It was always “The Pink House”. The house has been unoccupied most of my childhood (presumably since 1995). And so, I have seen it fall into the state it is in now. Last year, I was given the opportunity to tour through the house as I was assisting the former owners with the funding of a restoration of another structure that they had in the North Hill Historic District. It was within the tour that some of the story came alive.
Originally built in August of 1894 for the photographer, E. E. Seavy (1859–1942). The house was his second in the city, after moving from Wisconsin to open a studio.
Uncle James Henley (1829–1921) (a well-to-do hops farmer from Melbourne, Australia) came to New Castle in May of 1896 on his American-European tour. It was during this trip that the attached photo was taken, showcasing the siblings of my great-great grandfather, John Henley (1826–1906).
During my exploration of the house, I was looking up some history on E. E. Seavy when the next image appeared.—I recognized the backdrop immediately. I quickly pulled up the family portrait (then unattributed) and made a quick connection! That family photo was taken by Seavy in his studio on Mercer Street, but it was at the time that he was living in this house! Now, Seavy took photos for essentially everyone, but the fact that I recognized the backdrop at the same time as touring it, I felt compelled.
Quickly, I was interested in making an offer.
Now, we have this house. We go back and forth from “What Have We Done?” to “This is Beautiful!”. So for the first year, let’s just say the obvious… “What Have We Done!”.