Christmas abounds at the home of Phillip and Dahlia Finch, 831 Constitution.
The home is bedecked inside and out with holiday cheer in preparation for the Holiday Home Tour. The house is adorned with more than 8,000 lights on the outside and required three to four days to complete the decorations.
The home, also known as the Keebler-Stone House, is a nine-room house that was built by Iva J. Keebler, whose initials are carved into the seat just inside the east entrance vestibule. The house was built in 1886 and 1887.
The Finches purchased the 3,500-square-foot home seven years ago. Phillip French said he fell in love with the house because of its Victorian architecture. French had lived in San Francisco and admired the Victorian architecture there.
“This house is much nicer than the other ones there,” French said.
The Queen Anne style home is another design of architect Charles Squires. Keebler sold the house to Charles A. Boyle, who sold it to Mr. and Mrs. William T. Stone. It was as the residence of their daughter, E. Anna Stone, that the house is best known.
E. Anna Stone was a piano teacher from the 1890s until her retirement. She also was a faculty member at Emporia State University. After her death in 1961, the house changed hands several times until it was purchased by John and Carol Samples who began to restore it in the late 1970s.
Richard and Barbara Robins continued the restoration after the Samples. In 1983, during the removal of exterior paint, a fire started on the north side of the house. The fire did not do major damage to the house, but it provided an opportunity for the house to be completely restored.
The Keebler-Stone house is an example of a Free Classic, Queen Anne cottage with a hipped roof with lower cross gables. The irregular roof shape and dominant wrap-around porch are hallmarks of this style. In true Queen Anne fashion, the Keebler-Stone house has few plain wall surfaces.
The house sports a smorgasbord of visual style changes with multiple shingle types on the main body of the house and the porch, sunburst patterns above the porch, palladian and leaded-glass windows and cornice-line details.
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The Queen Anne-style home of Steve and Beth Hanschu, 827 Mechanic St., was built in 1895 by Lindley M. Harris.
Steve Hanschu said when the couple moved into the home in 1986, they did a bit remodeling, but not much. They have updated the kitchen, removed paneling and taken up carpet. They have also rebuilt the back porch and added a bathroom.Their home is filled with a collection of pieces purchased at auction or inherited from family.
Throughout the home, remnants of the past include a fixture that was once gas and electric powered, just in case electricity was just a “fad.”
“People weren’t so sure if it was going to stay or not,” Hanschu said.
The Hanschus are only the third owners of the home that Harris built. Harris was a carpenter and contractor by trade. The small room at the top of the stairs was his drafting room.
The home was in the Harris family for many years. One of Harris’ daughters, Achsah May, was a member of the Emporia State University faculty from 1890 to 1936. She was a poet and taught in elementary education. Another daughter, Laura Stahl, lived in the house until the mid-1950s until it was sold to Ina Borman.
Borman was a faculty member at ESU for nearly 40 years. She was a science teacher and was instrumental in establishing the International Science Fairs. Following Borman’s death in 1986, the Hanschus purchased the house.
The exterior of the Harris-Borman house features a mid-course belt of fish scale shingles and double front gable. The east and north parlor windows feature sawtooth wood trim.
A porch is located on each side of the house. The front door and south doors are etched and have stain-glass windows. A two-story bay window is on the south side of the house.
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Christmas is coming to the H.C. Cross house, 526 Union St., — once Bob and Debbi Rodak get Hallloween cleaned up, anyway.
The mansion that once belonged to Emporia’s first mayor has become well-known for elaborate spooky-season displays. But with the trick-or-treaters long gone, the Rodaks have been trying to clear away the caskets and cobwebs. In their place will come Victorian Christmas ornaments, non-traditional Santa figures and a 9-foot-tall Christmas tree.
Restoration is still a long way from completion on the house itself. But with the 150th anniversary of Emporia coming up next year, the Rodaks said they believed they had to open their house to the community this holiday season.
The Victorian mansion, built in 1893 and 1894, was designed by noted Emporia architect Charles Squires. Mayor Harrison Cross lived in the home, but not for long. Six months after he moved in, he died from heart failure while on a business trip.
His wife, Susan, lived in the house until her death in 1902. Since then, it has had a number of identities. It’s been Meffert Hospital, the Mouse Palace Motel and even the home for two different fraternities and a sorority. One of those fraternities, Phi Sigma Epsilon, later merged with Phi Sigma Kappa. As it happens, the Kappas are helping decorate part of the house for the homes tour.
Visitors will be able to see the entire house except for the basement and a second-floor bedroom and sitting room that is being used for storage. That still leaves a lot to see, including a huge oak staircase that dominates the entry hall.
And while it’s clear that there’s a long way to go on the restoration, a lot of the invisible but essential work has been done. Since buying the house in 1999, the Rodaks have had it rewired, replumbed, and the foundation re-pointed. They’ve also installed air conditioning and hot water heaters.
“It’s not just putting lipstick on the house,” Bob Rodak said. “My intent is to make sure this place is still standing 100 years after we’re gone. That’s a slow process.”
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The home of Sheri and Scott McGuire and daughter, Brittany, contains many components of the Queen Anne style of architecture.
The house at 901 Merchant St., originally built in 1902 by W. A. Given, was sold in 1920 to Frank and Minnie Berg.
Frank Berg was a custodian for the Emporia school system for many years and his wife taught school. The Bergs’ son, Carl, married Marie Specht in a small ceremony that took place in front of the curved glass window of the house.
After the Bergs moved from the home about 40 years later, it changed hands many times and primarily was used as a rental property.
Sam and Lisa Tosti purchased the house in 1992 and converted it into a bed and breakfast.
An eyecatching feature of the house is a curved, wrap-around porch with conical roof turret.
A projecting bay window is located on the south side of the house, with ornamented corner brackets between the first and second floors. The bay window breaks the straight line of the facade, which is another typical feature of the Queen Anne period.
The main front door opens into a foyer that features an oval window and access to the front parlor. The first floor originally held two parlors, a dining room and kitchen. A fireplace in the dining room was removed at some point in the past.
Woodwork throughout the house features an egg-and-dart motif at the top of the door moldings. Speculation is that the L-shaped staircase originally was open to the ground floor. The second floor has a serpentine hallway with curved walls. A dining room, living room, two bedrooms, bath, and kitchen have been made from the five original bedrooms, creating a self-contained suite that can be used for the bed and breakfast, or as the site of murder mystery experiences.
Sharon Ewing of Designs by Sharon will meet with the McGuires to determine the holiday decorations that will be most appropriate for the historic house. Each of the three areas — the Romantic Suite, the Mahogany Suite and the upstairs apartment — will be decorated for the season.
“Designs by Sharon will come in and do some of the floral stuff for us,” Sheri McGuire said as her husband prepared to hang Christmas lights. “I don’t know what she’s got planned. I’m anxious to see it.”