The Railroad Creek Home Renovation Before and After
See the Creek House in Railroad transformed from an abandoned century-old frame house, on film by the owner.
Brian Lazzaro, York Daily Record
A $ 8,500 house purchased at auction from Railroad, Pa., Was recently featured on the Magnolia Network’s “In With the Old” program.
The reimagined 19th-century structure is now a rural retreat along the York County Heritage Rail Trail and can be viewed for rent on Airbnb.
Brian and Rachelle Lazzaro, who already owned a home on Railroad, saw the 19th-century structure auctioned off in 2018. He believes the dilapidated building at 3 E. Main St. has been abandoned for at least five years. Although the listing says it was built in 1900, he’s seen it in photos from the 1870s.
Before the auction, the couple agreed to spend up to $ 10,000 on the property. “It took the bank a while to accept this (weak winning bid) as a reality, but then they realized that no one else was paying for it,” he said.
Lazzaro said the building, which was once used to make ice cream, was purchased with the interior “invisible”.
According to Lazzaro, railroad borough council member Skip Kahl joked that the couple overpaid $ 8,500 because they needed a lot of work.
One side of the foundation wall was mined, which only became evident after the porch was ripped off. A leak in the kitchen had rotted the floor, which Lazzaro said could be from frozen pipes. “Lots of animals (lived) in the walls,” including squirrels, birds and bees.
“The real blessing was that there was an old metal roof” under the missing asphalt shingles and that’s what kept the interior of the forgotten building free from water damage, Lazzaro said.
The plan was not to overthrow the house. Instead, the couple wanted to make the house structurally sound and then move on to something that could “make it amazing, so we could maybe attract a high clientele for an Airbnb” as a “rural retreat,” he said. he declared.
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Rachelle Lazzaro, who works with interior design shows including HGTV, calls interior design “rustic sophistication.”
The little house has two bedrooms downstairs and two upstairs. The first floor used to consist of three bedrooms, with a bathroom on the first floor. The bathroom has been moved to the second floor. The country house has mains water, sewage and high speed internet.
Visitors began to come from Philadelphia, which Lazzaro described as “proud Pennsylvanians” seeking to experience a 19th century city as a Railroad. Lately, with “more pressure on social media and the Airbnb algorithm,” visitors have come from Washington DC, Baltimore and New York. According to Airbnb, the house rents for $ 225 a night.
Recently the house was featured in season one, episode two of the Magnolia Network series. “In With the Old” as “The Creek House: Railroad, PA” and can be streamed through a Discovery Plus subscription
“It was surprising and cool to see people like walking three hours down to Railroad in Pennsylvania,” said Brian Lazzaro.
The Railroad Creek House can be visited through Airbnb.com
I’ve captured life through the lens since 1983, and I’m currently a visual journalist with USAToday Network. You can reach me at [email protected].
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