Can you help me save this historic property?
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- A miracle saved this historic Ellwood-Mayo mansion in 1994. Good-hearted people loaned money to block its demolition and I repaid them with interest.
- I began this GoFundMe campaign to raise private interest-earning funds for a discounted bank mortgage payoff but instead arranged to pay off the full mortgage when David Galica completes his contract-for-deed purchase of the property. David has agreed to continue the preservation and restoration of the property.
- Since 1994 I've preserved the building, its 1897 iron fence, and its green lawn without donations or city/state/federal funding. In 2022 I replaced the pitched roof shingles and resurfaced the flat roof with a Duro-Last membrane while increasing insulation. Some of the Colorado sandstone on the porch was badly corroded and significant mortar had washed away so I contracted with stone mason Greg Stephens to dismantle the stone and reassemble it in 2023 while replacing eroded stone with 125-yr old stone that had been preserved under the crawlspace of the 1922 Elks Lodge expansion of the building. Greg will also clean and tuckpoint all sandstone while adding a breathable clear preservative coating.
- I'm continuing the GoFundMe site so that I can share with you pictures of the ongoing restoration and the results of some past restorations. Jim Hovis
Organizer
JAMES E HOVIS
Organizer
DeKalb, IL