Ron’s Ramblings

North Ott St. Mansion Steeped in Century of History

BY Ron Epstein

The 16-room mansion at 933 N. Ott St. in Allentown’s West End is a very unique home. It was built in 1918 by Maximilian Juruick, who was a consulting engineer and a manufacturer of ice and refrigerating machinery, as well as an inventor. Included among his patents were a large door for big cold storage units, and a complex burglar alarm system.

With his wife Martha and daughter Georgianna, he came to Allentown from New York City between 1912 and 1915. The 1922 Allentown City Directory lists his home as the only one on Ott St. at the time. In 1923, for some unknown reason, the Juruick family moved out of the home to downtown Allentown.

In the 1920s, a lawyer and realtor named Charles W. Kaeppel began developing the College Heights area from which Ott St. evolved. During the same decade, a Muhlenberg College fraternity moved into the former Juruick home. However, by 1931 the effects of the Great Depression had reduced their membership number so low that the fraternity closed its doors.

Nine years later, in 1940, a local school teacher named Ada V. Wright opened what was known as a Montessori school at the Ott St. home. Italian educator Maria Montessori developed a method of teaching that was based on lessstructured education. In the words of one educational authority, “teachers were encouraged to stand back and ‘follow the child,’

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that is to let children’s natural interests take the lead.” Her motto was “the child is the hope and promise of mankind.”

Montessori visited America in 1912 and spoke to a standingroom-only crowd in New York’s Carnegie Hall. She drew the attention of such notables as Thomas Edison and Woodrow Wilson. In 1915 she set up a fully functional classroom at the Pan-Pacific World’s Fair in San Francisco. By 1925 there were 1,000 Montessori schools in America. Maria died in 1952.

When Wright decided in 1915 to open her own Montessori school, she did so at her father’s Victorian home at 1449 Turner St. In her first year she had 15 students, including her two daughters.

In 1922, the school moved to a much larger home at 1536 Walnut St. It remained at that location until it moved into the Ott St. home in 1940. That same year, its name was changed from the Montessori School to the Wright School, with Ada as headmistress. Also, that year, the large letter W was inscribed on the side of the building above the third- floor balcony.

Over time, the school’s Board of Directors included such notables’ as members of the Leh’s department store family; Donald P. Miller, owner and publisher of the Call-Chronicle Newspapers (who later married Ada’s daughter Marjorie); and Max Hess of Hess Brothers who helped to pay for the auditorium stage. The auditorium is now a garage.

Over the next 17 years, the school grew and prospered until after Wright’s retirement in 1957, when the school began to take on fewer students. The Wright School closed in 1961. Ada passed away in 1966.

A classmate of mine at Muhlenberg Elementary School in 1961 told me that he attended the Wright School during its last year of operation, 1960-61, and had it not closed he would have remained there, calling it the best school he ever attended.

Another classmate of mine at Muhlenberg was Jane Chromiak, now Jane Larsen. Her father, Peter Chromiak, was a local photographer known professionally as Peter Jay. He had been employed many times since 1949 to take pictures of the

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Wright School. He loved that building and according to his wife Rose, he always said if that house were ever for sale, he would buy it. So, you can imagine his surprise when, on Father’s Day in 1961, he saw a real estate ad in the newspaper indicating that the recently closed Wright School was for sale.

The Chromiak family, Peter, Rose and the first three of their four children lived above his Seventh St. studio in a crowded living space. Peter purchased the Wright School building and it became their dream home, especially for their children. Daughter Jane used the classroom space to play “teacher” to her younger siblings, and put on plays for the family in the auditorium.

The building became a five- bedroom home with a very spacious attic. Along with the stage, many items from the school remained, including a grand piano used for music lessons and at least one water fountain.

Peter Jay died in 2001. His wife Rose continued living at the home until four months before her death in 2018.

About five or six years ago, Jane became interested in the history of the house. She contacted a former Wright School student, now living in Florida, who shared her experiences at the school. One big surprise was to learn that among her classmates were the children of Max Hess. She recalled attending a party at the Hess home and meeting celebrities such as Sally Starr, Chief Halftown and James Garner. Garner also visited the school where he sat on the stage and signed autographs.

Jane and her siblings Peter, Tom and Carol put the house up for sale in 2019. Jane, the home’s executor, gave 800 books left from the school to the descendants of Ada Wright and kept 300 for herself.

The house was bought in September 2020 by its current owners, Cassandra J. Stahl and Matthew Clay.

Today, the W which is still inscribed on the building is a testament to the great school that Ada Wright founded, and which gave its students fond memories of a great educational experience. n Note: Some dates in this article are approximate, because of disagreement among source materials.

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