tourhaynerhouse

116

Troy-Hayner Cultural Center301 West Main Street

Troy, Ohio 45373Phone: 937-339-0457Fax: 937-335-6373www.troyhayner.org

Tuesday - Saturday9:00 am - 5:00 pmMonday - Thursday7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Sunday1:00 pm - 5:00 pmAdmission is free.





Legacy To The Troy CommunityThe Hayner House

Legacy To The Troy CommunityThe Hayner House

A Gift FromMary Jane Harter Coleman Hayner

(1855-1942)









Ponds 91Kelli Cantrell

[email protected]://ponds91.weebly.com

419.584.6831Booklet. 16 Pages. 2013. InDesign.

2

Mary Jane Hayner Born in 1855, Mary Jane was the only one of Samuel and Olivia Harter’s five children who survived into adulthood. Her father, a prominent nineteenth century business and civic leader, became wealthy through various investments including farmland and his brother’s medicine company, Dr. Harter’s Medicine Company. Mary Jane Harter married Horace Coleman, Junior. in 1874, and they had four children. After fourteen years of marriage, mounting differences led to seperation and then divorce. Three years later, Mary Jane remarried and became the wife of William M. Hayner. They had a daughter, Mary Isabel, born in 1897. In time, William Hayner became the head of both the Hayner Distillery, founded by his uncle and the Harter Medicine Company. Mrs. Hayner was a widow when, in 1914, she built this home where she lived until her death in 1942. She did much of her shopping on frequent trips to Europe, where she was influenced in her choice of architecture for this building, described as “Norman Romanesque Revival...with a classical interior.” Mrs. Hayner’s early objections to alcohol gradually changed and by the 1930s she served wine and cocktails at dinner parties. She had a love of entertaining and on special occasions would fill her home with guests, music on both the first floor and in the ballroom, lavish decorations and ample refreshments. In her will, Mrs. Hayner left her home to the Troy Board of Education “to be used as a library, museum, and for such other educational and cultural purposes...” For 33 years (1942-1976) the mansion housed the Troy-Miami County Public Library. After the library moved in 1976, citzens approved a half-mill levy to use the building as a community cultural center. The Friends of Hayner, a membership organization, was established in 1996 which serves as the repository for gift donations and as fund-raiser for special projects. Annually, thousands of epople come to the Center to enjoy the current art exhibit, concerts, receptions, classes of all kinds from pottery to dancing, club meetings, weddings, antiques seminars and guest speakers.

Ballroom

Many historic buildings have a ballroom, assembly halls, opera houses, and even skating rinks on the third floor because load bearing walls are not needed. Mrs. Hayner was very social and built the house with entertaining in mind. When she had parties, there would be a string quartet on the lower floor and a dance band in the ballroom. Three small alcoves originally had red velvet drapes that could be pulled closed. When on a date, young ladies had a chaperone in the early 1900s. If a young woman attending a function at the Hayner home, and the chaperone allowed, she could join her date (most likely he would be her betrothed) for a quick kiss or two. In that day, it was unacceptable to pblicly display your affections. A Troy woman told of the thrill of being invited to a party at the Hayner home and before she left her mother told her: “You may go, and have a good time, but just remember that that’s whiskey money.” The home was built after Mr. and Mrs. Hayner had become estranged and Mr. Hayner had died. It was after prohibition when Mrs. Hayner first served alcohol to her guests.

15

Cedar Closet

3

The Hayner HouseMrs. Hayner built her home in 1914, a year after her husband died. The architect was Leonard B. Wilke who was employed by the Allyn Engineering Company in Cincinnati, Ohio. The style of the house is classified as Norman Romanesque and includes many European features such as exterior stucco panels and heavy beams, ornate plaster and carved wood. Throughout the house are seven different patterns of leaded glass windows and several ornate lighting fixtures as well as many of Mrs. Hayner’s original furnishings and works of art.

Cedar Closet

This was a trunk and winter storage area. There was a hand-pulled 4’ x 8’ dumb waiter where the Center’s elevator is located. The back staircase was the servant’s staircase. The closet was converted to office space in 1994 when the elevator was installed. The picture of the tiger, in the Director’s office, was found in the attic during the elevator installation. It is clearly signed M.J. Hayner. The portrait of Mrs. Hayner in the hallw as a gift to the center from her grandchildren.

14

Art StudioOriginally, horses and carriages were kept in the carriage house. The chauffeur and his family lived in a small apartment above, an area open now. Renovated as an art studio it is also used now for educational classes. There is a pottery studio in the back portion.

From The Collection of Patrick Kennedy

13 4

First Floor

Second FloorThis was the bedroom called the “lavender room,” of Isabel, Mrs. Hayner’s daughter, who went to school and graduated from National Cathedral School for Girls, coming home on holidays and Summer. The different decor is more Federal and British in contrast to the European influences of the rest of the house. All of the original molding is plaster with the wall folk-art portraits of an earlier period than the rest of the house.

Conference Room

From the landing, the courtyard and tea house can be seen. At the left is the former carriage houseupstairs was the chaffeur’s apartment (closed to the public). Presently, it is the art studio. During Mrs. Hayner’s time, there was a fountian and peacocks in the courtyard. Original landscaping was created by the firm of Frederick Law Olmstead, famous for creating Central Park in New York City. The space is now used for outdoor concerts, weddings, and parties. The gallery room at the head of the stairs, used for exhibits, was dedicated in 2010 as the Fulker-Nichols Gallery to honor two long-standing exhibit committe volunteers. The room, originally, was probably a guest room. Office area at the north end of the house near the back stairway was the servants quarters.

5

West Wing

5

West Wing

This was an extra room mostly used for storage. One of the only rooms in the house that has regular glass instead of the leaded glass found elsewhere. It was an economical decision due to the windows not facing the street.

12

Grandfather’s Clock and the Court Cupboard

Leaded Windows

Hayner House Features

The grandfather clock is a Bawo and Dotter #4 mahogany tall case clock. The court cupboard was a linen cabinet and both pieces belonged to Mrs. Hayner. Her possessions were sold at an estate auction and when the property became public, several pieces were donated back to the center. The part of the lower hall as well as the second floor and one room upstairs has been converted to use as exhibit space. Exhibits change every six to eight weeks showcasing talents of artists and artisans from near and far.

Solarium

Between the study and hallway, there is a picture of how this room looked when it was used by Mrs. Hayner. The fountian was original to the house, restored in memory of Martha Stone, Assistant Director, 1985-1995.

611

The Founders Room Study

• The glass doors with low handles are French. Mrs. Hayner’s pic-ture hangs above the mantel.

The harpichord was made for the Center by the Troy High School Class of 1968.

• Pictures hanging in the doorway to the hall were taken shortly after Mrs. Hayner’s death in 1942.

• The couch and chairs in this room were donated by Mr. and Mrs. Byron Shepard in memory of their son.

• The painting of the little girl, “Childhood’s Happy Days,” is by Al-fred DeLobbe and on loan from the Robert H. Brundrett, Jr. family. After Mrs. Hayner’s death in 1942, the house was used as the public library.

This room was originally divided as a dressing room for the two bed-rooms, a shower with a marble surround was on one side and a tub on the other. The table came from the First National Bank building in Troy, which is now the US Bank. The Hayner Board of Governors and other community groups meet here. The paintings were donated by the family of Mary Coleman Allen. She was raised in Troy and her most noted works are miniatures including those in the cases outside the gallery. Her sister, Katherine Cowill, who had no art training and began painting around the age of 60, painted some of the pictures.

10 7

Foyer

After 33 years, in 1975 the library had outgrown the house and the weight of increasing books were causing structural weakening, a new library was built. The fate of this beautiful house was a great worry. After careful consideration, a levy was placed on the ballot in 1975 to approve the house as a community cultural center. It narrowly passed, but subsquently each necessary levy has passed convincingly. The wallpaper in the foyer is called El Dorado and is the paper that Mrs. Hayner had originally. Part was missing but the committee found the same French paper in New York. An art conservator painted leaves over the door.

Parlor

Referred to as “the rose room,” this was Mrs. Hayner’s bedroom which included the little blue chair. Note the plaster trim on the ceiling and around the room. The smoked glass chandelier came from Franc and the marble mantel was also imported. The doll house is a renovated Victorian antique completed for the Hayner Center by John Lafferty, and the furniture was done by James Clark. Their portraits hang inside the doll house.

9 8

East Room

Occupied continually, this room is used for some of the over 100 classes offered, as well as community meetings and special functions such as weddings, receptions, and parties. The center offers a popular performing arts program and a variety of exhibits free and open to the public. The piano was purchased with donations through the musicians club of Troy in 2012. Chandeliers and brass objects over the mantel belonged to Mrs. Hayner.

Hayner Distillery

Mrs. Hayner’s dining room was the room through the double doors which now contains “The Hayner Distillery Company - The John E. Lutz Collec-tion.” Great-granddaughter Lisa Thacker Bemis recalls: “The very worst thing was having to sit at the dining room table and not say a word, not to even wiggle. It went on forever and it was especially painful on Christmas when we had to go up to Grandma’s in Troy from Dayton and leave all the wodnerful Christmas presents we had just unwrapped.” The room beyond the dining room was the butler’s pantry. Now used as office space, it still connects to the kitchen which has been upgraded and equipped for modern use.

tourhaynerhouse

Documents

pm admission

troyhayner cultural

william hayner

friends of hayner

hayner distillery

west main street troy

community cultural center

troy board of education