National TV show puts Monessen on the map
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
A red brick road is just one of the charms that drew “Cheap Old Houses’” Elizabeth and Ethan Finkelstein to 725 Second Street in Monessen. Here, Mayor Matt Shorraw sits outside the home, which is featured in Monday’s episode of the HGTV show.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
The steeple of an old church in Monessen is visible from the porch of 725 Second Street, which will be featured in Monday’s episode of HGTV’s “Cheap Old Houses.” Both the home and the hall were designed by local architect Ernest Clark, whose family was the first of three families to own this property.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Monessen Mayor Matthew Shorraw stands outside a home that will be featured on HGTV’s “Cheap Old Houses” on Monday. The home, located at Second and Luce, was built by local architect Ernest Clark in the 1930s.
The popular Instagram account Cheap Old Houses moved into the world of television when a spin-off series of the same name premiered Aug. 9 on HGTV.
And the TV show, hosted by Elizabeth and Ethan Finkelstein, who run the Instagram page, is putting Monessen on the map.
On Monday, Aug. 30, a home located at the corner of Second and Luce in Monessen will be featured during the episode, “Cheap Old Farmhouses.” The show airs back-to-back episodes every Monday starting at 9 p.m. on HGTV. Viewers who can’t wait for Monday night can watch the show on Discovery+.
“It’s really cool,” said Monessen Mayor Matthew Shorraw, who last year invited the Finkelsteins to visit the city and explore its unique old homes. “We have so many different housing styles here, from 1898 to present. If you follow the hill in Monessen you can see how the houses evolved. It’s like a timeline. We have a little bit of everything.”
Shorraw said when he began corresponding with the Finkelsteins, he didn’t know their Instagram account – which began as Circa Old Houses in 2016 before Elizabeth created Cheap Old Houses, whose popularity exploded during the pandemic – was being turned into a TV show. He sent the couple a list of vacant properties in Monessen and one caught their eye.
The featured home was built on the Monessen city line in the 1930s by architect Ernest Clark, whose work can be seen throughout the Mon Valley. Among his notable designs are several churches, the Monessen Eagles Club and elementary school, and old City Hall.
“(Clark) built this house for himself and his family. If you look at the house, the details on it, you can tell an architect designed it,” said Shorraw, who said the property has been owned by only three families: The Clarks, the Andersons and the couple who recently purchased the home.
Built-in cabinetry and original tile are features Elizabeth – who has a masters degree in historic preservation – and Ethan Finkelstein admire during the “Cheap Old Houses” episode.
Filming took place over the course of “a very, very cold day” in February, recalled Shorraw, who has kept news of the city’s feature on national TV under wraps since the beginning of this year.
“It was great meeting them. I like old architecture, so we nerded out. It was a lot of fun,” Shorraw said. “It was really exciting, for us to be picked out of all these other places. I’m just excited for what it could bring for the city. Monessen gets a really bad rap for so many different reasons. We have the same problems that everyone else has. It’s a really nice place to live with really great people. I want other people to see that.”
According to the mayor, there are currently 400 abandoned homes in Monessen, all in varying states of disrepair. Some of the houses need a little TLC while other properties require a larger investment of labor and money.
In March, Monessen introduced a tax forgiveness program to encourage people to invest in the city’s old properties.
If an interested home buyer is able to locate a vacant property’s owner and have the property signed over, the city forgives that property’s back taxes. The unpaid city and school taxes are also forgiven; the new owner will need to pay those taxes moving forward.
“We are running out of houses. The traditional house that you put on the market that’s move-in ready, they’re going … in a week’s time, even in Monessen, and that’s unheard of,” said Shorraw. “This is like a reset button to get these properties into people’s hands. It’s solving the housing crisis, it’s solving the city’s financial problem, and then it’s also historic preservation because we’re saving these houses.”
Shorraw joked that “Cheap Old Houses” features properties under $150,000 and “that’s most of Monessen.” He thinks once the connection along Route 43 from Monessen to Pittsburgh is completed, the proximity to Pittsburgh – it’s about a 30-minute drive on the new roadway – coupled with the increasing ability to work from home will make it easier for professionals to live in suburbs like Monessen.
“It’s much cheaper here than Pittsburgh or South Hills. Now that we see more people working from home, it’s now more feasible to live somewhere like Monessen,” said Shorraw. “We have good bones here. There’s a lot of cool houses here.”
And a lot of cool things happening, too. For most of 2021, the Netflix series “Rust” filmed in Monessen – Jeff Daniels was in and out of the city – and next month, filming on an Amazon original series begins.
But before either of those premieres, HGTV’s “Cheap Old Houses” will showcase the charm of Monessen.
“It’s a really unique place,” Shorraw said.
Monessen will be featured on HGTV Aug. 30 in an episode of Cheap Old Houses. The episode, titled Cheap Old Farmhouses, is already available on Discovery+.