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 [...]
We can hardly believe it ourselves, but yes, the wallpaper is done! The wallpaper reproduction project began in 2002, and now, 12 years later, we are proud to show off the results. And I might add that what you are going to see is BEAUTIFUL, especially to those with an early 19th century eye (wink, [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Work has definitely begun on the Rapp Houses. The old electric is being removed and new electric is being installed. Two "old" doors are being closed up, and two "new" doors are being opened up, or we should actually say "re-opened." A wall has been straightened and unkeyed plaster is being torn out. See the [...]
Since the Rapp Houses restoration has been going on (a lot) longer than this blog, we're going to play catch-up. The following photographs tell the story of design work and choices that have been done along the way, as well as some structural investigation and work in the houses that has been going on. There [...]