The Haines Shoe House is a

shoe A shoe is an item of footwear intended to protect and comfort the human foot. They are often worn with a sock. Shoes are also used as an item of decoration and fashion. The design of shoes has varied enormously through time and from culture ...

-shaped house in Hellam Township, Pennsylvania, about two miles west of the borough of Hallam, on Shoe House Road near the

Lincoln Highway The Lincoln Highway is the first transcontinental highway in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated October 31, 1913 ...

. The house is high, wide, and long, and is visible from

US Route 30 U.S. Route 30 or U.S. Highway 30 (US 30) is an east–west main route in the system of the United States Numbered Highways, with the highway traveling across the northern tier of the country. With a length of , it is the third longest ...

. Built by

Mahlon Haines Mahlon Nathaniel Haines (March 5, 1875 – October 31, 1962) was a well-known businessman and philanthropist in York, Pennsylvania. Haines arrived in York in 1905 where he became very successful at selling shoes. Referred to as the "Shoe Wiz ...

in 1948 to promote his

shoe store Shoemaking is the process of making footwear. Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand, often by groups of shoemakers, or cobblers (also known as '' cordwainers''). In the 18th century, dozens or even hundreds of masters, journeymen ...

s, the house was initially provided as a vacation spot for

newlywed Newlyweds are people who have recently entered into a marriage. The time frame during which a married couple is considered newlywed varies, but for social science research purposes it may be considered as up to six months into the marriage.Rebecc ...

s and senior couples. Subsequent owners have offered it for public rental or operated it as a museum and

ice cream shop Ice cream parlors (American English) or ice cream parlours (British English) are places that sell ice cream, gelato, sorbet, and/or frozen yogurt to consumers. Ice cream is typically sold as regular ice cream (also called hard-packed or hard se ...

. Most recently, it is to become an

Airbnb Airbnb, Inc. ( ), based in San Francisco, California, operates an online marketplace focused on short-term homestays and experiences. The company acts as a broker and charges a commission from each booking. The company was founded in 2008 b ...

rental property.

History and design

Modeled after a work boot, the house was built by shoe salesman

in 1948 as a form of advertisement. His shoe business claimed it made shoes "from hoof to hoof" because the company began the process with raising the cattle. The house, which is tall and contains five stories, was once rented out to couples, and then was open for public tours. It is located on Shoe House Road, next to a shoe-shaped

doghouse A doghouse, also known as a kennel, is an outbuilding to provide shelter for a dog from various weather conditions. Background Humans and domesticated dogs have been companions for more than 15,000 years, beginning with the wolf and hunter– ...

. Haines requested the design by handing a work boot to an

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and saying, "Build me a house like this." The living room is located in the toe, the kitchen is located in the heel, two bedrooms are located in the ankle, and an ice cream shop is located in the

instep The foot ( : feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg made ...

. There is also a stained glass panel that shows Mahlon holding a pair of shoes with a message below it that reads, "Haines the Shoe Wizard".

Fire escape A fire escape is a special kind of emergency exit, usually mounted to the outside of a building or occasionally inside but separate from the main areas of the building. It provides a method of escape in the event of a fire or other emergency th ...

s were added in the 1960s.

Rental and ownership

Haines never lived in the shoe house but in his later years after marrying his second wife he built a home across the street. The shoe house was initially made available as a weekend vacation spot for 38 elderly couples a year; the first such couple were John F. and Liza Baum of Loganville. Shoe House vacation contests were also held for a few seasons among newlyweds affiliated with Haines' shoe stores; an early winner in 1950 had all expenses paid for a week, including the service of a maid and butler, and went home with a free pair of shoes. The house was offered for rent by the public in the mid-1950s. Upon Haines' death in 1962, the house was given to his employees, who sold it two years later to a dentist; after about 20 years of tours and service as an ice cream parlor, it started going to ruin until it was bought in 1987 by Haines' granddaughter, Annie Haines Keller, who began renovations. After Keller could no longer maintain the house, it was sold to Charles and Ruth Miller, who gave tours for eight years before selling it in 2003 to Colleen and Ronald Farabaugh. The house received a small renovation and new paint in 2007. The seventh owners were Jeff and Melanie Schmuck who bought the house in 2015. In 2018, with help by a local lift truck company, a water leak in the house's "toe" was repaired and the exterior was painted in the original canary-yellow color, with a brown sole and highlights added. Co-owner Melanie Schmuck died from "health complications" in February 2019. In late June 2022, Jeff Schmuck announced that a local family was buying the house at the end of July, with plans to offer it for rental via

; public tours were to have ended on July 24, 2022. Completion of the sale to Waylon and Naomi Brown was announced in August. Four beds provide sleeping space for up to six people in three renovated bedrooms named "Shoelace Space", "Instep Suite", and "Ankle Abode". All rooms are reportedly filled with shoe memorabilia. The Shoe House was visited in the eighth season of the reality television series ''

The Amazing Race ''The Amazing Race'' is an adventure reality game show franchise in which teams of two people race around the world in competition with other teams. The ''Race'' is split into legs, with teams tasked to deduce clues, navigate themselves in forei ...

'', originally broadcast in 2005, and was featured on HGTV's ''What's With That House'' in 2007. The Farabaughs were happy about the publicity though not permitted to talk about the house's appearance on ''The Amazing Race'' until two years later.

References

External links

Haines Shoe House
official website
Hellam Township page about the houseThe Haines Shoe House
at the

Historic American Buildings Survey Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

{{coord, 39, 59, 56, N, 76, 38, 13, W, display=title Houses completed in 1948 Novelty buildings in Pennsylvania Museums in York County, Pennsylvania Historic house museums in Pennsylvania Houses in York County, Pennsylvania Tourist attractions in York County, Pennsylvania 1948 establishments in Pennsylvania Shoe business