Dwellings and Design

Dwellings and Design. Thomas, West Virginia. , Residential Architecture in Thomas , Modern society places value on home ownership, especially a house with land. However, families that moved from Europe or large cities such as New York in the early 20th century were not necessarily accustomed to single-family houses or large yards. In Thomas, many preferred apartment life, conveniently located right above their businesses and close to all the amenities that East Avenue had to offer.Choices in Housing , Two of the original Jewish families to settle in Thomas demonstrate two different approaches to residential architecture., Barney Schilansky immigrated from Russia to New York in the 1870 with his wife Sarah. He traveled throughout the Southeastern United States selling goods as a pack peddler and after visiting Thomas, decided it was a promising place to move his wife and daughter Celia. They arrived in 1886 and Barney continued door-to-door peddling until he had saved enough to build a general store., Sarah's sister Annie and her husband Victor Rubenstein who had met in New York in the 1870s, joined the Schilanskys in thomas in 1894, and the two families formed a close-knit association. Barney's daughter Celia married Victor's son Ruby and the two families operated various businesses including meat markets, grocery stores and clothing shops., The Schilansky-Rubenstein Building (No. 6) housed both families in two large apartments, as large as any single-family house. The home became the center of the Jewish community in Thomas, hosting weddings, worship and holy day observances.
, The Schatz brothers, George and Harry, also arrived as peddlers in 1886 and were later joined by their brother Isaac. The 1909 Schatz home on Spruce Street (No. 28) is one of the largest houses in the historic district. The style of the house is folk Victorian, with a cross-gabled roof, large wraparound porch and fine interior woodwork., Though the Schilansky/Rubenstein and Schatz families had much in common and undoubtedly were well-acquainted, they each chose different building types to house their families.