Breeze Hill in Bellevue Park
In August, an EF-1 tornado ripped through parts of Harrisburg’s heavily wooded Bellevue Park community.
Unfortunately, it damaged several homes slated to be featured in Historic Harrisburg Association’s annual Candlelight House Tour.
David Morrison, HHA’s executive director, gave the owners the opportunity to opt out, but they insisted that their homes would be ready, even decorated for the season, come Dec. 8.
“Every homeowner wanted the community to see they were recovering, and Bellevue is still a great neighborhood,” Morrison said.
Coincidentally, the house tour arose from another natural disaster.
The tour started in 1973, shortly after HHA’s founding, following the devastation caused by flooding from Hurricane Agnes, which prompted residents to focus on preserving the city’s history.
This year’s self-guided tour, the 51st, focuses on three clusters of Harrisburg: Bellevue Park, Uptown and in the Capitol district. Bellevue Park, Morrison said, features a unique history dating back to the early 1900s.
J. Horace McFarland, a local Harrisburg businessman and civic leader, partnered with landscape designer Warren H. Manning of Boston to create Pennsylvania’s first landscaped suburb. McFarland and Manning outlined the streets by following the land’s natural contours instead of the more typical grid design.
“In 1909, designing a neighborhood that respected the environment was pretty radical,” Morrison said.
He said that many of the properties on the tour are usually closed to the public.
Near the Capitol, tour attendees can view modern dwellings housed inside historic buildings. Their exteriors look the same as they did when first built, but their interiors have been remodeled to accommodate modern design schemes and comforts.
“The public has become far more sophisticated when it comes to historic preservation,” Morrison said. “I always marvel at the creativity.”
House Curious
Morrison said the buildings’ inclusion on the tour reflects a recent trend to renovate former commercial spaces for residential dwellings.
“People like and want old buildings,” he said.
Louisa Eyler is one of those people. Eyler’s affinity for old houses began in her childhood home in Dillsburg, which was built in 1731.
A few years ago, she purchased 511 N. 2nd St. and a property in the rear of the lot, rehabbed them, and began a short-term rental business. Eyler said that most of her guests are families looking for a central gathering place.
Eyler said that she focuses on what the house needs when decorating it. She kept the original stained radiators but added custom heat covers for safety.
A friend’s home was on last year’s tour, and Eyler was impressed with the guests’ sincere interest in Harrisburg’s history.
“The people on the tour were curious,” she said. “It wasn’t a parade of trespassers.”
Eyler hopes that the tour sparks others’ interest in preserving old properties.
“If you take care of it, it will take care of you,” she said.
Other spots, such as St. Lawrence Catholic Church and Grace United Methodist Church on State Street, are largely the same since they were founded in 1918 and 1871, respectively.
The Pennsylvania Governor’s Residence on Front Street, built in 1968, is one of the tour’s mainstays.
Tour attendees will receive a program book that serves as their ticket. It contains information on each property and a map of their locations. Participants can visit the sites in any order they wish. Some attempt to view them all, Morrison said, while others choose their personal must-sees. A few of the locations are walkable from one another, while some require a vehicle.
Morrison is pleased that the city has shifted from preservationists being viewed as adversaries to partners. Harrisburg consists of seven municipal historic districts and four national historic districts, so there are many stories within the city’s boundaries.
“It’s quite possible that someone may go on the tour, be inspired by what owners have done with their property, and take on a project of their own,” Morrison said.
Historic Harrisburg Association’s 51st annual Candlelight House Tour takes place Dec. 8, 1 to 6 p.m. Tickets are available at the HHA Resource Center, 1230 N. 3rd St., and at www.historicharrisburg.org.
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