Delco Profile: Monika and Z Rehoric Provide Hospitality and History at The Gifford-Risley House in Media

Monika and Z Rehoric were no strangers to the life of small business owners. For nearly 25 years, they owned and operated Kenny’s Flower Shoppe on West State Street (it’s still there, just under new ownership).

 

Toward the end of that time, as the couple was slowly segueing into retirement in 2019, a new opportunity presented itself: a beautiful circa-1877 Gothic Revival Chalet-style mansion on North Monroe Street was up for sale. Though it had been an apartment building, Monika and Z had another vision for the grand old home.

 

 

“We’ve been in Media for such a long time, and to us the town just screams ‘bed-and-breakfast’ with all the big, beautiful, old buildings,” Monkia says. “That is what the town needed, we felt. We still had the energy and the desire to run a business, but it was time to do something different.”

 

The Rehorics were bed-and-breakfast aficionados. For years, they traveled across the U.S. and Europe, staying in guest houses, inns and B&Bs, taking note of the intimate, community-oriented hospitality, decor and furnishings that most resonated with them. So, when they transformed the apartment building into a seven-room B&B, The Gifford-Risley House, they knew exactly what they wanted to do. They’d undertaken other home renovations, including a few Victorian-era properties, and though the building didn’t need a lot of work, they were very careful to make the updates it did require with care and intention.

 

“It’s on the National Register of Historic Places, so we had to be careful with that,” Monika noted. “We really didn’t want to play with the integrity of the house.”

 

 

They dedicated each guest room in the house to a different style of furniture and time period throughout the Victorian era, like “Queen Anne Revival,” “Eastlake” and “Arts and Crafts.“ The furnishings were painstakingly sought out and acquired at antique stores, estate sales and auctions across the country over a period of four-and-a-half years. 

 

“You can’t just go antiquing in Lancaster and pick up a piece here or there—it’s such a big house with a lot of bedrooms and common spaces,” Monkia said. “Everything in this house, floor to ceiling and everything in between, is something we purchased.” 

 

To keep track of all the pieces, from silverware to artwork to furniture, Monika maintained a book full of dimensions and measurements, color swatches and design inspiration. She called it her “bible.” Friends’ and family members’ basements, attics and storage units were employed to store all the pieces that they’d found before they opened.

 

Committing to the “era” theme of each room meant some real challenges hunting down specific pieces. For instance, trying to find an Empire bed with a canopy was a particularly tricky score. The Rehorics finally found one at an auction in New Jersey. Though they’d had a budget set for the piece, as the bids started coming in, Monika dug in. 

 

“I fought for that bed,” she remembers. ”As the price climbed up, I just kept going, I was like, ‘I need this bed!’”

 

 

When they finally opened in early 2020, the house was beautifully period-correct, with multiple parlors, a light-drenched solarium, and all seven guest rooms furnished to a tee. The friendly, inviting atmosphere the Rehorics have created draws guests from all over the world and emulates the hospitality they loved experiencing as guests on their travels.

 

Each morning, guests at The Gifford-Risley House come downstairs for breakfast and are seated in various places in the house, including the dining room, front porch and parlor. The Rehorics, who both worked in restaurant kitchens as young adults (in fact, they met at the Rusty Scupper in Wayne), serve home-cooked meals they’ve prepared from scratch in the house’s kitchen. Along with coffee, tea and juice, they serve fresh fruit, yogurt and granola, baked goods and a hot breakfast entree. The quiches and Italian-style stratas are house specialties. 

 

 

As the guests dine, they strike up conversations and get to know each other. 

 

“It’s a place where people from all walks of life and all backgrounds from all over the world come together and speak to each other on a personal level,” Monika says. “In this world we’ve lost sight of that one-on-one personal contact. A B&B gives you that back—people take their barriers down and it’s amazing how people just start talking to each other, without any prompting.”

 

 

Once a month, The Gifford-Risley House hosts Sunday afternoon teas, inspired by traditional English tea time, where herbal and black teas, tea sandwiches and sweets are served. These teas are open to the public and are very popular, often selling out weeks in advance.

 

Though it’s not quite the same as a full retirement, the Rehorics love their new lifestyle which keeps them connected to the Media community and people from across the globe. 

 

 

“The social aspect and meeting different people is the same, yet different, from the flower shop,” Monkia says. “People say ‘You must be exhausted,’ but actually we’re living the good life. Flower shop work is a crazy business, and this is a different pace of life for us, it’s slowed us down. We can block off our calendar and take the day off.”

 

The Gifford-Risley House is located at 430 N. Monroe St. in Media; phone: (610) 565-4817.

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Want to know more about everything Delco? We’re more than just your source for good eats — we’re your source for where to stay, what to do and more in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. We’re Visit Delco, PA. They say we’re A LOT…and they’re right! Contact us at (610) 565-3679, by email or online.

– Emily Kovach

 

All photos courtesy of The Gifford-Risley House