How exciting! The Rapp Houses are finally open for tours once again. Reviews are glowing! Time to come out to Old Economy Village again and see the magnificent changes. Just to give you a glimpse of what you might see, look at the pictures below. But, we don't want to give too much away, because [...]
This past week saw all of the large furnishings moving into the Rapp Houses. Brian Howard of Carlisle, PA and his crew did the hard moving job. Also this week, White Marsh Interiors installed curtains and bed hangings in George and Frederick Rapp's bedrooms. Thanks to Bert Laudenslager and David Sell for their beautiful work! [...]
This week four of six rooms and two staircases received carpeting. The room carpets are facsimiles of original ingrain carpet from the Old Economy Village collection produced by the Langhorne Carpet Company of Penndel, Pennsylvania. The stair carpets were woven by Family Heirloom Weavers of Red Lion, Pennsylvania. Two more carpets are still at the [...]
Yes, the wallpaper is finally being hung in the Rapp Houses! Everyone is so excited to see it, because we've waited and worked on this for YEARS! We are still in the production phase for three wallpapers, so more will come probably in September. But for now, take a peak at the new look of [...]
It has been eight long weeks since the last post (sorry about that - I've been extremely busy putting together two exhibits: Two Centuries of Music at Economy and A Style of Their Own: Clothing and Textiles of the Harmony Society - two must-sees!) An update about the Rapp Houses restoration is LONG overdue. The [...]
Okay, okay - the project is NOT finished yet, but how exciting it is to see the Rapp Houses getting finishing plaster, paint, and a "new" door in place! We have MANY more months to go until we can say that it is finished. Let's see what's new. The plaster ceiling above the fireplace [...]
Just yesterday we did a whole bunch of head scratching in the Frederick Rapp House. The room that was until recently interpreted as Frederick Rapp's dining room, and what will be interpreted as his kitchen, brought forth a mystery. This room is in the south western corner of the Frederick Rapp House, overlooking the beautiful [...]
Well, you might have guessed it. There's more plaster work being done in the Rapp Houses. So while we're waiting for that to finish up, let's take a look at some other things that we've noticed. And remember to sign up for the Behind the Scenes Tour on February 12, 2014 from 6 PM until [...]
This week at the Rapp Houses there was more plaster demolition and a good deal of plastering. Plastering is going to go on for a while because there are 20 rooms on the first floor, many of which are going to be plastered. The electric is also still in the process of being updated. Below [...]
There has always been some question about whether a staircase was ever built in the dining room of the George Rapp House. It shows up on all four of the original 1820s floor plans, but the staircase for that part of the house has always seemed to have been in the hallway next to the [...]