Help Restore Bonneyconnellen Castle

Hello,

We are John and Heather. Heather is originally from NJ and John originally Texas. We are both moving to Sidney OH, from Washington state. Why would we do that you way ask. Well, we recently purchased the Bonneyconnellan Castle. When we saw her it was like love at first sight, so we made an offer and without stepping foot into this home until just before closing, taking a leap of faith, we bought her! The moment we walked into her we fell in love even more and could not help the feeling of awe we felt for this old gal. Even being let go over the years you could not help but see how rand she was!

She was built approximately in 1881 on top a hill looking over the beautiful city of Sidney, OH, an amazing community of welcoming, friendly, caring people that we are so grateful to now call home! In many ways she is one of Sidney's crowing jewels.

She has had a long string of owners. She has housed a family, been apartments, been a bed and breakfast, and even spent time sitting vacant.

Below are some of photos of her in the past. Wasn't she GRAND!!!!

Bonneyconnellan means beautiful lady and she is! However, over the years she has fallen into some disrepair and suffered some tragedy when one of her previous owners stripped her of her stunning original woodwork and grand floating staircase. It is not hard to just look at her and be able to see all she was and can be again. We love this old girl and want to do all we can to bring her back to something resembling the grandeur she once emulated. We want to help care for her and preserve her for future generations yet to come.

The list of work she will need is long. It includes (but is not limited to) electrical, plumbing, heating, all the windows need to be rebuilt and restored (and many need the glass replaced, we plan to keep the originals and NOT replace them with modern windows), the tilework restored, (unfortunately) most of the floors replaced, bathrooms remodeled/fixed and made functional, turn the room that was intended to be the kitchen into a functioning room (it is just an empty shell right now), heating systems made to work, and that is just the beginning.

We are starting this GoFundMe to help fund the acquisition of original woodwork of the historic beauty. One of her previous owners fell on hard times. When the castle fell into foreclosure the owners sold and had removed all the original woodwork. The moldings, paneling, mantels, doors and other adornments were all stripped from the home. One you see some photos of what she looked like with her woodwork you can help but want to do all you can in order to restore her to what she once was.

This is a photo is what the staircase once looked like

This photo shows the woodwork that used to adorn the ceiling

This is where those beautiful stairs once were and the ornate ceiling decorated the room

More than just the grand staircase was removed. All the original woodwork that was removed from this old girl. It has luckily has been located and it is said to be complete, however, it is going to take $50,000 just to purchase it and more to transports it, repair the structure in order to install it, and actually install it. Parts of a ceiling/upper floor that supported the top of the staircase was removed, places where original doors once were have been boarded up and closed over, while the sizes of other doors appear to have been changed. The stunning woodwork that used to adorn the ceiling has also been removed.

Here are some other before and after photos

The mantel in the room with the Blue Fireplace

The Blue Fireplace now completely missing its mantel

The dining room before its woodwork was all removed

The dining room now, missing all its grandeur

Room after room throughout the first floor has been completely stripped of all its original woodwork. We are working diligently to restore this historic beauty back to her former glory!

We are working with the gentleman who has possession of all of the original woodwork to secure its return in stages in order to spread out the cost over time a bit.

The community has been so amazing and supportive and suggested making this GoFundMe so that they could help us in this undertaking. We could not be more grateful for this outreach and yet another show of love and support that has been extended to us. We only hope that we can be also be an inspiration and a help to restore and tend to some of the other beautiful old buildings in our community and help them also shine again!