The Magnetic Mansion

In the summer of 2009 we were contracted to do a complete restoration of a 1930 Tudor revival in the Irish Hills area. The house is  famous to many of the residents of Lenawee County... A book called The Magnetic Mansion was written about the place by one of its former owners. If you would like to read about the house history, both fact and legend, and see the crazy long list of work we did, Click Here.

This project was nominated for Project of the Year by the Michigan Historic Preservation Network in 2010. Unfortunately, it was ultimately disqualified because we replaced the leaking, decayed asbestos roof that nobody knew how to fix with the highest quality asphalt based shingles. Sigh. (I don't feel that bad- ALL of that years nominees were disqualified for one reason or another. Go figure.)

First, here are a few before pictures:

The windows were in pretty rough shape.

The famous pool...

The basement needed a little work too...check out that mold. I guess 10 years of being abandoned with a leaking everything will do that to you...

even after gutting it, the basement still looked like hell.

The kitchen could use a little updating.

A little re-decorating was in order.

Some landscaping was needed too.

Thought bubble: "What did I get myself into?"

Now for a few pictures of the work in progress:

Kitchen looking a little different.

The second floor gutted.

Although this wasn't a 100 percent gut, it was easily a 85% gut, and the few areas that weren't removed had to be taken down and re-installed to run utilities and insulate.

Stairs down to the biohazard dungeon.

3 of the 37 different people that gave their blood, sweat and tears.

The outside starting to take shape.

Click here for more in progress pictures.