Client: Historic Erie Restorations
Location: 221 West. 6th, Erie, Pennsylvania
Dates: Original building — c.1903; Renovation complete— 2025
National Register of Historic Places: Contributing building in the West Sixth Street Historic District.
Size: 5,400 SF
This Tudor Revival Style house was built by Henry Shenk Co. ($15,000) 1901-03 for 32 year old Erie industrialist Frederick C. Jarecki (1869–1920) and his 25 year old bride, Elsie Russell Jarecki (1876–1969). It was the first among seven extended Jarecki Family member residences built on West 6th Street between 1901 and 1931, including his brothers Robert (558) & Alexander (305) and older 1st cousin Albert Jarecki (520). This “handsome residence” was designed by noted Cleveland architect Frank B. Meade, FAIA (1867–1947) of Meade & Garfield replacing a previous residence of prominent businessman John C. Van Scoter (1834–1899).
In 2022, Gannon and Historic Erie Preservation Trust announced an agreement for restoration of this house to preserve it as a place of historic and architectural interest for the benefit of the community and continued use by Gannon University. The project involved stone masonry restoration and cleaning, roof replacement, wood restoration and replacement, painting, and landscaping. Interior work included painting, woodwork restoration and repair, updated flooring, improved accessibility, and all new electrical, HVAC, plumbing, and finishes.
Fred Jarecki, as he was known, was a graduate of Erie Academy and attended M.I.T. He was a Vice President of Jarecki Manufacturing Co. (1872–1947), considered “one of the most important industrial institutions in the City of Erie” and known worldwide for its malleable & gray iron pipes, oil well supplies and for the world’s largest brass works at the turn of the 20th Century. He was also one the of the incorporators 1903, an officer and board member of Continental Rubber Works and a founding Trustee 1902 of Erie’s Boy’s Club (Boys & Girls Club). Elsie Jarecki studied piano in Vienna and taught in Buffalo and Erie. She was active with the Erie Red Cross during WWI, a longtime President of Hamot Aid Society and among first women Corporators of Hamot Hospital (UPMC Hamot). The Jarecki’s had three children: Elizabeth, a Broadway actress and sons Frederick Jr., a 1929 Yale graduate, and Russell, both of whom were officers of Jarecki Manufacturing and served in WWII.
Fifteen years after 52 year old Fred Jarecki’s untimely death, Elsie married Ashton Rounsevel. In 1950, Elsie Jarecki Rounsevel gifted the house to Gannon College. For many years it was a residence for priests teaching at Gannon.
The house was listed as 221 W. Sixth Street (Frederick Jarecki House) on the National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of the Interior as a contributing building in the West Sixth Street Historic District in 1984.
