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  • Damaged in a 1998 fire, the former Raney-Jameson House on the Jefferson Street hill has been proposed as an event rental center by its current owners. The Lawrence County Historical Society will present a program next week that includes an update on the project.

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October 6, 2012

Owners of historic homes to offer do-it-yourself program

By Staff New Castle News

NEW CASTLE — The Lawrence County Historical Society is offering a program on do-it-yourself home restoration.

The free session will be presented by owners of three historic houses on New Castle’s North Hill.

The program will begin at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Joseph A. Clavelli History Center, 408 N. Jefferson St. The homeowners will share the thrills and frustrations of breathing new life into dilapidated, old buildings and making them livable while retaining their historic character.

Ed and Lorraine Petrus rescued the Oak Park Cemetery supervisor’s home on Neshannock Boulevard after the brick structure fell into disrepair and was scheduled for demolition by the cemetery board.

The house includes stone arches on the porch and brick and stone walls that tower above the roof line and guard the cemetery. The Petruses and their youngest son, Brian, are restoring it as a single family home for their son.

Joe and Zenia Goodge have big plans for the former Raney-Jameson home — The Castle — on Jefferson Street hill.

The Queen Anne-style structure, with its turret and other stone features, sustained major damage from a fire in 1998 and had been empty since. The Goodges have been working on the building and plan to eventually open an event rental center.

Dustin Moran and Mariah Kakis moved to New Castle from Arizona with dreams of opening a bed-and-breakfast in the former Dr. Wallace home at the corner of Wallace and Mercer streets.

The Victorian Second Empire house features a mansard roof and portico through which carriages once dropped off passengers.

The three families will present a program with before and after pictures of their homes and how they are restoring them, mostly by themselves.

A question-and-answer session will follow.

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