Friends of the Kutztown Community Library took about 250 people on a self-guided tour of six homes during their 2016 Holiday House Tour themed “Town, Gown & Country” on Sunday, Dec. 4, including the Kutztown University President’s House.
“It’s wonderful. It’s so nice that they opened it to the community,” said Diane Piscitelli of Kutztown while touring the KU President’s House with her husband Joe. “Everybody’s always so curious. Oh, what does it look like? Now we have the opportunity to see it.”
Diane said the home is beautiful how it was transformed into a gallery of university artwork.
“The whole tour is such a great fundraiser for the Kutztown Library,” said Diane. “Every year we enjoy it and every year they come up with fabulous houses. We’ve enjoyed it very much.”
KU President Dr. Kenneth S. Hawkinson and his wife Ann Marie, with their dog Wynnie, welcomed the community into their campus home. The living room, dining room, enclosed sunroom, and library were open to the public. KU students served as greeters and a student musician played piano in the living room where a fire kept the home warm and inviting.
“The President’s House, we’ve transitioned it into a true university residence where we celebrate the talent and scholarship of our faculty,” said Hawkinson.
Being the second showing of artwork in the President’s House, the artwork displayed on the walls was created by KU faculty. Also, the books on the shelves were written by KU faculty.
“This gives us an opportunity to share this wonderful university space with the entire greater Kutztown community. We’re just delighted to have over 250 people walk through the house and be able to share in all the creations of the faculty and our students,” he said.
The KU President said the Kutztown Holiday House Tour is wonderful.
“Everyone is curious about how other people live and how they decorate their houses. It gives people an opportunity to get new ideas and to be able to see the way people celebrate the holidays from a different perspective. For the people who volunteer their houses, it gives them an opportunity to show off all of their hard work and all the things that they’ve done through many, many years to make their houses beautiful. It’s just a win-win situation for those sharing their homes and those who want to come in and take a look,” said Hawkinson.
The event serves as a fundraiser for the Friends of the Kutztown Community Library and proceeds will benefit the library.
“Libraries are so integral to communities,” said Hawkinson. “To a small town, the library becomes the center of the culture of a community and it’s an equalizer. Everyone comes in and there are things there people can do no matter how much money you make or anything about your background. You can come and be part of a community through the library,” said Hawkinson. “I believe very strongly in supporting libraries. They’re one of the foundational institutions that have made our country great.”
Following the theme, Kutztown Community Library Director Janet Yost said the tour featured homes in town, gown and country, “Some of them are involved with the university or they are university professors and then the others are close by in the country.”
Janice Garman welcomed people into her restored 1821 Georgian home in the country near Crystal Cave. One of the highlights of the home is a seven foot fireplace in the dinning room. The decor and decorations fit the home’s time period and PA German heritage.
“It is such a wonderful property. The tour gives me an opportunity to share a historic situation with the people who would be interested in it,” said Garman. “I feel that it is really important that people realize how important it is to protect the heritage that we have in terms of the architectural richness of this particular area.”
Friends of the Library member Tory Bieber and her daughter Jessica Bieber greeted people at the Garman home.
“It’s a warm, community project,” said Tory about the annual Holiday House Tour. “The people who open their homes to us find that they enjoy the contact with the people who come to visit them. Some are outstanding, some are traditional, some are a little more glitzy and it’s a nice mix of people’s approaches to decorating their homes. And it’s a nice community thing. It brings the people in town who want to support the library.”
Bieber believes the Holiday House Tour is a good kickoff to the holiday season to put people into the holiday spirit. The tour always runs in conjunction with the Christmas in Kutztown event, held the day before.
“I enjoy seeing how other people decorate their homes and I enjoy learning the history of some of these older homes. Plus it’s fun seeing a lot of towns people. It really gets you into the Christmas spirit because everybody goes out and decorates above and beyond I think,” said Jessica who has volunteered as a tour greeter for many years. “I think it’s fun. I always look forward to this day.”
The tour also included a restored Civil War era home displaying an original Peter Gift clock, quilts, reproduction primitive dolls, Santas, miniature beds, an antique post office slot box, and a muzzle loader. The lower level pub commemorates the founding of Marine Corps in Philadelphia in 1775.
Attendees also toured a 101-year-old Four Square featuring a tulip motif in leaded glass windows, kitchen cabinetry, egg and dart crown molding, and wood floor, as well as a pie safe that disappears into the kitchen floor. Others on the tour were a 1955 two-story brick home and a 1956 home. The tour concluded at the Library Community Room where Friends of the Kutztown Library served light refreshments including a wide variety of Christmas cookies. Joseph Galantino, a local artist, created the artwork that the library uses in its promotional materials. Set up at the Library Community Room, Galantino sold his art, donating 20 percent to the Library.
