Project Spotlight - Masonry Restoration
The Bischoff Inn Tamaqua, PA
OPENING DECEMBER 2022
About the Bischoff Family and Business
Furniture Factory -The Conrad Bischoff Planing Mill and Furniture Factory sits amid a residential neighborhood and is the earliest industrial building surviving in the historic district. It is a 3-story, brick Victorian, with a wagon shed and lumber barn at the rear fronting Rowe Street.
Conrad Bischoff – Conrad Bischoff was a Bavarian immigrant who came to the US in 1857 with his fiancee Wilhelmina Buri. After training as a cabinet maker with a fellow German immigrant, he opened his first factory in 1867 on Railroad Street in Tamaqua. He expanded to this location on Lafayette Street only three years later in 1870. He sold the furniture at a retail location on Broad Street, currently occupied by Dn’A Bikes.
Wilhelmina Bischoff– Wilhelmina Bischoff was not to be overlooked. Her entrepreneurial spirit helped transition the family from furniture making to undertaking. In those times furniture makers manufactured caskets and many became undertakers as part of their existing business. She used the second floor of the retail location to coordinate funerals.
1901–1930 In 1901, Conrad Bischoff passed, leaving Wilhelmina and her four children to run both businesses. She died eight years later in 1909. The family eventually closed the furniture business in 1930, concentrating full time on the funeral home. Wilhelmina’s daughter Emma married August Wilhelm Friedrick Zizelmann in 1903. Their son Conrad “Connie” Bischoff Zizelmann would become the next generation to inherit the business. The Zizelmann Gulla Funeral Home and Cremation Services is still in operation today at 500 E Broad Street.
The Bischoff Inn is coming soon to upstate PA in December. Maria Stabio is the owner and developer of Bischoff Inn. In late 2015, she came to the area after purchasing the Grier City Schoolhouse, a 4-Room 3,600 sq ft building in Barnesville, PA just 15 minutes outside of Tamaqua. Restoration of historic properties was soon to be her newfound passion. She became aware of the desire for short term lodging in Tamaqua through conversations with the local community. After three years of planning and strategizing, construction began in March 2022. She hopes the restoration of Bischoff Inn will reinvigorate pride in Tamaqua’s Historic District and provide comfort and enjoyment to its guests for many years to come.
The Inn provides accommodations for both guest and suite rooms decorated in a contemporary style with modern furniture and artwork by the owner Maria Stabio.
The Witmer Group restoration team currently working on this project to bring history back to life and continue the Bischoff Family Legacy for years to come.
Photos and historical credits to : https://www.bischoffinn.com/
