Serendipitous Stories

Gabrielle’s path first intersected with the Brockie Mansion about 10 years ago. Little did she know, she’d own it one day. A friend managing York’s ReStore asked if Gabrielle wanted to tag along and visit the Brockie Mansion.

“I didn’t know what Brockie Mansion was, but I said, ‘Yes,’” she recalls. “The last family who lived here was moving out.”

While her friend was interested in salvaging and reselling items, Gabrielle ended up doing the same.

“I purchased a bunch of lighting—three chandeliers I took to my then-home, and then I brought them back here to reinstall them four or five years later. It’s crazy to think about,” she reflects.

There’s yet another story of serendipity. Gabrielle recently acquired a treasure trove of Brockie Mansion photos, circa 1917.

A friend at an auction had spied a weathered black photo album titled “Views at Brockie” in gold lettering. While Gabrielle and her friend, bidding on her behalf, expected to snag it for a few hundred dollars, the bidding escalated to $1,700. Gabrielle has pored over the pricey yet priceless sepia-toned photos, gleaning clues and inspiration. The ferns she chose for the home’s patio mimic those of 1917.

“I’m grateful for the chance to be a caretaker, a steward, of this home,” Gabrielle says. “It’s definitely a labor of love—it sounds so cliché, but it’s true. When we decided to take on this project, I took the reins and said, ‘If we’re going to do it, I’m going to be all-in.’”

To see more of the home, check @gabriellemessina on Instagram, where Gabrielle documented the home’s renovations, “more as a visual journal for me,” she describes. She also found community among “lots of people reviving old homes,” as well as venue opportunities, even attracting Anthropologie. To date, the retailer has staged about a dozen photo shoots—more than any other private home, Gabrielle says—at the Brockie Mansion.

You can find Jim McClure online at witnessingyork.com