From 19th Century Home to Romantic Getaway:
The History behind the Dream

Adrienne’s Inn at Centre Park is a three-story, eighteen-room Second Empire house that was built in the mid-1870’s for the unmarried Elizabeth Collier Smith. It served briefly as the home of an Episcopal bishop. Then, in 1886, the structure captured the eye of a wealthy paint manufacturer by the name of Charles Wilhelm.

Mr. Wilhelm added some porches, brought in woodworkers from Germany and plasterers from Italy to embellish a Gothic facade. Using quarter-sawn oak and chestnut exclusively, the woodworkers fitted paneling and wainscoting in most of the rooms, judiciously adding intricate carvings of flowers and shells. With the plastering and woodwork complementing each other in a delicate balance, the overall effect was further enhanced by the leaded-glass windows, many of which contained stained-glass flowers. Within two years the mansion was transformed, thanks to Mr. Wilhelm’s imagination and artistic craftsmen.

The property remained in private hands until the 1960’s, fell vacant for some years, and then was almost demolished for the land beneath it. In July of 1997, Adrienne Periandi’s dream came true when she and her husband Joe purchased the Inn. Adrienne’s Inn is a romantic getaway that consists of three private bedrooms: the Green Room, the Peach Room and the Blue Suite. (Click here for more about these rooms.)

The Green Room’s most remarkable feature is an open-columned, curved archway created with luminous stained-glass panels that separate the sitting room from the bedchamber. The bathroom in the Peach Room contains Reading’s first shower and intriguing nickel-plated shower head. The Blue Suite’s glory is its study, the crowning achievement of Mr. Wilhelm’s German woodworkers. The recessed paneling that originally graced an Austrian château was dismantled, shipped to Reading and refitted for this handsome room.

 

 

Victorian owner Charles Wilhelm, who added all of the extraordinary architechtural details that make Adrienne's Inn what it is today.