Lou’s View

By Lou Bernard

I have the occasional moment when it looks like I don’t know what I’m talking about.

Note that I said “Looks like.” When it comes to local history, I definitely know what I’m talking about. (Sports, not so much.) But for a moment, it appears that I don’t know a damn thing.

Here’s an example. The other day, I was approached by a couple who were all excited to hear about the Gerald Building. They kept saying,”We’d like to learn more about the Gerald Building! It was one of the oldest in town!

Do you know anything about the Gerald Building?”

I kind of frowned, and said,”Gerald Building? No, I’ve never heard of that one.” And they left, convinced that I am not the local history expert that I’m made out to be.

It bugged me, and I later checked my records. There is no Gerald Building anyplace in Lock Haven. No mention of it in Historic Lock Haven, no Historic Resource Survey Form for it. Let me be clear about this: The Gerald Building does not exist.

Pretty sure they were referring to the Grafius Building.

Now, note that I knew what I was talking about. I just didn’t know what they were talking about, and neither did they.

The Grafius Building, which I’m reasonably sure was the actual question, is at 215 East Water Street, very near the Jay Street Bridge. It was built by Jacob Grafius, and parts of it are indeed some of the oldest in Lock Haven.

Jacob and Abraham Grafius were two local businessmen in the early days. Jacob was a blacksmith in Williamsport before moving to the new community of Lock Haven in 1841, when Lock Haven was only eight years old. The brothers became merchants, and in 1843, Jacob built a store on East Water Street.

The location beside the river and near the canal made it easy to acquire supplies and merchandise, which led to a good income for the brothers. Now, it’s important to note that Jacob didn’t build the whole building at the time.

Just the back half.

The back portion of this building is the oldest. It dates to 1843, and then the rest of the place was built ten years later. In 1853, Grafius expanded the building, creating the front portion that now rests on East Water Street.

Historic Resource Survey Form 035-LH-002 lists this structure as both a Greek Revival and Italianate style. This makes a certain amount of sense under the circumstances.

In studying Lock Haven’s architecture, it is important to remember that the early days of our city were basically a petty house competition. All of the early businessmen wanted to top the others with their elaborate homes, no matter what it took. It’s why so much of our architecture is a strange mix of styles.

So Grafius built a Greek Revival structure, which was basically functional and not much else. But when his neighbor Levi Mackey, who later became the first mayor, built a beautiful and elaborate house down the street, Grafius wasn’t having any of that. No way in hell was he sitting in a plain-looking building while Mackey had fun in a beautiful building down the street. So in 1857 he added Italianate features to the outside of the house, thereby insuring it would one day be mentioned on my tours.

So that’s the story of the Grafius Building. Happy to provide the correct answer, now that I’ve figured out the correct question. And redeemed myself, while I’m at it. Pssh. “Gerald Building.”