Homestead Restorations

The front facade of Heller House  remained largely unchanged since Michael Heller built it and four  generations of Stevers owned it, that is until the 1930s, when the owner  “updated” the house, turning it into a Colonial Revival farm house.  

First, a white Colonial Revival porch with two columns was built with two sets of stone steps leading away from the house. 

This  present front porch which did not exist in the original plan as seen in  earlier photographs, is constructed of a barrel vault-ceiling, and  supported by two wooden columns. A wrought iron banister and handrail  was anchored into the concrete porch floor and into the stone walls of  the house for support.

The front door entry was also modernized:  the entire wall the width and height of the hall was removed and  replaced with a Colonial front door, flanked by two narrow side lights.  An arched colonial-style transom window replaced the simple, original  rectangular panes over the door.

The basement was excavated, its  contents removed and deposited in front of the house forming a terraced  bank of earth. This elevated the soil line considerably, raising the  lawn to its present height.
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Miraculously though, beneath the  overhang of the roof over the fascia, original woodworking details  seemingly remain untouched since the time first applied.  In all  likelihood, the exterior stone was not covered in stucco. 

By  December, the cellar was pressure-washed several times with a chlorine  solution to eradicate mold and mildew. After cleaning and establishing  adequate lighting, assessments on the condition of the beams were made.  The discovery of moisture wicking through the mortar at ground level  contributed to rotting the butts of the floor beams. Dampness and the  presence of termites contributed to instability of the building. Coupled  with dry rot in other places of the beams required the installation of  new lumber. 

Posts were installed on the concrete floor against  the walls where floor beams butted into the walls, and a lintel enabled  the floor above to rest on these supports. Erickson used non-arsenic  preservative posts and lintels which should render the structure stable  at the cellar level for many years. 

Two WWI steel I-beams from  nearby Bethlehem Steel Corp. installed in the 1930s support the center  floor above, further indicating dampness as the culprit weakening the  beams.
An old inadequate furnace was removed along with early knob and tube electric service.  

On the first  floor, the kitchen required intensive restoration by removing the floor,  starting on the northwest corner. This revealed evidence of a doorway  which opened opposite the south wall of the Heller House, giving easy  access to the nearby root cellar. 

The fireplace hearth and  beehive oven were restored back to their original condition with the  removal of stone and debris, “enough to fill a dump truck,” said  Erickson. The beehive oven requires an exterior door to remove burned  ash, according to Erickson, which was sealed over years earlier. The  chimney still needs work to draw an adequate draft up the flue so smoke  doesn’t billow into the room.

The kitchen ceiling was  re-plastered. As in the cellar, the knob and tube electric service was  removed from the kitchen and the entire building. New electric service  was installed according to code, allowing period wall lights to  illuminate the rooms.

The second floor interior walls revealed a  few surprises: horse and hog hair mixed with the mortar for the stone  walls, then several layers of plaster covered the stone. The discovery  of a thin layer of canvas, most likely adhered to the plaster with wheat  paste was covered with a lime green and/or red oxide paint applied on  the surface.

The attic floor was cleaned of a layer of coal dust. This enabled air conditioning duct work to be concealed.

With  the foresight of former owners and a little bit of luck, Erickson  discovered in the nearby garage all of the original exterior doors to  the Widow’s House with original hardware. Once cleaned and stripped of  several layers of paint, the doors will be hung in their perspective  doorways.

Lastly, all c.1950 aluminum storm windows and screens  were removed. Future projects include the restoration of original  windows, from mullions to glass. 

When the two original door  entries into the building are installed and the restored doors hung, the  two porches in front of the doors will be researched and rebuilt. These  were removed well after 1923 with new ownership, and depending on their  condition, may have been removed due to their age and condition        

During the mid-1930s, the most profound and modern alterations occurred to the interior of the house. 

In  the hall, a colonial-style staircase replaced an earlier one,  and narrow oak flooring was applied over the original wide planks. One
room  on the second-floor shows evidence of original chair rail in  the plaster. The doors appear to be original. Since no electric  service existed, a central circuit box was installed in the basement,  providing full electric service throughout the house. Telephone service  was available as lines were installed on Friedensville Road.    

The installation of a coal-burning furnace, later converted to fuel oil, heated hot water for cast iron radiators in every room.

Plumbing  was retro-fitted from the basement to the second floor. Replacing an  earlier wood-burning hearth, the kitchen was modernized twice: once in  the 1930s and again in the 1950s. 

A sun-room was added off the kitchen’s south wall, the floor concealing an ancient hand-dug, brick-lined well.

Two  bathrooms were added at this time—a powder room off the kitchen on the  first floor, and a full bathroom over the kitchen on the second.

The random-width flooring planks seen in most of the rooms were cut from nearby woodlands. 

A pristine attic still features original floor planks, lath and plaster walls, and peg and beam roof construction. 

Saw  blade marks made by the sawmill are still visible as are the chiseled  Roman numerals, indicating the placement of beams during construction.   

The  Widow’s House, built in 1850, was the home of Peter and Anna Stever.  Peter was the brother of Baltzer Stever—second owner of Heller  Homestead. The Widow’s House eventually became a rental property for  tenants after the 1930s.

The  kitchen required intensive restoration by removing the floor, starting  on the northwest corner. This revealed evidence of a doorway which  opened opposite the south wall of the Heller House. A second door was  originally placed in front of the building where a window is at present.

​The  fireplace hearth and beehive oven were restored back to their original  condition. The chimney still needs work to draw an adequate draft up the  flue.

When the two  original and restored entry doors are installed and window shutters  replaced, the two front porches will be researched and rebuilt. These  were removed well after 1923 due to their age and condition.