The house was built in 1899 by Mrs. Susan Barton Grey. The home was built for an outlandish $7,000.00
Barton-Grey was the daughter of William and Sarah Barton, two of the earliest settlers in the area. She was the widow of Issac Grey, the owner of Grey's Landing, who made his fortune with his coke ovens.
Isaac Grey died in 1883 and in the late 1890's, Susan decided to come home. Construction on the house was started in 1899. Susan, her two sons and stepdaughter, Ida, moved into the new home in 1903. The house is unusual because it is in the Jacobethan variety of the Tudor Revival Style. It is believed to be the only example of Jacobethan architecture in Uniontown.
When Susan died in 1915 the Uniontown Daily News Dispatch called her "one of the most widely known and well respected women of this city." The paper also mentioned a specific reference to the house and stated, "where some of Uniontown's prettiest parties have been given as she was most hospitable and entertained frequently." Ironically, 1915 was the end of an era for Uniontown, which contained some of the world's richest men.
Ida remained in the house until 1958. Alphonse and Anna Lepore along with their six children purchased the house and spent the next 38 years growing up in it. Anna continued the house's reputation of hospitality. Many a local guest has eaten in the house, as Anna always had something in the oven or on the stove.
Chef Joseph and Stacy Carei became only the third owners nearly one hundred years after it was built. They spent two years restoring the building to its original glory. Ninety percent of the work was done by family and as one can see, it was a labor of love.
In 2003, the Carei's extended Uniontown's most hospitable home by closing in the front porch. Using windows from a building on the Old Mellon Summer Estate (now Chatham College), they kept a historical feel and added to the integrity of the building. A hand carved oak bar, imported from Lille, France, removed from an old drinking house completed the front of the house.
