YWCA offering 2011 Holiday Home Tour

Van Wert independent/YWCA information

The YWCA is gearing up for its 2011 Holiday Home Tour. This year the tour will feature six homes and two businesses. Enjoy visiting decorated homes and businesses throughout Van Wert County with the YWCA on Friday, December 2, 5-9 p.m., and Saturday, December 3, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Each home/business visit will also be complete with chance to win a raffle item. Tickets are on sale now at the YWCA for $15 per person.

Dr. Peter and Anita vanden Berg, 12796 Peter Collins Road

The vanden Berg home was built in 2002 with a classic, custom exterior.  The home was designed by Dr. Peter vanden Berg himself and adapted and built by Rockford Construction. The home has five bedrooms, three full baths, two half-baths and is over 5,000 square feet in size. The home encompasses a craftsman-designed interior and is decorated with family heirlooms.

This is a home with a lot of character. Each room displays a different theme.  From gingerbread in the kitchen, nature in the sunroom, a Victorian guest room, a nautical study, a Dutch delft master bedroom, a nutcracker display, and a traditional living room and dining bay. The kitchen and dining bay always seem to be the gathering spots in the home during the holiday season. This is where many great holiday memories have been made!

Gail Wendel and her sister, Grace, will be providing harp music at different intervals during the home tour for all to enjoy as a gift from the vanden Berg family!  The vanden Bergs look forward to celebrating this holiday season with the YWCA.

Paul and Holly Troxell, 1232 Tecumseh Drive

The Troxell family home was built in 1998. This traditional 1½-story home was built by Star Builders. The home is 2,916 square feet and includes four bedrooms and two full and two half-baths. The Troxells decorate their home with a traditional touch, with HGTV as their direct inspiration. The home is comfortable with some formality. The home also features a pond with great water views and a beautifully tiled shower.

The family loves to make holiday memories in its great room huddled around a lighted fireplace.  The view of their neighbor’s holiday decorations reflecting off the pond creates a wonderful setting every holiday season. When it comes to decorating, the preference is towards white lights, anything that makes the Christmas tree sparkle, and candles.

The Troxells hope those that tour their home enjoy it as much as they have for the past 13 holiday celebrations. They are retiring soon, moving out of state and placing their home up for sale very soon.  Maybe this season will bring a new family the opportunity to celebrate as joyously as the Troxells!

Linda Mechling, 649 S. Washington St.

The Mechling home was built in 1895 by David LaDoyt Brumback. Brumback was a prominent banker in the community and is the grandfather of the present David Brumback, who was chairman of the former Van Wert National Bank.

The approximately 3,500-square-foot house is a fine example of Queen Anne architecture. There are 12 rooms, two baths, a butler’s pantry, and a large foyer. The house contains two stairways, three fireplaces, a full third floor and basement. Distinctive features include the tower, which covers the entire height of the house, various roof lines, and different outside textures. Shingle siding covers the gable ends of the house and narrow wood siding covers the bottom two stories.  Outstanding is the stained glass window area on the north side and the leaded glass window in front.

There is lots of stunning woodwork located in this home. Woods used in the house include: oak, maple and cherry.  All floors on the first floor are hardwood.  The second floor is laid in pine. Also what looks like stenciling on the tower and above the windows on the front is actually carved wood. Ceilings on the first floor are 10 feet high; the second floor’s ceilings are 9 feet high. The walls, windows glass, and wood trim are all curved in the round room (tower). This is quite a feat when one looks at the size of the tower! There is also a carriage house in the back that was once used to house the horses and carriages.

Mechling prefers to decorate her home with anything and everything! She enjoys perusing lots of magazines for holiday inspiration she can adapt to her home. She keeps her focus on eclectic items, while being appealing to the eye and creating a comfortable feeling. You will see lots of candles, lights and greens while visiting her home. She usually creates most of her holiday memories in the sun room.  This room allows for more room for presents!

Linda Mechling is excited to share her unique home with the community this holiday season. She wants all who visit to have an overall feeling of being welcome to her home.

Community Health Professionals Inpatient Hospice, 1155 Westwood Drive

Community Health Professionals’ Van Wert Inpatient Hospice Center is a unique, 12-bed facility, located at 1155 Westwood Drive that serves the terminally ill and their families at times when symptoms cannot be adequately managed at home.

The hospice center opened in 2009 and is designed to meet the needs of families while a loved one is facing a life-limiting illness. It features amenities such as a family lounge, sleeping and shower facilities for overnight stays, family kitchen and dining area, a library with computers, games and books, and a chapel.

Upon entering the facility, the great room will feature a theme of decorations displayed in delicate blues and silver. The family lounge will host a tree in the traditional red, green, and gold colors of Christmas. The dining room will showcase a Winter Wonderland snowman theme for all to enjoy. The nurse’s station will be decorated in brilliant gold with a tree displaying angels. The conference room will have an Ohio State Buckeyes theme.  The great room, family lounge, kitchen, nurse’s station, and conference room were decorated by staff nurses Jennifer Carr and Valeri Mullins.

The Hospice Beacon of Hope Lighthouse will be featured in our family kitchen with a tree loaned and decorated by Karen Madison, a hospice volunteer. The facility library will house a snowflake/icicle tree, also loaned and decorated by Karen Madison.

Two patient rooms will also be decorated for viewing. The North Hall patient room will display a Longaberger basket tree, loaned and decorated by Deb Smith, staff cook/housekeeping, and Dan Smith. The CHP visiting nurses staff will decorate the South Hall patient room, which will have an Americana theme. The Americana theme will feature a tree decorated by the late Sandy Griffin displayed in the room sponsored by family and friends in honor of both Sandy and her husband, the late Dana Griffin. Also on display in the Americana room will be the WWII uniform of Van Wert resident, Rufus Duprey.  Our salon area will showcase a tree in soft pink and ivory donated and decorated by Angie Krall, nursing supervisor and Tonya Schumm, assistant supervisor.

Hospice is excited for this opportunity for the community to visit its beautiful hospice center.

Angela Tomlinson, 408 E. Ervin Road

The Tomlinson home was built in 1964 as a single-family brick home by a local contractor. The home is 1,850 square feet featuring three bedrooms and 2½ baths. The style of the home encompasses a combination of French country and contemporary.

The home showcases spacious rooms and also unique built-in cabinets in the kitchen. Other special features of the home include the window shutters, an amazing wall mirror and many other distinctive features.

Angela’s mother fell in love with this one of a kind home the minute she looked at it 15 years ago. Angela decorates her home keeping this in mind. She finds her inspiration in focusing on decorating in a style her parents would be proud of. Her theme for holiday decorating this year is Peaceful Elegance.

Angela looks forward to celebrating Christmas in the large living room.  This will be her first Christmas here since inheriting the house from her parents.  She is looking forward to the holidays and feels like this is the place she is supposed to be. … it feels like home.

Cathy Reichart, 1115 Leeson Ave.

This one-story, 1,800 square foot bungalow houses two full baths and three bedrooms. The style of the home is traditional, but ever changing. Reichert loves decorating! She always seems to be changing or working on something inside or out, especially around the holidays.

You will find many refurbished items around her home. One piece in particular is an old cabinet that she painted and added decorative knobs and wallpaper to. There is also an old library table, which belonged to her grandmother, an old school desk, treadle sewing machine, and a washstand.  She enjoys mixing and matching things to create the feeling of a warm and inviting space to make everyone feel welcome.

This year Cathy is decorating with a variety of Christmas decorations. She has a tree in each room and they are all decorated differently. One in the living room is decorated with crystal items.  A tree in the kitchen is covered with snowmen and there is also small tree with toy ornaments bought in Germany.  She enjoys changing and adding new things each year

Her fondest holiday memories bring her to the kitchen where all the food and goodies are! Everyone usually gathers in the kitchen and dining area during the holiday season with the aroma of a warm and festive holiday.

Cathy’s love for decorating for holidays doesn’t begin and end with Christmas.  She is also no stranger to Fourth of July décor. At her previous home, Cathy decorated her front porch for the Fourth of July and entered a Van Wert contest with her grandniece, Amanda Hartman.  They happily took first place!

Community Health Professionals, Community Adult Day Care Center, 1151 Westwood Drive

Community Health Professionals’ Adult Day Care Center, located at 1151 Westwood Drive serves area families caring for elderly or disabled loved ones; providing health, social and support services during weekday hours.

The adult day care center is a medical-model facility opened in 1998. It provides nursing supervision, therapy, crafts, and activities, while meeting the daily care needs of individuals who cannot be safely left at home alone during the day. The center has a spacious family room, dining/activity room, game room, salon, shower and clinic rooms, and hallway lockers for client’s belongings.

Upon entering the facility, the family room/great room will be decorated with a snowman theme with a large a Christmas tree trimmed in the traditional red, green, and gold colors of Christmas. The tree in the activity/dining room will be adorned with ornaments handmade by adult day care clients. Table center pieces will also be handcrafted by clients of the center.

Puzzles and other craft projects created by the clientele will be displayed in the hallway and at the lockers. The game room will bear a sports theme, with primarily an Ohio State motif. The conference room and salon will also be decorated for the season. Guests will receive reindeer candy canes made by adult day care clients in appreciation for their visit.

This is a wonderful opportunity to see our splendid adult day care center and learn about all it offers to our community.

YWCA Supportive Family Housing, 654 Washington St.

“The Judge’s House”, “The Van Wert Woman’s Club,” or “The YWCA Annex.” By which of those possible names should we call this old house? All three really do apply to the big white home on South Washington Street. Well, read on and then you can decide.

The Judge’s House

Built more than 140 years ago by Judge James Price, of Carroll County, Ohio, the house was built at a cost of $15,000, quite a sum for those times.  The elegant etched red Belgian glass panels that formerly surrounded the old front door were removed in 2010 and now hang in the reading room of The Brumback County Library.  The original verandah that covered the front and north side of the house has now been enclosed for many years.

The upstairs layout gives a clue as to the status of servants in the 1800’s.  In contrast to the elaborate staircase just inside the front door, a small, angled, steep stairway just off the kitchen leads to the maid’s room, a very small room with one window and no closet.  The other three bedrooms, however, are large with sizeable closets.  The large tiled bathroom was most likely installed in the 1940’s.

Imagine yourself back in the heyday of this house, with your hand lightly resting on the balustrade, regally descending the gorgeous curved front stairway to join friends and family in the living room, which has a great view of the stairway and the memorable newel post of walnut, cherry and black walnut woods.  Beyond your guests, you can see the tall narrow windows on either side of the unusually black French fireplace.  As you reach the last step, lights are shining through the imported Belgian etched red glass panels which surround the front door, you, as you turn toward the back of the house, glance into the sitting room.

But before you join the festivities, you want to make sure your cook is ready to serve the guests, so you enter the hallway that opens upon the dining room and notice that decorations on the fireplace look perfect as you open the door into the kitchen.

As usual, Cook has readied her tastiest dishes for your guests.  As you ready to join your guest, you first look back to make sure that the impressive leaded glass doors to the built-in china closet are closed so that they may be seen at their best advantage.  Now it is time to join the party.

The Van Wert Woman’s Club

In the mid-1960s, Mabel Woodruff owned the property, but was ready to sell and the Van Wert Woman’s Club was looking for a clubhouse.  By 1967, the club was committed to buying the house.  The club’s savings of $12,000 applied to the debt, and the club assumed an indebtedness of $4,500.

Members donated furniture, kitchen appliances, and other supplies, and earned flatware, dinnerware, and card tables for the clubhouse through their grocery purchases.  They also put “sweat equity” in their new home by doing small repairs, painting, and plaster patching themselves.  Other improvements and changes would occur as a result of donations by members and considerable fundraising efforts.

Although the mortgage was paid off early, it was not until much later that the club members were able to address the many improvements they had envisioned.  In due time, remodeling to the downstairs interior was accomplished, the old front veranda was enclosed to provide more space for public meetings, insulation and aluminum siding were installed, a spacious parking lot was provided behind the house, and new storm windows were secured for all those tall, narrow windows.

The YWCA Annex

Because of dwindling membership, Van Wert Woman’s Club members voted overwhelmingly to support the YWCA by donating not only the clubhouse, but also some funding due to the common interest in the support and welfare women and children of Van Wert. The intent for the home as this time is to support the YWCA’s efforts in housing the homeless of our area.  The hopes for this home are to house numerous homeless families, including fathers, while, allowing them time and support to get back on their feet.

Much of this story still remains to be told in days to come.  It appears that with some minor remodeling the house will adapt to group housing.  At this time, the YWCA continues to plan minor changes to the building to conform to the regulations governing its purpose.

So what have you decided to call this old house? Or perhaps you’ve been inventive and have come up with something like “The Judge’s Clubhouse Annex!” Whatever you decide, you just have to see this wonderful, old home to believe it!

Get tour tickets today! General operating hours are Monday-Thursday, 6:30 a.m.-8 p.m.; Friday, 6:30 a.m.-5 p.m.; Saturday, 7:30-11:30 a.m. Closed Sunday.  The YWCA is a United Way and Van Wert County Foundation funded agency.

For more information, contact Executive Director Stacy Looser at 419.238.6639 or visit the YW website at www.ywca.org/vanwertcounty.