Rose Mansion featured on ornament
?BROWNSVILLE — For the past 29 years, the Greater Brownsville Area Chamber of Commerce has featured Brownsville landmarks on collectible Christmas ornaments and this year’s ornament will feature the historic Rose mansion.
Constructed in 1873 to house the Monongahela National Bank, the building became home to the Rose family sometime between 1903 and 1917.
It remained in that family until it was donated to the Brownsville Area Revitalization Corporation in 2010, following the 2006 death of Peter Frederick Rose, the last member of the family to reside in the Italianate mansion featuring nearly floor to ceiling windows and ornate marble fireplaces.
Ray Koffler, who chairs the chamber’s ornament committee, said a historic photo of the old mansion in its prime will be converted to a line drawing and featured on this year’s ornament.
The building has always been prominent in Brownsville with its position at 320 Market St. near the Lane-Bane Bridge as vehicles enter town from the west.
This year, the building gained more prominence when BARC opened it for tours and a photo exhibit during the National Road Festival and on select weekends this summer.
“People have really enjoyed going into the Rose house and being able to see it, so having it honored on the ornament is just a great thing,” said Kasandra Ward, who has been overseeing projects at the Rose mansion this summer.
BARC has been looking into adaptive reuse possibilities for the building, with a bed and breakfast as one potential option for the structure. Ward said other uses could include a gift shop and museum. A study of potential uses is still in the draft stage, Ward said.
The chamber has been issuing collectible Christmas ornaments since 1983.
The most recent bulb will be available for sale after Nov. 1, though some former ornaments are available for sale for collectors interested in filling gaps in their ornament set.
“The real value is if you have the entire collection,” said Frank Ricco, chamber president, in a prepared release.
The chamber is selling a limited number of ornaments from 1997, 1998 and 2000 through 2010 at the chamber office and during this year’s Community Festival on Aug. 6.
Past years’ ornaments have featured the Flatiron Building, the Brownsville Hospital, the Inter-County Bridge, the Bridgeport mine, the Riverside Wharf Park, the Monongahela Railroad and the River, Rail and Transportation Museum, Brashear House, Patsy Hillman Park, the Veterans Memorial and the old Brownsville Hospital Nursing School.