Tracy Mansion

Tracy Mansion. . The notable Tudor Revival-styled edifice situated at the southeast corner of N. Front and Muench Streets well exemplifies the grand Front Street mansions of the early 20th Century that would rise north of Forster Street. The house was built in 1917 for David E. Tracy (1867-1923) who was one of the founders in the 1890's of the Harrisburg Pipe and Pipe Bending Company and who is memorialized by Tracy Hall at Harrisburg's Bishop McDevitt High School. Although the company's initial business was the repair of refrigerated railroad cars, it expanded into producing cylinders and automotive pistons. By World War I, the firm secured major contracts with the U.S. Government for military parts and by 1935, changed its name to Harrisburg Steel Company, now Harsco, a major international component manufacturer still headquartered in the Harrisburg metropolitan area. Tracy's 30-room mansion was the work of Harrisburg architect Charles Howard Lloyd who was known for designing many Harrisburg schools and Front Street homes. The building was of the highest quality in materials and construction, featuring mural paintings, masonry walls, an iron-cage elevator, and high quality hardwood over concrete floors. In 1951, the property became the Harrisburg Osteopathic Hospital that built an addition to the east, linking the main house to the garage, for extra hospital bed facilities. The Osteopathic relocated after the 1972 Agnes flood threatened demolition of the building for redevelopment activities. Fortunately, the Mansion was saved and stands as a tribute to one of the city's most successful industrialists of the early 20th Century. , , [Caption:] , Circa 1920 view of Tracy Mansion prior to the hospital addition that linked house with garage.