So that “Hohen Adel” carriage stone was re-listed on eBay today, and we received an interesting email from the seller, in response to the inquiry we sent when we first encountered his listing:
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eBay Seller has responded to your question about item:
BEER ITEM — HOHEN ADLE BREWERY CARRIGE STEP STONE
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Hello Fillmores of the East Falls Historical Society; This is Lawrence Ponzek; My parents Lawrence W Ponzek and Blanche Ponzek were the real family that owned the Hohen Adle mansion from 1960 through 1976; To begin with, I need to correct your misinformation; My father Lawrence W Ponzek was a brewery grain broker who sold the spent grain of several breweries in Philadelphia, including Gretz Brewery, Esslinger Brewery, Ortliebs Brewery and Schmidts of Phila Brewery; My father also had a small fleet of trucks to deliver some of the spent grain from these breweries; (I don’t know where the pig farmer story came from)
My parents loved that house and they took exceptional care of it for the 16 years that they owned it; We would spend hours and hours each year tending to the beautiful woodwork that adorned the house, including the imported wood panels in the dining room; To my knowledge, during the years that we lived there, the East Falls Historical Society never contacted us, even though this was an important house;
Thanks for the email; I am very happy that my old home will be reconstructed to its original beauty.
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Holy moly! A real live “Hohenadel Houser” (Hohenadeler?)
Only this guy spells it “Hohen Adle” — So many questions! Imported wood panels from where, exactly? What’s up with those mysterious Dutch murals in the basement?
Being the calm, cool and collected researchers we are, our response was as strategic as it was controlled:
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You have replied to the eBay seller about item:
BEER ITEM — HOHEN ADLE BREWERY CARRIGE STEP STONE
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OMG!! Please please please can we talk or something?! WOW! So excited to meet you, can hardly type!
Not weirdos or anything, but we’ve been writing and researching the house all this time — so many dead leads! so many stories we can’t substantiate! — that hearing from you feels like contacting a celebrity or rather the ghost of one, ya know?!
Would love to ask you some questions and get our facts straight and hear maybe your impressions on everything and wow get you here to look around if you’re ever in the area or whatever!!!!
So nice to “meet” you — thank you very much for reaching out. Really glad to hear that the house was loved, and that you totally “get” the spirit of our project.
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Almost immediately, Lawrence wrote back:
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eBay Seller has responded to your question about item:
BEER ITEM — HOHEN ADLE BREWERY CARRIGE STEP STONE
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Hello again, I would very much like to meet with you and talk to you about the Hohen Adle house; I have some stories and some facts that I learned about the brewery and the house; I grew up in East Falls and I lived in East Falls until 1976; I always knew that it was a place of special significance for the city of Philadelphia; I would also like to walk through the house again.
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Oh it’s ON, people!
We’re delighted at this sweet little twist in our research, but not surprised. Hohenadel House *is* a special place, a proud residence. Makes sense that she’d call back her old friends when she was ready to make her “debut” again.
Tellin’ ya: This carriage stone was like a bat signal!
Before Lawrence could change his mind about giving his phone number to strangers on the Internet, we sealed the deal — now we’re set up for a Monday phone call, with hopes to arrange a walk-though next week.
Ooh! Wouldn’t it be fun if he had old family photos to share? They lived there in the 70’s, those might be some groovy Santas…
Stay tuned for more updates as Lawrence reconnects with Hohenadel House after all these years.
Do you know Lawrence? Curious about Indian Queen Lane or East Falls in the 70s? Say hello or ask your questions below.