For three decades, Hilda, the well-dressed mannequin that has graced the doorway of Zap & Co., downtown Lancaster's "retro department store," has kept watch on the 300 block of North Queen Street.
Husband and wife Steve Murray and Elizabeth Hine relax among the retro furnishings at Zap Home Collect
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An Italian marble table lamp is one of many vintage lighting fixtures to be found at the store.
There, she's observed the passing parade and beckoned shoppers inside to peruse the collection of retro clothing, cocktail ephemera and books celebrating everything from 1970s suburbia to the works of underground movie goddess Bettie Page.
But there's one thing Hilda and her boss, store owner Steve Murray, haven't had room to properly display and sell: vintage mid-20th-century furniture, those Depression Modern lamps and Space Age sofas so dear to those wanting to turn their homes into sanctuaries of swank and swing.
That's about to change.
When downtown throws open its doors for the Fall Art Walk Oct. 18 and 19, Zap Home Collective, around the corner at 24 W. Walnut St., will make its debut as well. Run by Murray's wife, Elizabeth Hine, the 4,000-square-foot space will house some 25 "showcases" from different vendors offering mid-20th-century home furnishings.
That means styles from 1930s Art Deco to the sleek works of such '40s and '50s designers as Charles and Ray Eames, and Arne Jacobsen.
"The concept is an antiques mall, a midcentury modern furniture store," said Murray, whose Zap & Co. celebrates its 35th year in business this year. Fun as the idea is, it's one born out of practicality.
"Whenever I have [had] furniture of the type in the store, it sold rather quickly," he said of Zap, housed in a long, narrow space at nearby 315 N. Queen St., where there was little room for such items.
Enter the space on West Walnut, a short walk from Hilda and her domicile. The building that houses Zap Home Collective has its own connections to the past as well.
It was once part of the huge Eshelman Feed complex, immortalized in Lancaster-born artist Charles Demuth's 1927 painting "My Egypt," which hangs in New York's Whitney Museum of American Art.
Today, the Eshelman Feed name lives on in a literally fashionable way; a California descendant of the family now sells apparel bearing old-time Eshelman logos. Hine hopes to sell the themed clothing in the new store, bringing the name back home to its roots.
From the ashesDecades ago, the building, which ultimately housed an electrical supply company, was damaged by fire.
"Everything was charred," said Murray of the space, now brightened by sandblasted exposed brick walls, large windows and polished rustic hardwood floors.
Overhead, exposed ductwork vies with a metal ceiling to complete the homage-to-industry look of which artist Demuth would have no doubt approved.
In the basement, which will house vintage garden and architectural accents — think retro yard ornaments — massive blunt wooden posts and beams support the floor above.
While Hilda and Murray preside over Zap's main store, at Zap Home Collective, Hine "is going to be running the show here," Murray said.
Style is instinctive to the English-born Hine, who lived in Vermont before moving to Lancaster.
Her father, David Hine, is a former interior designer who owns Britain's Best, a store featuring specialty food items from the United Kingdom housed in downtown's Hager Arcade shops. Until the events of Sept. 11, 2001, she regularly did business with the Annex, a famed New York antiques market in the city's Chelsea district; one customer was the late pop art king Andy Warhol.
"I came to Lancaster County due to the antiques business and the vintage business," Hine said. "I met Steve coming into [Zap] and buying things from him."
Hine's link to vintage extends to her career as well; a licensed Realtor for Prudential Homesale Services Group, she specializes in city properties and what she calls "retro real estate."
It is in such homes that Hine finds treasure troves of furnishings like the ones featured at Zap Home Collective.
"We love to buy out of houses," she said, advising "don't throw anything away!" Translation: Mom and Dad's Brady Bunch-era rec room sofas, once bound for the moving-day Dumpster, are now treasures considered as collectibles.
There's also another planetary plus. Both Zap & Co. and Zap Home Collective are built on reuse; Hine said the original Zap "has been green for 35 years."
Though the collective will focus mainly on furniture, vintage fabrics will be available as well, enabling customers to have pillows or drapes created, furthering the concept of turning the old into the new.
Retro planetThose furniture treasures at Zap Home Collective aren't just native to American shores. Hines' sister, Gillian, lives in Australia, travels the world with her own antiques business, and hopes to bring some items from Down Under to Lancaster.
"Australia has its own midcentury modern style," Hine said.
Closer to home — really close — will be pieces that once graced the floors of the former Watt & Shand department store; patrons may remember the leather and chrome furniture that once provided rest for generations of weary shoppers.
For the most part, Hine said, everything at Zap Home Collective will be vintage, though reproductions will be available.
"We can find it if they want a new piece," said Hine, adding that the store will also take "discriminating consignment that fits in with the genre here."
Down the road, Hine said, she envisions a line of furnishings hewn by local hands that connect tradition with trend.
"Amoeba-shaped tables made by Amish craftsmen!" she said.
But laid-back will be the attitude. "Good design does not need a pedigree," Hine summed up. Husband Murray echoed a similar thought.
"Furniture is art. Lifestyle is art. The home is art."
Stephen Kopfinger is a Sunday News staff writer. Contact him at skopfinger@lnpnews.com or at 291-8799.
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