'Empty House Party' to Showcase 2013 Designer House

Tickets are available for Sunday's Empty House Party event, part of the 2013 Bucks County Designer House and Gardens fundraiser.

If you can't get enough of the home makeover shows on HGTV, you won't want to miss an event Sunday afternoon. See the Clement Doyle house before decorators, landscapers and all manner of magicians get their hands on the venerable Doylestown Township manse. Sunday is the Empty House Party, the public's chance to see the 2013 Bucks County Designer House and Gardens before it is transformed into a showcase. Stroll the grounds, explore the empty house and meet the design team as they share their elaborate plans to transform this expansive, stately manor house. The event will include light fare, desserts, a candy bar and wine and soft drinks. Attendees also will be able to bid on silent auction items donated by designers and local businesses. …

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V.I.A. Donates $11K to Three Bucks Non-Profits

Special Equestrians, United Veterans of Doylestown and Bucks Beautiful benefitted from grants awarded by the Village Improvement Association.

In a few short weeks, more than 170,000 daffodils will push up through the wet spring soil along the new Route 202 Parkway. The effort to beautify the new roadway that links Doylestown and Montgomeryville got a boost recently from the Doylestown-based Village Improvement Association. The women's group awarded three grants totalling $11,000 to three local non-profit groups. Kathy Meyer, Chairman of the V.I.A.'s Community Response Committee, presented the grants at a recent meeting. Founded in 1982, Special Equestrians brings together people with disabilities and horses at its 40 acre farm in Warrington Township. The United Veterans of Doylestown is composed of the senior officers of all four of the town's veterans groups: American Legion …

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V.I.A. Donates Books to ER

The books were chosen for a special age group.

The Village Improvement Association of Doylestown (V.I.A.) recently donated books to Doylestown Hospital’s Emergency Department. The books, aimed at preschool and elementary children, will help entertain kids during what can be a scary time in the hospital. The V.I.A., which owns and operates the hospital, also supports a variety of efforts to benefit the local community. 

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This Was Doylestown

This Was Doylestown, 1962

Bucks County dedicates a new courthouse in Doylestown, James A. Michener campaigns for Congress, and a movie is made at the Mercer Museum, 50 years ago this week.

Bucks County Commissioners Edward B. Boyer, John J. Bodley and Adolph A. Andrews on Saturday morning formally dedicated the Bucks County Courthouse. The ceremony, held outdoors in the courthouse square under a cloudless sky, began at 10:30 a.m. with a musical program by the United States Steel Chorus and the Quakertown Band. The Rev. Oswald Ebert, pastor of Christ Lutheran Church, Tinicum Township, gave the invocation, and the Rev. Raymond J. Hinsworth of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, Doylestown, offered the benediction. President Judge Edward G. Biester, giving the principal address of the day, cited court statistics showing how the mushrooming population growth of Bucks in the last decade made larger court accommodations a necessity. "…

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Jeff Lugar

9:04 am on Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Great photo. I'd seen pictures of that old court house, but not one of it next to the start of our current one.   more ›

Cardiologists Switch From Independent to Hospital Practice

Local heart patients will continue to see their cardiologist at the same office, but the practices now work directly for Doylestown Hospital.

Two local groups of heart doctors are switching from independent practices to working directly for Doylestown Hospital. Central Bucks Cardiology and Central Bucks Specialists (Cardiology Division) now come under the umbrella of the Village Improvement Association Affiliates (VIAA), a member of the VIA Health System. The two cardiology practices perform nearly all of the heart services at Doylestown Hospital. Patients of the two practices will notice little difference in their day-to-day encounters beyond a name change for the Central Bucks Specialists practice to Doylestown Cardiology Associates–VIAA. Patients will continue to see their cardiologist of choice in the same office they have always visited, hospital officials said in a …

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V.I.A. Saves Pieces of Doylestown's History

A landlord's fortuitous discovery led to the preservation of part of the borough's past.

Perhaps new mothers sat in them and rocked their newborns. Perhaps husbands whiled away the hours rocking back and forth, hoping their wives would recover from the grippe, what we now know was influenza. Perhaps weary nurses sat down for a moment or two and rocked on the wide front porch of the home at Oakland and Pine in Doylestown Borough. We may never know the names of the men and women who sat in those rocking chairs through the years, but thanks to a chance discovery, the chairs themselves remain. In 2000, Carolyn Della-Rodolfa received a call from the man who owned that historic home on Oakland and Pine, which is now the Oakland Apartments. Originally the home of the John B. Livezey family, the house was converted into the first …

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Sneak a Peek at the Bucks County Designer House

The preview gala to see what local design firms have done with the house and its grounds will be May 5.

Tickets are available now for the preview gala of the 2012 Bucks County Designer House & Gardens. Be among the first to preview the transformation of Spring Valley Farm before it opens for general tours. (Click here to read more about the selection of Spring Valley Farm for this year's project.) The May 5 Preview Gala is an elegant evening featuring a raw seafood bar, chef's carving stations and other buffet items, plus wines, cocktails and signature drinks, catered by The Waterwheel restaurant. Guests will be able to tour the house and grounds as the first visitors to see this year's renovation. The Designer House is a project of the Village Improvement Association, the women's group that founded and still oversees the running of …

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VIA Donates to Women Vets

The Doylestown women's community group gave a washer and dryer to a home for homeless women veterans.

The Village Improvement Association of Doylestown recently purchased and delivered a new washer and dryer to the Mary E. Walker House. The Walker House is a 30-bed transitional residence for homeless women veterans on the grounds of the Coatesville VA Medical Center. The home is named for Dr. Mary E. Walker, a Civil War surgeon and the only female Medal of Honor recipient. The program helps women veterans move back to independent lives in the community. The V.I.A.’s Veterans Committee met with the Walker House staff to determine their needs. Under normal circumstances, the facility has two sets of washers and dryers, but due to breakage, had only one set for the use of 30 women. The committee worked with the staff of the Quakertown Lowe’s …

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V.I.A. Presents Grants

Recipients included The Bucks County Children’s Museum, the Women’s Diagnostic Centers, and Town and Country Players.

At the December meeting of the Village Improvement Association (V.I.A.), the Community Response Committee presented $11,500 in grants to three community groups. The Bucks County Children’s Museum received $5,000 for a custom designed agriculture mural that is representative of Bucks County. This interactive mural will aid children in the development of their phonetic skills. Kelly Krumenacker, President, thanked the V.I.A. for their generous donation, encouraged members to visit the museum and showed pictures of children enjoying the agricultural mural. The mammography department of the Health & Wellness Center was given $5,000 to buy soft robes for patients to wear during mammogram procedures. The robes will be used at the Women’s …

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Donation Helps Expand Hospital Birthing Center

The recent donation is part of a five-year pledge to donate $1 million.

Expectant moms who deliver their babies at Doylestown Hospital will directly benefit from a recent donation to the hospital's Birthing Center. The Village Improvement Association has presented the hospital with $200,000 to put toward the renovation and expansion of the labor, delivery and postpartum facilities at the hospital. It is the first installment of the group's $1 million, five-year commitment to the center. The V.I.A. raised the money through the 2011 Bucks County Designer House & Gardens. The Designer House is the largest fundraising activity of the VIA and supports Doylestown Hospital and V.I.A. community projects. The Birthing Center at Doylestown Hospital now features private rooms for all patients. Using available space from …

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