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by Chrysa Smith
Reggie Young understands resources. He’s as aware as any conservationist, how finite supplies of natural resources, like granite and marble can be. He understands how what’s past may be worth saving, restoring—that what’s old can become new. Reggie is the owner of Delaware Valley House Parts where architectural artifacts are housed in a 4,000 square foot building in Lambertville, and another in a 10,000 square foot building in The Hudson Valley, New York.
At Delaware Valley House Parts, you might find mansion gates and doors, stone and iron work—even lighting and chandeliers. Mostly stuff from the late1800’s through the 1920’s, but you never know just what you will find. Like a pink marble wellhead from a 1590 villa in Venice. Reggie says the original owners fell into hardship, and the piece was sold in the late 1600s. In 1711, it was moved and placed on a large square base of the same pink marble. It eventually made its way across the ocean and now sits in Greenwich, CT. “We ship all over the country, even out,” says Reggie. “Richard Gere's nautically inspired, zinc bay windows found their way out of Bucks County, to a Bermuda house.
“People come to us for all reasons, whether it be an architect or construction team. Some are looking to sell; others want it preserved.” he says.
Reggie has an interesting history. He hails from Bucks but spent much of his childhood in The Lehigh Valley. “My parents were into preservation and restoration. I studied architecture at Pratt and wound up helping build several restaurants in NYC.”
As with many careers, it wasn’t exactly a straight line. “I helped run the front of the house for La Couple, The Water Club and An American Place. I then opened my own–but eventually wanted to get out of the late-night thing,” he says. Ever interested in historic restoration and salvage, he spent some time in Brooklyn restoring brownstones and eventually wound up in The Hudson Valley. From 2000-2015, he had a company doing restoration in the Hudson Valley, home to Hudson Valley House Parts in Newburgh, New York.
According to Reggie, Newburgh was once one of the most architecturally inspiring cities on the East Coast. “I saw the Hudson Valley was underserved, and I was buying so much salvage. It happened by chance. I sold a house upstate (NY). I taught classes in Newburgh on window restoration, lime mortar clades (how mortar sets and cures), terne tin roofing (a form of tinplate used to resist corrosion) restoration, and historic paint technology. “Reggie says. “Newburgh was in bad need of restoration. It happened after the urban renewal movement bulldozed a huge portion of the city in 1970. It was down on its heels for decades; riddled with stories of drugs, mafia and illegal activity.” Yet the buildings, once beautiful, were in decay. And Reggie says he was inspired to move there and become part of a movement to preserve what was left. He calls Newburgh “the first city of architecture.” Having undergone a more recent gentrification, Reggie says lots of young people from Brooklyn are now calling it home.
In between his time in Brooklyn and Newburgh, there were paint tech workshops in his NY space, but Covid hit, and like everything else, things changed. Ultimately, his 10,000 square foot showroom hosts many architectural salvage pieces from estates in Greenwich, Connecticut. He’s seen a tear-down of a 1918 French/Italian style home and Victorians that he says will never be seen again. Older homes are being replaced by sleek contemporaries, and well, that doesn’t always bode well with him. “I love well-done contemporary architecture—blending of new with historical structures. In Europe, there is a beautiful, blended way of combining old and new.” But it’s clear that doesn’t always happen, leading to buildings that may be considered faceless, dull and lack character. “Old buildings should be respected,” Reggie believes.
“The greenest building is the one which already exists,” said Carl Elefante, former president of the American Institute of Architects. Reggie says, and “The next is on the footprint of that which existed. I think about quarries that supply just the east coast with kitchen and bathroom counters. We must think about the planet and resources.” So, he loves that his objects are being rehoused, even between Newburgh and Lambertville.
For now, Reggie is living in Bucks, working on projects here. Like the home with bay windows that were removed and shipped to Bermuda. Or the French Provincial house being worked on for a year. The entire kitchen went to Tennessee. The library and bath is going to Greenwich. And the old Belgian block is going to a famous actor’s project in West Chester County, NY. There was the Rumson, NJ house on the water and a home designed by Architect Arthur Cornelius Jackson—Jackie Kennedy Onassis’s childhood home called Lasata. The windows went to New Hampshire, paneled room to the Hudson Valley and the steel windows to Philly.
With our deep-seated history, it seems the Bucks County Area is the perfect region for Reggie Young. He’s 14thgeneration now, descended from a carpenter from Saxony that landed in Philly, relocated to Bucks. He left me with pertinent closing remarks for us Bucks County dwellers. “Bucks is a treasure, not to be destroyed. We don’t have a lot of protections, and I would like to be involved in what happens here. I’m not against development but want smart development. Many people feel this way but don’t know how to affect change.” He’s seen homes torn down due to neglect in both the Hudson Valley and closer to home. “We’re vulnerable,” he says, “If we care we need to get involved on a local level—to cluster commercial buildings rather than see endless strip malls and cluster housing. We need to respect open space.” He’s right, of course, But I believe if Reggie Young is here, preservation, restoration, conservation will be in good hands.
Delaware Valley House Parts is located at 243 N Union Street, Lambertville, NJ. For more information, call 267-449-1144 or visit www.delawarevalleyhouseparts.com.
Chrysa Smith is the Style Columnist who enjoys the merger of old and new, both inside and outside of homes