This morning The Philadelphia Inquirer published a story on The John Updike Childhood Home—“Updike’s home to open as museum”—that was written by William Ecenbarger. If the name sounds familiar, perhaps you read about Ecenbarger’s tour of Updike country with Updike himself, with which Adam Begley chose to open the first chapter of his recently published biography. This time there was no drive, and Ecenbarger’s tour guide was curator Maria Mogford, who led him through the house that’s still in the “deconstruction” phase as it moves closer to becoming a finished product as one of America’s literary landmarks.

“When it opens, probably next year, the site will join childhood residences-turned-museums of other famed American authors,” Ecenbarger writes. “Mark Twain is forever linked to Hannibal, Mo.; William Faulkner to Oxford, Miss.; Emily Dickinson to Amherst, Mass. But in one respect, the building at 117 Philadelphia Ave. will stand out.

“More than any other American writer, Updike made his first home an ongoing setting, in intricate detail, for his 61 volumes of novels, short stories, poems, and essays. The house, where he lived with his parents and a grandparent and where he said his ‘artistic eggs were hatched,’ was also where many of his last stories are set.

“‘He said if he ever had a ghost, it would haunt this house,’ says Mogford, an English professor at nearby Albright College.”

But don’t let that stop you. Society president James Plath slept in the house on one visit and can vouch for the fact that it remains as happy a place as it was in Updike’s memory. Though the house isn’t finished yet, Mogford will still take people through it on private tours if the requested day and time mesh with her schedule. Hardhats are not required. Contact her via email at mmogford@albright.edu.

The John Updike Childhood Home is still being renovated, but the annex built by Dr. Hunter—who lived in the house after the Updikes left and needed additional space for his practice—is being rented as of July 1 to a tenant who grew up in the neighborhood, knew John Updike, and counts Updike’s father, Wesley, among his mentors.

The Borough of Shillington has approved David W. Ruoff Financial Services as a tenant in the annex of The John Updike Childhood Home, in effect establishing an onsite presence and giving the society a small rental income that will go toward monthly utilities, fees, and taxes.

The society reconfigured the annex space so that the former doctor’s waiting room will serve as the museum’s education room, with chairs lined up so groups of 24 or so can listen to speakers, or, thanks to a donation from Bruce Moyer, watch Updike-related videos on a TV monitor. The former doctor’s office has been turned into a museum gift shop, while a bathroom will be shared by the museum and the tenant, who will occupy the rooms that Dr. Hunter used for his examinations. One of those rooms even has an x-ray light that’s still operational.

Both the society board and the tenant are excited about the new arrangement.

“I consider it a privilege to occupy that space which is 1/2 block from where I was raised in Shillington, Pa.,” Ruoff said. “I knew John in his youth, but I knew his father Wesley Updike a lot better. As you know, his father was a math teacher in the Shillington High School for many years. I consider him one of my mentors during my childhood.

Ruoff said Wesley Updike “would throw snowballs at a blackboard to start showing us how to use the  decimal system: ‘Numbers to the right are smaller, numbers to the left are bigger—you get that David?’

“My mother was born 99 years ago on Philadelphia Ave. Then my grandfather moved the family up to Fourth Street, which is right next to the Jewish cemetery overlooking Shillington and Reading. The family would delight in seeing my grandfather coming from Reading on Lancaster Ave. (now 222) and they had no trouble identifying him because he had the only car in Shillington at that time. He sold spices to hotels, etc., and it was actually a company car”—a 1910 Maxwell.

Ruoff said that “John Updike gave a lot of people around here paranoia—drove everybody crazy figuring out who was who [in the fiction].”

Ruoff, who started his life insurance agency in 1967 and financial service organization in 1974, has joined The John Updike Society and looks forward to sharing stories with members.

On May 7, 2014 The Pantagraph (Bloomington-Normal, Ill.) did a story on Updike Society president Jim Plath’s involvement with the ongoing restoration of The John Updike Childhood Home in Shillington, Pa.

For the curious:

“IWU professor helps save John Updike home.” 

The last time the newspaper published an item about the house it led to the donation of a handsome set of Updike first editions that will be on display at the house, once construction is completed. Who knows? Maybe this one will lead to more donations.

The outside of The John Updike Childhood Home has been recently painted, and with a break in the weather volunteers from Habitat for Humanity of Berks County and Bellman’s Church got together to strip wallpaper from the living room and downstairs hallways and to remove newer floor tiles that had been added when the house was converted to a business.

Habitat’s Russell Poper, Director of Construction for the Updike project, had much good news to report:  they removed half of the tiles downstairs without causing damage to the original flooring, and they were able to locate a clean “footprint” on the floor showing the shape and exact placement of the original room divider. The Society will try to rebuild the house as it was when Updike lived there, and that means putting back the living room divider, re-establishing the wall and door in Updike’s bedroom that led to a “black room,” and eventually reconstructing a grape arbor that dominated the side of the house.

Poper also said the group discovered a drawing of a rifle on the foyer wall when they stripped off the wallpaper. It could be Updike’s, since we know he was allowed to draw on the upstairs hallway walls, or it could be something the Hunters (who bought the house later) tried and abandoned. Needless to say, we’ll be investigating! Anyone with information about the drawing should contact curator Maria Mogford: mmogford@alb.edu. Pictured above are the volunteers working this past weekend in the living room, and the rifle they uncovered in the foyer.

The John Updike Society is grateful to the volunteers who’ve been helping to turn the house into a community showpiece.

Albright College, where curator Maria Mogford teaches, ran a profile of her and the house restoration-in-progress. Here’s the link.

The John Updike Childhood Home at 117 Philadelphia Ave., Shillington, Pa., is getting a badly needed exterior paint job. The exterior had been neglected for many years prior to the Society’s purchase of the home, and compared to other buildings in the neighborhood it was looking quite shabby—with lead paint peeling off in big chunks, right down to the brick.

Although the scraping, preparation, and painting is costly and the Society is still in need of donations, the board voted to move forward based on a substantial gift from the Robert and Adele Schiff Family Foundation and a commitment from the PECO Foundation.

The work is being done by a Shillington company:  Bilger Construction, affiliated with PuroClean Emergency Restoration Service, also of Shillington. The house will be repainted white, as it appeared for the bulk of the time that the Updikes lived there.

In an Art Attack feature for Philly.com, Nathaniel Popkin writes about the restoration-in-progress of The John Updike Childhood Home at 117 Philadelphia Ave. in Shillington, Pa.

“Bookmarked:  Future emerging for Updike house; Habitat for Humanity’s first ever community project will help turn the late author’s childhood home into a site of literary pilgrimage.”

Thus far, Habitat volunteers coordinated by Tim Daley under the direction of site manager Russell Poper have taken out built-ins that compromised the integrity of the house and are in the process of removing wallpaper and tile flooring that were added in later years. The goal is to restore the house to what it might have looked like in the early 1940s, when young Updike lived there. That includes replanting a horse chestnut tree in the front yard, replacing wrought iron with intricate wood railings on the upper porch, and rebuilding a grape arbor that provided shade for the side porch.  Continue reading →