W.W. Holloway House at Mt. St. Joseph

The first recorded owners of a house in this general location were early Wheeling settlers Elijah and Sarah Pogue. They lived in a log cabin near the site of the current house from 1848 to 1854, building a grander home just north of the cabin in 1854. That home is the two-story, red brick, National-style farmhouse that became the center portion of the current house that was modified and expanded by William Warfield Holloway and his wife, the former Margaret Louise Glass.

Like his father and grandfather before him, Holloway (1886-1969) spent his career in the steel industry. After earning an engineering degree at Yale University in 1907, Holloway began work at Steubenville’s open-hearth department of LaBelle Iron Works. By 1912, he was working in the advertising department at Wheeling Corrugating Company (later a division of Wheeling Steel) under Alexander Glass. Glass (1858-1941) had founded Wheeling Corrugating in 1890, capitalizing on the idea that if a sheet of steel was coated with zinc and then corrugated, it would be stiff enough to use as siding, as roofing, or – as was done later in the Holloway residence – as a structural base for concrete floors. In 1911 Holloway married the boss’s daughter, Margaret Louise Glass.

For three years during World War I, Holloway’s steel career was interrupted when he served as 1st Lieutenant and then Captain in the Ordnance Department of the U.S. Army. In his absence, Holloway’s father-in-law purchased the Pogue Farm, including 44 acres of land and several structures.

Upon Holloway’s return to Wheeling, he resumed work in the steel industry and in 1922 became president of Whitaker-Glessner Company (a predecessor of Wheeling Steel). After several smaller companies consolidated into Wheeling Steel, Holloway advanced to the position of its president in 1927. Under his leadership, the Wheeling Steel Corporation became the ninth largest steel producer in the United States. Holloway also served in numerous capacities with national steel and manufacturing organizations and was involved in the local glass industry and several civic groups, keeping active the rest of his life.

Holloway carefully documented additions and other changes to the original Pogue house. Construction lasted two years and was completed in 1926. The original house’s 35 x 45-foot proportions tripled in size and became a beautiful Italian Renaissance Revival style home. The front of the former home became the rear exit to a three-sided courtyard, and two major sections were added – a section to the north that included a 5-car garage with a second floor apartment, and one to the south that became the main living quarters for the family. Holloway’s former Yale classmate, William Wayne, was the project’s architect, and renowned Wheeling builder R.R. Kitchen completed the woodwork.

As was true of the contemporary Edemar home built by Edward Stifel (now the Stifel Fine Arts Center), the house was built to be essentially fireproof, with major materials being metal and concrete. The walls of the Holloway additions are 13 inches think. Inside walls are 4-inch gypsum block and plastered. There is a sealed dead air space of 8 inches between the inside and outside walls, creating the “thermos bottle” principle of insulation. In-swinging casement windows do not protrude into the rooms because of the depth of the walls. Floors are concrete, laid on corrugated sheets of metal supported by steel I-beams. All ceilings are metal lath and plastered. In keeping with the Italian Renaissance style, the original roof was done in terracotta shingles. The new additions’ exterior brick was treated with a paste of linseed oil and whitewash to give an antique look and blend with the old farmhouse. Remarkable plasterwork features stipple-trowel finish on the walls and cable molding at the juncture of walls and ceiling. The doors of the family addition of the house are heavy-paneled oak; others are painted birch. All the brass hardware on the doors and windows was imported from Italy, and all wrought iron curtain rods and ornaments are one of a kind, made to specifications by Wheeling Corrugating Company.

The 35 x 22-foot living room also served as a ballroom when the Holloways entertained guests. The room’s floors feature black walnut of random lengths, pegged and dovetailed. The gallery has tile floors, French doors, and arched fanlights. Although the library has been turned into a chapel and its fireplace has been removed, some of the original built-in shelves remain. The 25 x 22 foot dining room showcases a brass and marble fireplace from Italy and walls of travertine stone. Bedrooms and a small room for the children’s nanny are on the second floor. The master bedroom has adjoining his and hers dressing rooms and bathrooms on opposite ends of the room. A guest room and separate bath has windows with arched fanlights on three of the four walls. Rumor has it that within the guest room’s closet is a lift door that descended into a secret closet in the library below, used to hide liquor during the prohibition era. (Although the secret closet was eliminated during later renovations, the lift door is still in the floor.)

There are many international qualities to the house. Mrs. Holloway had been educated in Florence, and the family traveled extensively. Some of the original furnishings were left in the house when the Holloways sold it, including two antique oil paintings in the former dining room and, in the reception area, two matching chairs that Mrs. Holloway brought from Florence around 1904. The highlights of the house were the fireplaces. Unfortunately, all but two were removed during renovations. The two that remain are exceptional examples of mantels that were imported from Italy. It is said that they were removed from Italian villas and brought to the house a few years after the rest of the construction was complete.

The first floor of the original farmhouse served as kitchen, laundry, and the servants’ sitting and dining rooms. The second floor contained three servants’ bedrooms and bath.

Unique to the house is the extensive water system. The Holloways made use of a large supply of water provided by four active springs on the property. All downspouts from the house led to a large cistern, located within the driveway circle. Two pipes attached to the bottom of the cistern were capped to fit Wheeling Fire Department pumpers. Another pipe led to a large pressure tank underneath the dining room; this tank automatically supplied water to the rest of the house. A 22-foot-deep well adjacent to the garage provided the kitchen and pantries with well water for cooking and drinking. A reinforced-concrete swimming pool, which held approximately 90,000 gallons of water, was continuously fed by spring water. [Due to concerns about upkeep, the pool was filled after the Holloways sold the property.]

The Holloways maintained the property as a working farm and employed two farmers to work the land. Although the original farm springhouse remains, most of the other farm buildings are now gone.

In 1954 the Holloways sold the property to the Sisters of St. Joseph for $142,500 (equivalent to over $1.2 million today) and moved to their new home along Bethany Pike named Howgait (Welsh for “hollow way”). The house served as the Sisters’ Novitiate House from 1954 to 1968, and an adjacent “mother house” was constructed. The property was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

Prepared by Jeanne Finstein, Friends of Wheeling

September 4, 2013

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