Revival elements on the exterior include the six Ionic columns of the verandah and dentil molding on the cornice.
James D. Van Trump, notable architectural historian and co-founder of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, prepared the National Registry application, writing “The Brownlee House is one of the best preserved and well-maintained formal Georgian-Greek Revival Houses in Washington County.”
Over time many families owned the former farmhouse, and used it as either a primary or summer residence. When William and Saundra Stout owned the house, they used it to run their family business. In December 2013, the Stouts donated the house to the community foundation for its use and for the enjoyment of the community.
A multi-phase rehabilitation project of more than $1 million followed, and was completed in March 2020. As the result of those efforts, local historian and coordinator of the Washington County History and Landmarks Foundation, Sandy Mansmann, referred to the house rehabilitation as “a jewel in the preservation crown of Washington County.”
The Scotch-Irish Heritage Rooms on the first floor represent how an immigrant family whose hard work gained wealth in “the new world” might have lived in Washington County during that period. Multiple references to the national flower of Scotland, the thistle, are visible throughout the Heritage Rooms, including a thistle-bordered floor cloth in the Heritage Hallway and the Brownlee Harp, a Celtic harp crowned with a thistle carving. The Brownlee Harp, made by Marini Made Harps and displayed in the Music Room, is a hand-crafted historic reproduction. The Music Room also features an authentic 1855 Chickering piano in pristine condition. Both instruments are played by local musicians at various functions held throughout the year and will be played during the open house.
A former two-story, three-bay garage added to the house in the 1970s was repurposed to resemble a carriage barn on the exterior, and is adorned with a sheep weathervane, a nod to the prominence of sheep farming in 19th century Washington County. Inside, the first floor provides an accessible meeting and education space, and the second-floor provides five employee work stations. Other foundation workstations are located on the second floor of the historic section of the building.
Open house attendees will have the opportunity to tour the building, and learn more the building’s history. Light refreshments will be served. There is no cost to attend the open house, but registration via wccf.net or 724-222-6330 is requested. Those unable to attend are invited to take a virtual tour of the house on wccf.net.