Client: Historic Erie Restorations
Location: 538 West 6th St., Erie, Pennsylvania
Dates: Original building — c.1895; Renovation — In progress
Size: 3,000 SF
National Register of Historic Places: Significant property in the West 6th Street Historic District.
This project involves masonry restoration and cleaning, roof repair, landscaping, interior and exterior painting and trim, updated finishes and flooring, and improved accessibility.
This Colonial Revival-style house was built in 1895 for Otto J. Germer (1870–1911), known as Otto Germer, Jr. He and his wife, Mary Goodrich Brown (b.1871), had a son, Otto (1898–1947), and a daughter, Lorna (1902–1989). After the death of his father in 1902, Otto Germer Jr. and his brother, Edward G. Germer (1866–1933), ran Germer Stove Company.
Soon after Otto Germer Jr. died in 1911, the house was sold to another prominent Erie citizen, Benjamin J. “BJ” Walker (1856–1915). Walker came to Erie from Dayton, Ohio and worked first in the foundry of the Jarecki Manufacturing Co. He joined Erie Malleable Iron Company as an iron molder when it opened in 1880, later becoming superintendent and then vice president. He was also elected secretary and treasurer of the Mark Railway Equipment Company of Chicago. His many friends in the industry would come to Erie to visit and consult with him. On his death, it was noted that he was one of the “foremost manufacturers and scientists” in the malleable iron industry. After his death, his widow Sarah Elizabeth Kies Walker (1861–1943), originally of Worchester, Massachusetts, continued to live another 27 years in the house where many social events were held. In 1942, the house was sold to become apartments and a number of owners followed.
In 2021, the house was acquired by Historic Erie Restorations.
