John O. Schenk House
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Altenheim (John O. Schenk House)
1919–1922, Edward B. Franzheim. 1387 National Rd.
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(West Virginia Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)
The Schenk House replaces an earlier house, known as Uplands, on the same site. When Uplands was demolished, architect Franzheim reused its elaborate front portico for a house being remodeled in Highland Park ( WH71.2), then designed an equally elaborate portico for John Schenk. Giant-order Corinthian columns support a full entablature with a pediment above and front a Georgian block faced in smooth, coursed Indiana limestone. The most academically classic of Wheeling's great National Road mansions, the Schenk house now serves as a retirement home for women. The original Altenheim (German for “old home”), founded at another Wheeling location in 1891, restricted its occupants to immigrant German women who had labored as domestics, had no relatives, and had no plans to return to their homeland. Fortunately, these restrictions no longer apply.
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