Category Archives: Restoration news

Reading Eagle supports museum delay to ‘get it right’

Posted on July 27, 2018 by

In today’s Reading Eagle, the editorial board weighed in on the The John Updike Society’s recent announcement that the grand opening of The John Updike Childhood Home would be delayed until October 2020, when it was decided that it would … Continue reading →

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Society aiming for 2020 Childhood Home Grand Opening

Posted on July 21, 2018 by

As the Reading Eagle reported today, The John Updike Society, which owns The John Updike Childhood Home, is now planning to hold the grand opening of the museum the first week of October 2020, to coincide with the 6th Biennial … Continue reading →

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Updike house interior restoration nearly complete

Posted on October 14, 2017 by

With only a kitchen slate sink left to install and a Tiffany-style light fixture in the dining room—work that will be done when the pieces can be located—the interior restoration of The John Updike Childhood Home at 117 Philadelphia Ave. … Continue reading →

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Updike house restoration story goes international

Posted on August 2, 2017 by

From tiny seeds . . . . Earlier this week a Reading Eagle reporter contacted John Updike Society president James Plath asking for help updating the story of The John Updike Childhood Home restoration. Plath passed along his email response … Continue reading →

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Restoration progress: Corbels up!

Posted on July 29, 2017 by

John Updike Society member Carole Sherr, who was a friend of Linda Updike’s, recently visited the house at 117 Philadelphia Ave. to check on the progress. R. J. Doerr has been reinstalling decorative corbels at the top of the building—decorative … Continue reading →

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Restoration progress: the John Updike Childhood Home kitchen

Posted on June 13, 2017 by

All that remains of the interior restoration of The John Updike Childhood Home are two rooms:  the upstairs bathroom and the kitchen, and the kitchen cabinetry has been re-done in the exact “footprints” of the original cabinets.

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Work on the Updike house is moving along

Posted on February 14, 2017 by

Thanks to a $380,000 donation from The Robert and Adele Schiff Family Foundation and $10,000 from the PECO Foundation, work has resumed on The John Updike Childhood Home restoration. Bob Doerr and his crew are now able to finish up the two remaining … Continue reading →

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New photos of John Updike Childhood Home restoration

Posted on August 16, 2016 by

Dave Silcox recently toured The John Updike Childhood Home and took a few pictures of the restoration-in-progress. Below are shots of the dining room, upstairs hallway (with newly extended wall, as described by Updike), and Updike’s bedroom showing the original … Continue reading →

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Paintin’ Place; progress made on Updike house restoration

Posted on August 9, 2016 by

The R. J. Doerr Co., who have been meticulously restoring The John Updike Childhood Home based on Updike’s descriptions and evidence inside the house, are at the point where all of the walls are being primed in preparation for painting … Continue reading →

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Phase 1 of Updike house restoration on schedule

Posted on May 17, 2016 by

Recently John Updike Society president Jim Plath and his adult son, Brian, drove to Wabash College (Indiana) to pick up the Kevin Schehr collection of John Updike and deliver it to The John Updike Childhood Home. While there, they did … Continue reading →

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