A 150-year-old bed and breakfast in west Erie is on track to become the latest Erie property deemed historic under the city’s zoning laws.
Erie City Council on July 15 approved a resolution that approves designating the former William & Mary Spencer House, 519 West Sixth Street, as a historic structure.
City Council will still need to give final approval to the designation, as an ordinance, before the city’s zoning map is amended to reflect the property’s historic status.
City Council hosted a public hearing on July 1 regarding whether the property should receive historic designation status.
Historical zoning designations aim to protect and preserve properties deemed historically, architecturally or culturally significant. In some cases, the designation can also help owners access specific types of grant funding.
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About the Spencer House
According to city historic nomination documents, the Spencer House is a three-story brick and wood home built in 1871 by Erie businessman Judah Colt Spencer. The construction of the Spencer House “was paid for by J.C. Spencer as a wedding gift for his son, William Spencer,” according to city documents.
The property was purchased by Steve and Lisa Freysz in 2018. It has operated as a bed and breakfast since 1991. The Spencer House website references a slightly different date in terms of the home’s age, calling the property “an exquisite 1876 Victorian mansion along Erie, Pennsylvania’s historic ‘Millionaires Row.'”
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According to city documents, the Spencer House is “an excellent example of late 19th century Second Empire architectural design infused with elements of Stick and Queen Anne design.”
Second empire architecture features symmetrical buildings and sloped roofs, and it was a popular style for mansions and government buildings in the 19th Century.
Stick and Queen Anne architecture is a Victorian architectural style that emphasizes angles, decorative wood framing, asymmetrical facades, rounded towers and wraparound porches.
According to city officials, the property qualifies for historic status because it is prominent within the West Sixth Street Historic District in Erie, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The district includes roughly 100 buildings that were built between 1821 and 1930.
Matthew Falcone, the City of Erie’s historic preservation planner and cultural resource manager, told City Council members at the July 1 public hearing that the city’s Historic Review Commission determined that the Spencer House “holds sufficient historic integrity.”
The city’s Planning Commission also supports a historic zoning designation for the property, Falcone said.
Contact Kevin Flowers at kflowers@timesnews.com. Follow him on X at@ETNflowers.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Historic designation sought for Erie’s Spencer House