Owners Mike and Sally Wilson, along with local officials, cut the ribbon on “The Mary Sachs” bed and breakfast.
About eight years ago, a historic Front Street mansion sat vacant and overgrown.
Today, owners showed off the property, “The Mary Sachs,” fully renovated and ready to open as a bed and breakfast.
“We are so excited,” said Mike Wilson, who owns and operates the building with his wife Sally Wilson. “It’s so awesome.”
“The Mary Sachs” is the second property included in The Manor on Front Bed & Breakfast, owned by the Wilsons. Their neighboring mansion, “The Ledgestone,” opened in 2015. Both properties are on the 2900-block of N. Front Street, overlooking the Susquehanna River.
The mansion, built in 1926, was bought close to a decade later by Harrisburg’s Mary Sachs, a world-renown clothier and philanthropist, said Jeb Stuart of the Historic Harrisburg Association (HHA). Sachs lived in the home until she passed away in 1960. It later became an attorney’s office and then sat abandoned, he said.
In 2005, the two mansions, including a third next door, were slated for demolition, explained Mayor Eric Papenfuse. Community members came together to protest the demolition, with nearly 100 people gathering for a march that year, he said.
“It’s extraordinary,” Papenfuse, who marched against the demolition in 2005, said. “The building has come back to its former glory.”
The front entryway at “The Mary Sachs.”
The bed and breakfast was renovated and designed with a more contemporary, glam feel, Mike said. It contains six suites and common sitting areas. Guests can book a stay in the “Chanel (Coco) Suite,” the “Valentina (Schlee) Suite,” and the “Jeanne (Lanvin) Suite,” among others. They are all named after female fashion designers of the 1930s and ’40s.
Mike said that rooms will be open for booking as early as next week.
Work on “The Mary Sachs” has been ongoing since the Wilsons purchased the property in 2014, Mike said. However, they were waiting to open a second bed and breakfast location while the first grew. While COVID delayed the opening by about a year, Mike said that they’ve now reached an occupancy level of close to 90% in “The Ledgestone.”
The renovation of “The Mary Sachs” cost about $500,000 and included an investment of hundreds of hours of work, Mike said.
The building provides room to grow, and the Wilsons already have plans to add three more suites on the third floor and in the carriage house out back, Mike said.
A historical marker across the street tells the story behind “The Mary Sachs” mansion.
Additionally, David Morrison, executive director of HHA, pointed out the city’s newest historical marker that sits across Front Street, directly in front of “The Mary Sachs.” The signage tells the history behind the building and the woman who it is named after. The historical sign is one of about 120 in the area.
Mike said that they are excited to welcome additional guests to their new space, many of which come from surrounding cities, but also from “all over the world.”
“My wife and I love architecture,” he said. “We absolutely loved renovating these.”
The Manor on Front is located at 2917 N. Front St., Harrisburg. For more information, visit their website.
If you like what we do, please support our work. Become a Friend of TheBurg!
