Historical charmer

Historical charm, lush landscaping and unusual details make this gem in Massillon a most interesting tour.

Sharon and Phil Roberson purchased the 7,000-square-foot home on Spring Hill Lane in 1995.

The previous owner was Elizabeth Wales McLain, who designed and built the home with Herman Albrecht in 1938 and 1939, and lived there until her death in 1993.

Both the Wales and McLain families were prominent in Massillon’s history.

“The brick is recycled brick from the Massillon Brewery,” notes Sharon. “She was a woman before her time.”

That was evident during the building of the home — she decided to forgo the steam heat option and go with a new one called “forced air.”

“She was a very modern lady, very educated for those times,” Sharon said.

The stately, whitewashed red brick home sits on 10 parklike acres, although, Sharon says, it cannot be found on the city map.

“It’s zoned agricultural, so I could have a cow,” she said with a chuckle. “We really have the best

of both worlds.”

A walk around the property is necessary to appreciate the true size of the home, as it seems almost as deep as it is wide.

Lush rhododendrons to the east create a perfect view through a large picture window.

Sharon was told that they were planted in the 1930s by a traveling salesman from the South.

The backyard is surrounded by mature dogwood trees. A portion of the yard is divided by a brick wall where, in years past, the domestic help would come out the kitchen door to hang the laundry.

The roof is its original slate, but it was necessary to replace the copper spouting.

Phil Roberson is replacing each of the windows by himself. The process, he said, takes about 80 hours per window.

He takes out each pane and scrapes the frame down to the bare wood, then replaces the glass with thermopane glass.

“These older homes are fabulous, but a lot of work,” said Sharon. Phil agrees. “You know that movie ‘The Money Pit’? Here it is,” he joked.

Roberson is president of National Feedscrew & Machining in Massillon. He and his wife raised their two children, Ruth, 26, and Jake, 24, in the home.

Come inside

Two front doors lead visitors to different areas of the home, all joined by a long hallway big enough to hold a sofa. The Robersons discovered 3-inch-thick hardwood floors beneath the carpeting throughout the home.

The floor has 11⁄2-inch pine and 11⁄2-inch tongue-and-groove oak separated by tar paper.

The walls are very thick, made with finished plaster over rough plaster and sheetrock.

“It is tremendously built,” said Sharon, who adds that the McLains’ style was not ornate. “She accented things with brass — her one statement.”

In the living room, bookshelves hold classic books left behind by the previous owners. Every room has built-in shelves because everyone in the family read, Sharon said.

The room has an original hutch from the McLains, with the rest a “hodge-podge” from Sharon’s grandmother and mother.

The walls throughout the home were both painted and wallpapered — even inside the closets — so the Robersons spent a lot of time stripping the walls.

The house can be traveled in a big The house can be traveled in a big circle — a floor plan that lends itself well to entertaining. Almost every room has two entrances.

The living room leads to a screened porch on the back of the house. A second door on that porch leads back into the dining room.

The formal dining room table seats 12 and belonged to the McLains. Because both were heavy smokers, the table had to be refinished to get rid of burn marks.

A foot buzzer at the center of the table allowed the previous family to summon the help.

“I hit the buzzer and no one comes,” Sharon jokes.

That room leads to a breakfast room and the kitchen, which are still in their original state.

Among the unique characteristics of the home are a phone booth off the main hall, library cabinets with built-in smoke racks for pipes, and fire suppression grenades with carbon tetra chloride mounted in the corners in many rooms.

The home has seven bedrooms, five bathrooms and five fireplaces.

Snippets of history

Upstairs, Sharon found hidden treasures that shared a little more history of the home — handwritten notes under the wallpaper she scraped from the ceiling in the bedroom of the McClain boys.

“It was so much fun to read,” said Sharon, who copied each one and sent them to the oldest McClain son, Bob. “They would write messages, and later, Mom would answer.”

In a closet of the master bedroom, she discovered that the workers who hung the wallpaper signed their work. Underneath a stripped section, it read, “Dec. 1938, H.E. Bunting, S.L. Bunting, Whey Frosty.”

The master bedroom is very large and features a fireplace and an entrance to an outdoor balcony.

Smaller bedrooms, originally meant for live-in help, which the McLains never had, are found at the end of the “hall of closets.”

This hallway runs above the front porch in the middle of the house and is lined with cabinets and pull-out shelves.

The most modern room is above the garage and features comfortable furniture, big-screen television, jukebox and lots of storage in the walls.

“This is the party room, the room of trouble,” said Sharon of her kids’ favorite place to bring friends.

Here, they keep a table that once was in the McLain breakfast room and on which the McLain kids and their friends carved their initials and the dates going back to 1955.

“So now, any kid that comes up here puts their initials in the table,” Sharon said.