Since journeyman embalmer Paul J. Boylan bought the Hyle-Hanley Funeral Home in Evans City in 1956, the Boylan family has worked to improve and expand the business to provide Butler County residents with the most professional and compassionate end-of-life services possible.

Patrick J. Boylan, who joined his late father, Paul, at the company in 1971, took over the family business in 1985.

In 1986, he opened a funeral home in Zelienople, then bought the Glenn-Kildoo Funeral Homes in Zelienople and Cranberry Township in 1998.

Boylan's sons, Patrick and Adam, have also joined the business as funeral directors.

“We're here to stay for a long, long time,” Boylan said.

In December 2012, Boylan acquired the King Funeral Home in Allison Park, Allegheny County, in a merger.

“And in 2014, we will open this newest facility, with a crematory center and funeral home,” Boylan said.

The new facility Boylan refers to is the former Spang mansion on Evans City Road in Connoquenessing Township. Since its construction by the Spangs in the early 1900s, the mansion has served as the family's home, a longtime photography studio and a bed and breakfast before being purchased by Boylan in 2010.

Contractors have been at work since that time renovating the five-acre property both inside and out, plus building a 6,000-square-foot addition to the existing house, Boylan said.

The new property will be the first funeral home in Butler County to have a crematory on site, Boylan said. The addition's entire first floor will be dedicated to the evermore popular cremation services, Boylan said. He said the crematory at the new property has been in operation since November.

The spacious cremation center was designed so bereaved families have the option to hold a brief viewing for their loved one, who would be in a rented or cremation casket, Boylan said. The family could then watch the casket enter the cremation system, if they chose, when a curtain is drawn and a window looking into the crematory is revealed.

Depending on the family's choices, religious services also can be held at the cremation center.

“We'll have such a variety of options, people can design their own arrangements at affordable prices,” Boylan said. “Customs are changing.”

A large covered patio and 150 parking spaces were placed outside the addition.

The second floor of the addition is comprised of traditional viewing rooms that feature crystal chandeliers, unique and soothing wall treatments and lighting and a large digital screen where videos of the deceased can be played during services. Boylan said a player piano will be added as an option for families who want music to accompany their video.

Regarding the existing house, Boylan has dedicated the entire first floor to the comfort of the families who use his services.

Boylan contractors tore down the deteriorating fireplaces in the sun porches on either side of the brick house so they could be rebuilt to match the home's early 20th-century grandeur. Leaks also necessitated new ceilings and floors in the sun porches, where families can take a break from the visitation in a warm, cheery space.

Another fireplace was replaced in the former home's dining room, where a worker recently applied tiny tiles to the face of the hearth. The carved sandstone fireplace, which is in the building's great room, will remain.

The two large front rooms in the house are being renovated with new paint, comfortable furniture and new carpeting to cover the 6-inch concrete floors installed by the Spangs. Families can access the rooms from the visitation area in the addition to make arrangements for their loved one's services, or to relax and reflect during or between visitations.

“It'll be like they're in their own living room,” Boylan said.

A small room off the east sun porch will include an area where families can enjoy coffee or soft drinks, and a ladies lounge off one restroom will include a settee, makeup counter and other features for the comfort of the bereaved.

Perhaps the most impressive feature added to the old house by Boylan's contractors is the grand front door. The old single door and its side panels were removed and a double archway installed.

Custom-made doors forming an arch and inlaid with thick decorative glass fill the space, which is surrounded by dark wood on the inside.

Boylan's interior decorator, Cathleen Gilg, explained that travertine and emperador chocolate marble will be inlaid in the entryway.

Regarding the building's exterior, Boylan explained that extensive damage to the red bricks due to 100 years of exposure, plus damage to the pointing between the bricks, necessitated several repairs to the old house. He said it was impossible to match the repaired surfaces to the red brick, so he hired contractors to paint the entire house in a vanilla shade.

“I didn't want to, but we had no choice,” Boylan said.

He said workers labored for 18 months just tearing down the half dozen outbuildings in the rear of the property. He said the pens the Spangs used to raise exotic birds, plus a machinery shop and a stable with an early version of a washing station for horses were among the sturdy steel-and-brick outbuildings that were removed to make way for the parking lot and required retention ponds.

But Boylan will keep an old gem he found while clearing the overgrown brush from the property: a large gambrel roof barn with two cupolas the Spangs used to house their horses.

He said the barn will be renovated and used as a hall where families can hold wakes or other activities to celebrate their loved ones' lives, as well as a unique all-purpose community center where receptions, showers and other events could be held.

A mysterious facet of buying the old Spang property is the rumor that an underground passageway connects the house and barn, but Boylan has not yet found evidence to substantiate the tale.

Boylan said he does not want to erase the original grandeur and history of the Spang family and plans to seek Gilg's help in creating a space where the house and its original residents are memorialized. He is saving items contractors come across for that future project and hopes to get in contact with a Spang descendant for guidance.

In all his efforts to improve his funeral home and crematory business, Boylan keeps one idea in mind.

“We're dedicated to meeting the needs of the people, with our communities in mind,” Boylan said. “It's all about the people.”

He said he and his funeral directors will go to almost any length to customize the remembrance of a loved one for a family. He said he has seen his parking lots full of motorcycles or fire trucks, arranged for myriad musical selections, welcomed pictures, videos and mementos of all kinds, and many other arrangements in all of his funeral homes.

“The most difficult is when someone loses a child,” Boylan said. “We can't do enough for those people.”

Boylan funeral director Justin Rowan agreed. He said in decades past, funeral directors told families what to expect at a viewing and what would occur.

“It didn't mean anything for the family,” Rowan said.

He said in early March, he oversaw arrangements made for the visitation of a decorated World War II veteran who had survived both the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Midway. Rowan ordered patriotic flowers, and the man was dressed in his uniform.

Rowan said Boylan encourages pictures, videos and mementos at visitations, which are called “remembrance centers.”

“It may seem decorative at the visitation, but I think it's therapeutic as well,” Rowan said. “We are constantly evolving and changing the business to meet the needs of the people.”

Boylan said he has been successful during the huge shift over the years in visitation and funeral arrangements for one reason.

“I'm not afraid of change,” Boylan said. “A lot of people are reluctant to do that.”

He said Boylan Funeral Homes and Cremation Services will continue well into the future as long as one practice remains throughout the years.

“We get right down there with the families,” Boylan said, “and we treat the people the way they deserve to be treated.”

<b>Address</b>: 324 E. Grandview Ave., Zelienople<b>Website</b>: www.boylanfuneralhome.com<b>President/owner</b>: Patrick J. Boylan<b>Employees</b>: 15<b>Services</b>: Funeral home and cremation services<b>Quote</b>: “We're dedicated to meeting the needs of the people, with our communities in mind.”