A Bergen native whose family dates back to the 1800s is writing a new chapter in her family’s (and Bergen’s) history.
Brette-Ashley Wilcox Schmitt, the great-granddaughter of the late Harris Wilcox, and her husband Phillip Schmitt have recently purchased the Victorian c. 1904 building near the corner of North Lake Street and Rochester Street.
The couple plans to renovate the building and use the downstairs as a new photography studio for Brette-Ashley.
Brette-Ashley has been a full-time photographer for eight years, having started as a wedding photographer. Phillip is director of finance at Roberts Wesley College.
When Brette-Ashley decided to focus on doing only portraits, she was looking for a building to rent, she said.
“I had been doing free-lance work, so this is my first brick and mortar studio,” she said. “My business has grown to where I really need a building to call home.”
Bergen Mayor Anna Marie Barclay is thrilled the building is going to see new life. It had been a law office at one time, and then a landscaper bought it, and it sat empty for several years, she said.
The Schmitts said they could see the potential in the building when they bought it at auction.
“We knew it would be a lot of work, but Phillip and I feel tremendously blessed to have such hardworking and generous people helping us with this project,” Brette-Ashley said.
A village of people have helped encourage her to follow her dreams, she said.
Since starting renovation they have had a “lot of good surprises,” such as getting the floors down to the original hardwood, Brette-Ashley said. They also are going to preserve one wall of exposed brick.
They plan to do the work in phases and hope to be ready for her to open her doors before Thanksgiving.
“It feels so nice to be doing business in my hometown,” Brette-Ashley said. “Harris had such a positive impact in this community.”
She fondly recalls how Harris would invite her to his farm every week during the summer, teaching her to ride a horse and giving her advice for the future.
“He was such a busy man, yet he took the time to invest in me,” Brette-Ashley said. “His involvement in this community was tremendous, and if I can follow in his footsteps just a little bit, I will be happy. He was such a role model.”
Brette-Ashley said she is excited for their new journey and she can’t wait to open her doors and bring her business to her home town of Bergen.
Top photo: Phillip and Brette-Ashley Wilcox Schmitt sit in the back of their moving van with daughter Emerson. The couple has purchased the 1904 building near the corner of North Lake Street and Rochester Street in downtown Bergen, where she will open her photography studio.
Brette-Ashley Wilcox Schmitt and her husband Phillip think it is a good omen a rainbow appeared over the historic building they have purchased near the corner of North Lake Avenue and Rochester Street in Bergen.
I guess I have become the
I guess I have become the official Bergen geography consultant to The Batavian. The former law office purchased by the Wilcox descendant is just shy of the corner of North Lake Avenue and Rochester St. The corner is actually occupied by the Ben Zuber Memorial Park on the site of the Walker House hotel which was demolished in the 1960s. The historic picture of the Cathout & Gage building IS located on the corner of North Lake Ave. and Buffalo Street, but it is NOT the same building in the modern photograph. The Cathout & Gage building is the former Odd Fellows Hall and (more recently) a store front church. It is kitty-corner to the building referred to in your story. The Walker House hotel shared its north wall with the building in the top photo. As you can see windows on the right side of the lower building it obviously never shared a wall with another building. Also the roof and window pediments are nothing alike. The building to the left of the Cathout & Gage building is the current Masonic Temple and lower level insurance agency and salon.