Almost 20 years ago, while both were still working and looking for a business to launch, Jef Wilhelm and Bob Kovach learned that a Brownsville mansion was on the market.
“We made an offer that day,” Kovach said.
The two soon found themselves moving in to the 17-room Market Street home, built in the mid-1800s.
The house was always privately owned, and never broken up into apartments, they said.
They began renovations while operating a restaurant for several years in the Fayette County borough.
The house has been part of the town's Northside Beautification Project's Christmas tours for years.
In May, they opened Wilkov Bed and Breakfast, welcoming visitors to a home featuring original hand-painted stained glass windows and hardwood floors and several operating fireplaces.
“We are quite lucky we have so much of the original house. The craftsmanship back then was just unbelievable,” Wilhelm said.
Kovach, 63, is a retired prison guard from the State Correctional Institution at Greene in Greene County.
Wilhelm, 55, also is retired, having previously worked in the pharmacy industry.
They shopped estate sales and auctions for what they said was a longtime “work in progress.”
“I do the ‘dirty (renovation) work,'” Kovach said.
Wilhelm handles the property's management.
They worked on plastering, plumbing, painting and replaced many of the home's 50 windows.
Throughout the home are furnishings that evoke the Victorian era - marble-topped tables, laced-fringed curtains, a roll-top desk, candles, tankards and touches of brass.
The two have personalized the public areas — they reside on the third floor — with family photos and clocks. A grandfather clock Kovach brought home from Berlin, Germany, following a stint in the Air Force, keeps time in a cloakroom.
A button — still working —under the dining room table, once used by house guests to summon staff, and a butler's pantry, which had to be torn apart and rebuilt, call to mind an era of large homes with likely live-in help.
Making a business investment in a town that has struggled to rebound from a decades-long economic downturn was not a difficult decision, they said.
“We felt all of these years that Brownsville was going to be revitalized. People that we talk to love the area once they come here,” Wilhelm said.
The house's tourism appeal includes its walking distance to attractions like the Nemacolin Castle and the Frank L. Melega Art Museum, the two said.
They also promote its proximity to Pittsburgh and Morgantown, and the national parks and ski resorts in between.
Currently, two bedrooms are open. By year's end, two more should be ready for booking.
Charlie's Retreat is a salute to Charles Chalfant, a shipbuilder and former property owner.
The suite includes a sitting room and features a mahogany mantle and wainscoting, a Tiffany-style lamp and a table by leading 19th century furniture maker Duncan Phyfe.
A tapestry Kovach also purchased in Berlin hangs on a wall.
“We kind of gave this place little manly touches,” Wilhelm said.
ConSheena's Sanctuary combines the names of Wilhelm's sister, Connie, and his niece, Sheena.
The room offers a more feminine touch, with a cream-colored, wrought iron bed, a demi-sofa and a crystal chandelier.
Wilhelm, who worked in a German restaurant during his college years, prepares the “full, sit-down breakfast,” he said.
They are considering serving dinners in the future, Wilhelm said.
The veranda's wicker furniture welcomes guests to relax. On the back porch, they may enjoy the bench-style swing.
The backyard's patio was inlaid with stones original to the home's walkway, Wilhelm said.
Gazing balls and landscape lighting in the evening offer, Wilhelm said, “a little sanctuary.”
The two said guests can expect to be pampered, and are welcome to enjoy the first-floor music room and parlor.
“We want people to come here and live as if it's their house,” Kovach said.
Mary Pickels is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-836-5401 or mpickels@tribweb.com.
