The Horatio Trexler Mansion was built in 1869 in the French Second Empire style. The French Second Empire manner strove to imitate the French baroque elegance of the new architecture in Napoleon Ill’s Paris. The small decorative porch to shelter callers – not for sitting or swinging – is another feature of the style on larger houses.
Below: Trexler Mansion, 1960s.
The rear section of the Trexler Mansion is in the later Beaux-Arts manner. Its passion for elegant historical authenticity is revealed in the graceful French eighteenth century windows.
Below: Trexler Mansion, 1960s.
Reading Elks Lodge 115 purchased the property in 1904 and renovated and expanded it in 1909. The Elks sold the mansion in 1978, citing maintenance costs. It was bought in 2006 by Our City Reading, which replaced the roof.
Local developer Alan Shuman recently bought the Trexler Mansion.
He says he hopes to turn it into an event center that can operate in conjunction with the Abraham Lincoln.
Below: Trexler Mansion, 2019.
