Help Rebuild a Norwood Icon After a Fire

In the early morning hours of January 16th 2025, a fire devastated one of Norwood Ohio's iconic Victorian homes. Originally built in the 1890s, the home was designed by the famed architect George Franklin Barber, and has been a landmark for the community ever since. We were coming to the end of a long restoration project and were mere days away from moving into the home with our family when the fire destroyed everything we were hoping to share with the community.

After evaluating the damage, it has become apparent that we are looking at a rebuild from the foundation up for the majority of the house. We are hoping to save the corner of the house with the ornate brick chimney and the arched window along with the foundation to incorporate into a rebuild.

With so little of the original house being salvageable we recognize that rebuilding would never replace or exactly replicate what was there. The house stood as it was for 130 years. We want to rebuild something the neighborhood can be proud of for the next 100 years while acknowledging and incorporating the design and history of the original home as well as the destruction of the fire. We do not yet know exactly what the final product will be, but we are committing to rebuilding.

The insurance on the house is unfortunately woefully short of covering both a rebuild AND recouping what was already invested in the renovation. We could walk away, but we want to avoid a scenario where a complete demolition and unrelated rebuild wipes out the history and beauty of the home completely. For this reason, we are pursuing financing options for the core of the rebuild and filling in the rest of the details as we are able.

We would love for you to partner with us however you are able. How you can help:

• Keep following along and sharing encouragement! The process is long and has already been a wild rollercoaster of emotions. https://www.instagram.com/cottage_souvenir

• Share our story and vision with those who love Norwood, history, old homes, hospitality and stories of redemption.

• Donate to the project, any amount makes a difference! The more funding we have the more detailing and beauty we can add to the rebuild. All the GoFundMe donations will go directly into the rebuild. THANK YOU to everyone who has generously supported us already.

• Connections – if you, your company, your friend, or your Great Aunt Gerty can help with specialty fabrication, industry expertise, discounts/donations on windows or other materials, please reach out! I don’t want to take anything for granted or take advantage of anyone, but if we’re going to do this well, we will need to value engineer the crap out of our budget.

We will continue to give updates as we move forward.