Landmark on market

A downtown Findlay mansion registered as a national historic landmark has been listed for sale. Eric and Jane Van Renterghem said they are ready to pass the Jones Mansion onto its next caretaker. The three-story Victorian home on East Sandusky Street was built around 1867 – just before Findlay's gas boom. It's the last unaltered mansion in Findlay. "I tell people that I don't own it. I'm a steward. You don't own anything," said Eric, a local historian and retired Findlay High School history teacher. The couple has spent a dozen years bringing the 9,000-square-foot mansion back to its former splendor with its 12-foot-high ceilings, cherry molding and woodwork, and three-story open staircase. Under the Van Renterghems' care, the mansion turned venue has hosted Christmas parties, dinners and even a few weddings. Events were sold out at first, Jane said. "It was so fun to see people come and hear their laughter, I mean, just hearing them having a good time. And everybody was so complimentary. It made you feel good, like they loved coming," she said. But the whole landscape changed with COVID. "We've always struggled here, but COVID knocked the seat from underneath us, like little or no business, and money coming out of our pockets," Eric said. It's definitely bittersweet, he said. "There's times I can't wait to get from underneath it because it's so much responsibility. I mow the yard, I pull the weeds, do all the landscape, and we clean the toilets. We do everything. We can't afford to pay for it," Eric said. "You think of all those years of doing that, it catches up to you," Jane said. The mansion was built for Elijah Pelton "E.P." Jones, a Findlay banker and businessman. Jones leased the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad, the first train service in Findlay, and helped establish the First National Bank in 1863. He became one of Findlay's first nouveaux riche by speculating on land, purchasing buildings and sitting on many community and business boards, according to Eric. His wife, Amelia, served as the first president of the board of the Findlay Home and Hospital Association. She was president of the Orphans' Home, later the Hancock County Children's' Home. She was active in the Symposium and the Colloquist clubs, and the Daughters of the American Revolution. The mansion was a showplace, designed for entertaining everyone from friends to state dignitaries. "They were here before the Donnells," Eric said. It is classified architecturally as a Second Empire Mansard, with over 40 windows, 12-foot ceilings and parquet floors. There are 11 fireplaces on the first two floors. During the gas and oil boom in the 1880s, the home was remodeled and a porte cochere and sun porch were added. A carriage house was built at the rear of the property in the style of a railroad depot. Electricity was added in 1903 or 1904. Jones died in 1894 and his wife in 1914. The home went into their estate, sitting vacant until 1920 when Louisa Wilcke Webb purchased the home for $10,000. She remarried, becoming Mrs. Joseph Parks, and established the Lynn Mawr Inn. The boarding house provided rooms to rent and meals to those staying, as well as evening meals open to the public, said Eric. Prior to the Van Renterghems, the mansion was owned by Parks' daughter, Caroline Roberts, who lived there alone and occupied only a few rooms. She and Eric became friends in the early 1980s when she asked for help in getting the house added to the National Register of Historic Places – a recognition he and Sandra Davies succeeded in obtaining in 1985. When Roberts died at the age of 81 in 2010, she bequeathed the house to Eric. But the project seemed overwhelming. Besides the repairs, he had to pay off a reverse mortgage loan Roberts had taken out earlier. Jane said they had a short time to decide whether to take over the mansion. But his passion for the place took over, she said, "so full bore ahead." They said their life with the mansion has been a journey. Early on, they were both still teaching and Jane had the Ohio Log House which was a seasonal shop and restaurant. "Towards the beginning, we realized we couldn't do it on our own," she said. "Eric knew about tax credits, the national and state. It was a painstaking time, a series of paperwork." Trips back and forth to Columbus, phone calls, filling out forms and taking photographs were all required. His efforts were awarded when the $585,000 restoration project was awarded $125,000 from Ohio's Historic Preservation Tax Credit program. Eric got both levels of tax credits approved, the first in Hancock County. The mansion was also one of nine properties that was named a "Top Preservation Opportunity" for 2012 by Ohio Heritage. He spent much of his free time at the mansion, after school and on weekends. "My whole summer vacation was spent here. But you persevere. You don't quit because that's your vision for this," said Eric, who will be 67. There were also small miracles along with the work, he said. "We didn't find any money, but we found friends, volunteers," he said. A friend, Dave Youngpeter, moved back from Colorado and has helped him with repairs for over a decade. Visitors would give them monetary donations. When things didn't pick up after the pandemic, the couple began thinking about selling. "Granted, I know most people's lives were affected by COVID, and a lot of people don't have that extra money maybe, because we're heard from a lot of business owners, people just aren't spending for this or that and they can't," said Jane. Once the "for sale" sign went up, Eric heard from people wanting to know why they were selling the mansion. "I said, 'You ever sold a house before?' 'Yeah.' 'Well, what's up with that?' I just get tired of that," he said. "You know, it's like you don't live forever. I can't do this forever." They were able to finish the first two floors. The third, an audience room, remains unfinished. "I wanted to give it value and protect it so it'd be too costly to buy it and tear it down. Hopefully we've done that," said Eric. The work they've done means someone could move in and live there now. Jane said she's proud of her husband for his love of preservation - and the mansion. She knows that sometimes he feels like a failure for not having it completely finished or even selling it. "But you have to not go there because you've given, we've given 13 years of our lives to this. We've given it to Findlay," she said. "I just don't want that to be overlooked. Even though we're selling it, it doesn't mean our love of history is going away. It's just time for somebody else to do, to be the next caretaker." They hope the right person out there is going to come and say, "Oh, I've got to keep this as it is, and I know how I can use it."