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Restored to its former glory Brownlee House undergoing a major renovation

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The first-floor music room and the front parlor in the Brownlee House are still under construction. The structure in Eighty Four is being renovated for its new occupants, Washington County Community Foundation and a county museum.

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The Brownlee House in Eighty Four is being renovated for its new occupants, Washington County Community Foundation and a county museum.

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Washington County Community Foundation staffers are shown in their new offices on the second floor of the Brownlee House. From left are Aliesha Walz, manager, marketing and communications; Amy Shope, allocations and program coordinator; and Malisa Silassy, administrative assistant.

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The sterling silver tea set once used by the former Current Events Club in Washington now sits in the main office at the Brownlee House.

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View from the third floor to the basement of the Brownlee House in Eighty Four

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The third floor of the Brownlee House will be used for training purposes.

Malisa Silassy swears her new haunt is haunted.

“I hear women talking sometimes,” said the administrative assistant for the Washington County Community Foundation. “I look around, look out the windows, and nothing.”

She laughed and shrugged inside the Samuel Brownlee House, a stately pre-Civil War structure in North Strabane Township, where her nonprofit employer relocated in late April. Silassy didn’t say it, but she and the rest of the WCCF staff may have thought it: Their workspace didn’t have a ghost of a chance of looking this good.

The Brownlee House, lovingly built in 1848, stands three stories and has many more to tell. It is among Washington County’s oldest buildings and one of the few featuring Greek Revival architecture, with tall columns and floor-to-ceiling windows. The structure has been included in the National Register of Historic Places since 1972.

It needed work, though, and is getting that – a massive interior renovation. The second floor, occupied entirely by the Community Foundation, is finished, and the organization’s four offices are stylishly attractive. But construction continues on the first and third stories.

“I’m hoping that this time next year, everything is completed,” Betsie Trew, WCCF president and CEO, said while glancing across Route 519 at Wylandville Elementary School. The decidedly rural view is different from the one she and her staff had while operating on South Main Street in downtown Washington.

The improvements, Trew estimated, have cost about $300,000 – with every dollar covered by donations.

“That’s all from individuals and institutions. No government money,” she said. The foundation, which promotes charitable giving, also got $50,000 in Washington County Local Share funding this year, but that will go to refurbishing the Brownlee exterior.

Their new digs please Trew and her staff: Silassy, Aliesha Walz (marketing and communications manager) and Amy Shope (allocations and programs coordinator). The ornate meeting room, where previous owner Bill Stout conducted business, remains intact near the rear of the first floor. But the Scotch-Irish museum, fronting Route 519, and parlor, music room, dining room and kitchen are under construction on that level.

“We will have some traveling exhibits and open it up to other groups,” Trew said of the museum area. “But the primary purpose will be to educate and celebrate Scots and Irish who have settled in Washington County and other areas.”

Training for charitable organizations will be conducted on the third floor.

There also are an attic and a basement.

Four contractors have been handling most of the rehab: Alex E. Paris Contracting of Atlasburg, the volunteer project manager; Randy Forney of Forney Construction, Avella, the general contractor; Steven Kuhn Floor Finishing, Finleyville; and Robinson Painting, Burgettstown.

Workers are following the Community Foundation’s guidelines on preserving the integrity of the original home.

Floors have been redone, with 167 years of underlying dirt removed and new wiring and insulation neatly concealed under the wood. Walls have been repaired and painted spiffy colors. Wallpaper and metal baseboard materials have been removed, the scrap metal fetching $1,500.

Brownlee was certainly built well, a veritable brick house. During construction, workers found there are three layers of brick throughout the interior and exterior.

Then there are the windows, each bigger than some local villages.

“There is so much natural light. I love it,” Trew said with relish.

It is a historic place with quite a history. The Brownlee family came to Washington County from Scotland in the 1780s to establish a farm. More than a half-century later, in 1848, 21-year-old Samuel Brownlee built the house for his wife, Catherine Clark.

Charles and Lucille Miller added an addition and garage in 1967, when they were the owners. They also spearheaded the National Register push five years later.

Bill and Sandy Stout bought the Brownlee House and surrounding 26 acres from Miller in 1986. Bill used it as headquarters for Atlas Railroad Construction Co. for 24 years before selling it and retiring. Ryan Homes, at that time, bought 24 acres from him and is developing the Highcroft Preserve plan nearby.

The historic building was unoccupied for a while as the Stouts considered options, including renovation into a bed and breakfast or putting it on the market. Bill Stout met with a group from WCCF, who suggested the couple donate the house to their organization.

They did, in December 2013, WCCF’s first gift of real estate. The two-acre property and iconic building were valued at $400,000.

WCCF will celebrate its 20th birthday in stylish surroundings in December. And in solid financial circumstances. “We’re up to $18 million in assets now,” Trew said.

Getting there took awhile, the president/CEO added. The Community Foundation needed six years to hit $1 million and another three to reach $2 million. Recent times have been better, enabling the foundation to extend more grants.

“We’ve definitely been on a roll,” Trew said.

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