Photos By Maureen Zambito Above: Estate sales and home tours offer a chance to discover and learn as you shop for beautiful bargains.

Writing this column has allowed me to see and learn so much. Sometimes it’s the answer to a childhood wish.

As a lifelong resident of Warwood, I’m proud of the neighborhood I call home. Built when Wheeling was a growing town with factories and bustling manufacturers, Warwood represents families building the American dream.

Most homes in Warwood are single family, moderate priced, wood frame or brick structures, built close to each other on similar sized lots with small yards. But some of the homes along W.Va. 2 (Warwood Avenue) are large homes with big yards and sloping lawns.

One of the most elegant of these is located at 1100 Warwood Avenue. This neoclassical home was built in 1918 and attracted my attention since I was a child. I thought of it as a mansion and imagined how beautiful it must be inside. Later when I was a teenager, I learned from my mom who lived there and even met the woman at a yard sale one summer.

My mother was having the yard sale at our home and I overheard her chatting with the woman, Annerose Roth. I was fascinated by her heavy German accent and my mother later told me later that she was the woman who lived in the beautiful home.

Roth, who fled Germany due to World War II, died about two years ago and the property is now in the hands of Warwood residents, Fritz and Debbie Hempelmann. The Hempelmanns were close friends and next-door neighbors to the Roths.

Rosie as she was called, lived in the home by herself after her husband, Rudolph, passed in 1995. Rudy Roth, who was born in Martins Ferry, Ohio, was a dapper gentleman who died at the age of 66.

At that time, he was retired as manager of office services at Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel Corp. Roth had a very distinguished look and sported magnificent mutton chops that joined his mustache. He also served as the Wheeling Symphony Viennese Ball Grand Herald for many years.

The Roths’ stately red brick house originally belonged to one of the first families of Warwood, George Dorsch. According to Wheeling Heritage, it was 1864 when Casper and George Dorsch purchased 130 acres in Warwood that extended from the top of the hill to the Ohio River, to 13th Street, to the alley between 10th and 11th streets.

The brothers farmed the land until it was turned into city lots (Wheeling annexed Warwood in 1919). Casper’s palatial white brick house, built about the same time as his brother’s, stood next door to the Roth home until 1969 when it was razed and replaced with the Garden Park Terrace apartments. The Dorsch homes were the showplaces of Warwood at the time of construction.

Naturally, when I saw an estate sale sign posted on the lawn of the home, I was excited. I looked forward to finally touring the mansion that I’d admired all my life. I was pleased to explore the treasures a few weeks ago just as the pandemic started and put a stop to everything.

The Hempelmanns were welcoming (they know me from church) and delighted me with a tour of all four floors of the home. It was just as lovely as I imagined and really big. It has a central staircase, beautiful stained glass windows, numerous bedrooms and three floors of living space that includes many architectural details to make a visitor ooh and aah!

The basement reflects the era of servants and has dumbwaiter in the former basement kitchen space.

The upstairs (modern) kitchen is huge and leads to the back of the property, which also includes a carriage house three-car garage and an apartment. Plus there is a large driveway in the back with an elegant turnaround.

The home is situated atop a sloping hillside, which makes its tiled front porch a lovely spot to sit and enjoy the view. Fruit trees and flowers surround the house and pay tribute to Rosie, who enjoyed her garden very much, according to the Hempelmanns.

I purchased just a few items from the estate sale, though there were many treasures that included Dresden and Bavarian porcelain treasures as well as household odds and ends, all reflecting the elegance of the home and the former owners.

For comments or suggestions to be featured in Antique of the Week, Maureen Zambito can be reached via email at zambitomaureen@hotmail.com or by writing in care of the Sunday News-Register, 1500 Main St., Wheeling, WV 26003.