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Washington Evening Journal
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Historic homes open for holiday tour
WEST AMANA — Dr. David Fox calls his home décor “cluttered complexity.” The retired chiropractor’s house is one of six Amana buildings on this year’s Haus Walk, taking place Saturday and Sunday.
Three of the featured homes are former kitchen houses, and one building is an active blacksmith shop which is offering classes this weekend.
Fox grew up in Western Pennsylvania, He began his medical practice in 1971 and retired in 1992. He taught school outside the United States for years before returning to the U.S.
Why did he settle in Amana? “I had to come back and be somewhere,” he said. A friend told Fox that Fox is an Iowan. Fox visited the state and found it much like his home state.
“In so many ways this is like I grew up in Pennsylvania,” said Fox from his home earlier this month.
The Amana Society house was originally a family residence next door to a wash house and not far from the sheep barns, said Fox. “This was a four-family home at that time.”
When Amana discontinued its communal format in 1934, Gus Newman bought it, said Fox. His family was raised there.
Many people owned the home in the following years, and it was a rental for a while.
Fox took up residence three years ago, he said. He thought it would be fun to back up time and fill the home with old things remade.
The living room is lighted by stained glass windows that were originally doors — until Fox chopped them off.
Much of his furniture was free — the pump organ and the roll-top desk. Farrier recognized the stool in front of the organ. It used to belong to a family member.
On the wall in the living room hangs a yoke that Fox’s great-grandfather made in the 1880s, the only thing that came with him from his home state, he said.
Down the hall is a room filled with two pianos and an organ. Fox tinkles the ivories a bit when he wants to relax.
Fox collects shiny things. Some which he puts on shelves. A collection of glasses covers the top of a Victrola.
The kitchen features an antique stove, and a refurbished claw foot tub is the centerpiece of the bathroom.
Facebook marketplace has been a blessing — or a curse — to the collector.
Fox’s home will be decorated for Christmas — with the help of Amana Arts Guild Director Rachel Farrier’s — but the antiques will draw the interest of most visitors.
In High Amana, Gordon Kellenberger will show his 1863 home which served as a family home, a community kitchen and a dining hall when it was built. The kitchen was used for only a short time because the dining room wasn’t large enough, said Kellenberger. It became a harness and shoe shop.
Kellenberger is one of the founders of the Arts Guild and is still a board member, said Farrier. His artwork and that of his wife, who passed away in 2022, fills his home.
The former harness shop holds Kellenberger’s Christmas pyramid, a tradition among Germans when they weren’t allowed to cut down evergreen trees, Kellenberger said. His father built the one he owns in the 1980s.
“These are very, very traditional,” said Kellenberger picking up one of the pot-metal reindeer at the base of the pyramid. The toy sheep, covered in real wool, were popular in Germany, Kellenberger said.
When the candles around the pyramid are lit, the heat rises to the fan blades on the top and makes the pyramid turn.
In a corner of the former harness shop stands a gourd Christmas tree created by a friend who also made Santa and Mrs. Claus from gourds.
The Kellenberger home is full of family heirlooms and other traditional German and Amana furnishings. The clock from New York in the dining room has been in the family since 1850 or 1860, Kellenberger said.
In a hallway, portraits of his parents, grandparents and great-grandparents hang above a display of his wife’s art. The Ratzels came to the Amanas in the 1850s. Adolph Ratzel married Marie Hermann. They became Kellenberger’s grandparents.
Clare Schoenfelder arrived from Saxony in the 1880s. Emil Kellenberger, her future husband, came in the 1890s.
Upstairs, Kellenberger tried to recreate what he remembered about growing up in Amana. The bedroom has two single beds. People didn’t sleep in double beds in the Amanas, Kellenberger said.
The quilts are made of sateen and were probably made in the 1920s. They were never used, said Kellenberger. Someone found them in a plastic bag in an attic. Kellenberger purchased them at an auction.
Amana residents didn’t want to look too worldly, so their homes were simple, Kellenberger said, but they dressed up rooms with colored rugs and artistic house blessings that adorned the walls.
In the upstairs parlor, Kellenberger displays Amana furniture — a bench and table and curio cabinet.
The cuckoo clock on the wall, crafted in 1912, belonged to his grandparents.
The decorative horse, about the size of a child’s rocking horse and set on wheels, has nothing to do with Amana, Kellenberger said. It’s from Germany and is covered in calf fur. It would have been considered too frivolous to be in an Amana home, he said.
The whatnot shelves on the parlor walls also hearken back to Germany.
The German and Amana history throughout the house will interest any visitor to the Amana Colonies this weekend.
The homes on the Haus Walk will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.
“We just want to showcase old Amana homes,” said Farrier.
Cost of the self-guided Haus Walk is $15 per person Tickets are available at Gallery on Main, operated by Amana Arts Guild which sponsors the event, and at each home on the tour, said Farrier.
The homes of Aaron and Shana Schaefer in East Amana and Tyler Stockman and Allison Momany in Middle Amana are also on the tour.
