If you’ve been wanting to spend the night at the Haines Shoe House, you may soon have your chance.
The iconic home visible from Route 30 east of York is being sold and turned into an Air BnB, according to a Facebook post from current owner Jeff Schmuck.
“A change is coming! The Shoe House is under contract with new owners taking possession at the end of July,” Schmuck wrote in the post. “The new owners are a local family who plan to turn The Shoe into an Air BnB, while retaining the museum’s ambiance and artifacts, to be shared with the public.”
Schmuck and his late wife, Melanie, purchased the roadside attraction in 2015. Melanie Schmuck died on February 28, 2019, at the age of 38. At the time, his death was announced on the Shoe House Facebook page. The house is open for tours and has an ice cream shop on the first floor.
The Shoe House, at 197 Shoe House Road in Hellam Township, is 25 feet high, 17 feet wide, and 48 feet long. It had a long and interesting history.
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The wood-framed structure, clad in stucco reinforced with wire mesh, was built in 1948 to promote Mahlon Haines’ chain of shoe stores. Over the years it has been a honeymoon suite, a vacation spot for elderly couples, an ice cream parlor and a tourist attraction offering shoe tours.
At some point, the building began to deteriorate until Annie Haines Keller – Mahlon’s granddaughter – purchased the property and restored it along with the shoe-shaped niche next to it. It went through different owners until the Schmucks bought it.
Now it has been resold and will take on new life. Schmuck did not disclose the names of the new owners, or details of Air Bnb’s plans.
Current hours for The Shoe House are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday until closing day, which is July 24, according to a Facebook post.
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