Greensburg family honors legacy of 'Grand Lady' historic home
When Nathan and Kathy Anderson went house hunting, they weren’t just looking for a place big enough to raise their five daughters — they also wanted a place with a story of its own to tell.
They found it at 106 Oakland Ave. in Greensburg, a stately brick home built about 1900 by T.S. Jamison, son of the founder of the Jamison Coal and Coke Co.
The family of seven — including Lyla, 13; Piper, 10; Tess, 8; Jovie, 6; and Maeve, 3 — moved in last October. Nathan is vice president of marketing for FM Expressions, a custom-print apparel company. Kathy home-schools the girls.
Since the move, Nathan and Kathy have been sharing the story of settling into their new home via “The Andersons at Jamison” on Instagram, as a way of staying in touch with distant friends and family and to connect with other lovers of old homes.
“People who care about the old homes are interested in the details we share,” Kathy said.
“Hopefully, in some small way, we’re able to inspire people to look around,” Nathan said. “Greensburg is full of these great old homes, and there’s something about preserving them that we hope to continue, to make it a normal thing to do.”
Nathan grew up in Connellsville, and Kathy is a Maryland native. They met at Grove City College. Before the move, they were living in Belle Vernon but spent a lot of time in Greensburg for church, home-school group activities and shopping.
“We felt like our life was more here, so why keep driving down I-70 over and over?” Kathy said.
“We wanted to live in an old home, and Greensburg has them,” Nathan added.
Kathy wanted those traditional touches such as wood floors, a front and back staircase, swinging doors and pocket doors.
“When we came here, I walked through the front door and got tears in my eyes,” she said. “I said, ‘Oh no, it’s too beautiful, I love it!’ It was just exactly what we were dreaming of.”
Meanwhile, Nathan said he was “doing the math and trying to be rational.”
“After touring the house and talking with our realtor (Lisa Schimizzi), I said, “Honey, this is where the girls will walk down the stairs in their wedding dresses,’ and then he was hooked,” Kathy said.
Though the house is more than 100 years old, the Andersons are only the third family to inhabit it. Following the Jamisons, it was owned and lovingly maintained since the 1970s by Jim and Marilyn Davis, developers of the Davis Shopping Center in Greensburg.
The Andersons said they haven’t done much to it since they moved in, other than painting and minor upgrades. They are planning to redo the kitchen this year.
“Anything we do, we do it with the idea, would the Jamisons have done this? We want to keep it true to the original character,” Nathan said. “We’re taking the old push-button light switches and replacing them with the modern version. It’s the modern technology, but they look just like the old ones.”
The house has 5,700 square feet, not counting the unfinished part of the basement and the attic, where the girls have a spacious play area. There are five full bathrooms and two lavatories.
There’s a front part of the house and a back part that originally served as quarters for the housekeeper and maids. The Andersons said they quickly noted the difference in the quality of building materials and finishes between the front and back — and the door locks between them on the family side of the house.
Other remnants of the past remain, including a bell call system, cast iron laundry tubs, wooden ironing board and a safe from the Jamison company.
The Andersons honor the house’s history by displaying photos and mementos of the Jamisons among their family treasures.
The artifacts also remind them of all the people who came before them who helped make them who they are, and of the values they want to pass along to their daughters.
“My grandfather was a coal miner in Leisenring,” Nathan said. “He worked hard his whole life and died young from black lung. But he made a better life for my dad and his siblings.
“I feel a responsibility from standing on their shoulders to continue it for my kids. There’s a tendency to think we don’t have to do that any more, but I want to carry that torch,” he said. “(This house) is a physical representation for me of standing on the generations.”
“Living in this house keeps you reminded of the past. We know the generations that lived here and the ones who have passed away,” Kathy said. “It’s sort of a reminder of how quickly time goes, and that this house is going to outlive us. It’s a big, sturdy thing — the Grand Lady, we call her.
“There were other people who lived in here and walked in here and had guests in here and are now gone. It makes you aware of how you want to live your life while you’re here,” she said. “My daughters are going to grow up in the blink of an eye. How do I want to raise them, and what’s important to our family?
“It’s a constant reminder of our mortality; but I don’t think of it as a grim thing. I think of it as a hopeful thing.”
Shirley McMarlin is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Shirley by email at smcmarlin@triblive.com or via Twitter .
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