Charm, historical value highlights Uniontown building
Ed Cope
An exterior view of the house at 60 E. Fayette St., Uniontown, shows the building’s character.
Ed Cope
Michelle O’Brachta poses on the third floor area of her house located at 60 E. Fayette St., Uniontown.
Ed Cope
A spacious third floor room is featured in the house at 60 E. Fayette St., Uniontown.
Listed as a “lovely brownstone,” the house at 60 E. Fayette St., Uniontown, is rich with historical value and charm.
“I was told it was built in 1865 by the Barnes family,” said owner Michelle O’Brochta, referring to one of the prominent early Uniontown families. “We even found a surprise in one of the walls when we were remodeling, a coffee can containing letters Denzel Barnes wrote to one of his sisters in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The language in them is very proper and the penmanship ornate.”
Used as a business for much of the past 30 years, the house is on the market for continued use as a business or as a residence or both, she said.
With three floors and about 4,000 square feet, the brownstone is likely one of the oldest buildings remaining in Uniontown. It has been completely renovated with new electrical system, new roof, furnace, hot water system and some replacement windows. A few windows contain glass original to the period the house was built, showing bubbles and ripples common for that era.
Other features include interior glass-block walls, iron spiral staircases, lofts and an open area on the third floor that could be used as an apartment.
“Plumbing is also accessible on each floor,” O’Brochta said.
Walls also are common to the period of the 1800s — about two and a half feet thick, O’Brochta said.
The house contains eight rooms that are heated by a gas-hot water system. There is additional parking at the rear. It is zoned as a commercial property and total taxes are about $2,200 a year. All the floors are hardwood and include some of the original ones from the 1860s.
The reason the house is called a brownstone is its construction. Brownstone is a brown Triassic or Jurassic sandstone which was once a popular building material in the United States. Brownstone usually referred to a terraced row house clad in that material. O’Brochta said the building next door that houses a local eatery also was built by the Barnes family and named “Mignon Flats,” after one of the Barnes’ daughters.
One of the members of that family, James R., was a son of Staten and Martha Ann (Tibbs) Barnes. He was born July 9, 1860, and was a resident of Uniontown, where he attended public school. For several years he worked in the mines with his father at Hopwood and learned the mining business on a larger scale. James Barnes became an operator in the coal and coke commodities himself.
According to a history of Fayette County, Barnes’ “keen business instincts, splendid handling of the materials involved, shrewd methods and sturdy honesty of principles have built up a fine business, and Mr. Barnes has made of himself one of the best known men in a community of prosperous merchants and financiers, although his start upon the ladder of life was obtained in the humble and unhealthy occupation of a coal miner.” James Barnes also worked with coal baron J.V. Thompson.
A native of Greene County, O’Brochta began working as a stylist/barber at The Esquire in Uniontown. She joined the late Rick Davidson in a partnership 1990 when he operated a salon from the brownstone. “Rick started the business in 1984. I have owned the property since 1991,” she said.
The first floor formerly housed a beauty salon, the second floor a spa and the third floor a yoga studio.
In recent years, O’Brochta leased the property to similar businesses.
One wall still contains Davidson’s and O’Brochta’s business logo, a man and woman’s profile in glass block.
More information on the property is available by calling SWC Properties at 724-425-7300.