FoW Tour - 2310 Chapline Street, Hastings House

Friends of Wheeling toured 2310 Chapline Street, Hastings House, on April 23, 2024.
The National Register nomination for the Centre Market Square, Boundary Increase, 1986, shows this property as a “contributing structure” to the historic district and estimates its date of construction as 1870. The nomination description reads, “A fine example of Greek Revival, this three-story house has a handsome classical cornice with medallions decorating the overhang. A similar cornice is found along the full-width porch. The door and glazed (leaded bevel glass) surrounds are typical of Greek Revival. The porch appears to have been added, or at least significantly remodeled in the 1920s.”

Trying to pin down an actual construction date has not been successful. However, an 1871 map of the area does show a house on this lot, Lot 183, labeled G. Hastings.



Deed records show that the property was purchased by William Hastings in 1856. William Hastings (1834-1889) was a son of George Hastings, Sr. (1809-1870) and his wife Marietta, nee Brinton (1815-1898). George Hastings was an Irish immigrant who worked as a heater in a rolling mill, and it appears from Wheeling City Directories that he, his wife, and several other children lived in 2310 Chapline, while son William and his wife and children lived in another part of town.

William Hastings was a prominent citizen who earned a large obituary. Typical of the time, his death was described in detail in the December 9, 1889 Wheeling Intelligencer, “For the past three years, Mr. Hastings had been considerably annoyed by a lung trouble, but it did not interfere to any great extent with his work, and he did not consider it of a specially serious nature. Saturday he was at work as usual and in the evening spent two or three hours with his children before retiring. He appeared to be in the best of health at that time. About 5 o’clock yesterday morning he awakened his wife complaining of a severe pain in his chest, over the lungs. He breathed with difficulty and was in such an alarming condition that a physician was sent for. All efforts to relieve Mr. Hastings were useless, and he grew weaker and weaker, the heart apparently refusing to act.”

The obituary continues, stating that he had been born in Pennsylvania and after moving to Wheeling had begun his working career in the rolling department of the Belmont mill. When the Civil War broke out, he joined the local militia, starting with his company to Grafton to protect the B&O railroad. At the depot, he was “accidentally shot by a member of his company. The ball passed clear through his body, and the wound always annoyed him some.” Returning to Wheeling, he worked for a while as a bookkeeper for his brother-in-law before returning to work in the mill. Around 1870, he accepted the management of the Top Mill until 1877, when he took charge of the rolling department at LaBelle Nail.

Following the death of William Hastings in 1889, the property at 2310 Chapline Street was left to his widowed mother Marietta Hastings. She lived there until her own death in 1898, then leaving the property to her other children.

Unfortunately, the 1884 Sanborn Insurance Map of Wheeling didn’t include this block. The 1902 Sanborn Map shows the house as a two-story brick structure, adjacent to the Chapline Street M.E. Church, which was under construction at that time.

The 1921 Sanborn Map shows a similar building footprint but labels the house as being three stories in height, with a frame front and back porch. Brick evidence supports the addition of the third story on the front portion of the house, while the rear remained two stories.

The Hastings family continued to own the property until 1930, when it was sold by Mary Hastings, the widow of Solomon Hastings (1854-1928), a younger brother of William Hastings. The new owner was Florence O’Rourke, the widow of Frank O’Rourke. After less than three years, Florence O’Rourke sold the property in the spring of 1933 to Margaret T. (Marcy) Voellinger (1917-2003), a spinster who worked for more than 50 years in the Ohio County Clerk’s office.

Subsequent owners were John and Stella Kacor (1960), Charles Pugliese (1983), and Thomas and Barbara Isiminger (2004). The Isimingers used the first floor for their Ambiance Catering business, apparently not using the upper floors. Ocean Productions LLC - a San Diego California company purchased the property in 2022. The current owner, architect Gus Kayafas, purchased it in late 2023 and is currently in the process of renovating it to serve as a catering business on the first floor with a two-bedroom apartment on the upper two floors.

Prepared by Jeanne Finstein
Friends of Wheeling, April 23, 2024

Video: youtu.be/K2Y-UU-Nb6o