Holiday House Tour No. 4, Home of a Local Stalwart

Photos by Evan Brandt

This home at 259 N. Hanover St., was built by Irvin Reigner in 1913 and was, as far as I can tell, on the Historic Holiday House Tour for the first time Dec. 8.

The view as you walk in the front door.

As sturdy and steadfast as this house looks, so too was the man who built it in 1913.

According to Trolley Tour Guide Mike Snyder, Irvin Reigner was a self-made man who was born in Pottstown in 1871 and lived to be almost 90 years old.

He served as a trustee for the Security Trust bank and founded the Manatawny Building and Loan Association. He was a member of the Rotary Club, where he had a perfect attendance record for 50 years, as well as being a Mason, the Rajah Temple and served on the board of the Salvation Army

Reigner held many important positions in town and was a member of Emanuel Lutheran Church and, among other things, had a perfect attendance record for 71 years and served as the Sunday School Superintendent for 50 years.

Mercury File Photo from 2015.

In fact, he was an important enough person that when he died, Mercury founding editor and publisher Shandy Hill wrote the obituary himself, according to Snyder.

Reigner built his home to last, as was proven in 2015 when a car crashed into the home.

Homeowner Karen Van Horn in 

her upstairs hall.

In 2018, the home was purchased by Karen Van Horn, who has restored certain original aspects of the home, including the back stairs.

It is unusual in that the hardwood floors that grade the first floor, also grace the second and third. A second floor laundry room was once the home's kitchen, she said.

Van Horn is obviously a movie buff, as she has movie posters hung about the house.

But I confess with being taken by her possession of a poster I also have, "The Gashlycrumb Tinies" by Edward Gorey.

Look it up.

Anyway, here are some more photos:

The front hall. Notice the "picture frame" hardwood floors in the dining room through the door.

Here's the dining room.

The living room.

A neat little nook at the landing at the bottom of the stairs, which was hard to photograph with the light streaming through the window. But you do your best.

There is a lovely stained glass window at the turn halfway up the stairs.

Tomorrow will be a quick one, a home on East Third Street, which was on the tour only for outside viewing.