Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Edith Wharton’s Home, The Mount, Faces Foreclosure
Posted by: lain // Category: Big Money No Whammies, Birds of a feather, Fundraising, Historic Preservation // 8:54 am
So, the folks at Edith Wharton’s historic home in Massachussetts have recently completed a $13 million renovation. Wow.
It’s too bad that nobody bothered to pay the rent!
The Wren’s Nest, once in not-so-dissimilar dire straights and currently sitting smack dab in the middle of the foreclosure capital of whatever, feels the Mount’s pain.
The Mount is trying to raise $3 million before March April 24. They’ve got a little over half a million in the bank at press time, which is neither a small feat nor $3 million.
If you’re into that sort of thing, you might want to consider helping bail them out. Even though Edith Wharton isn’t my favorite female author from the 20th century with the initials EW, saving her home seems like a worthy cause.
Thanks, Asian Cajuns.
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That place is awesome. It is goes into foreclosure, maybe the Wren’s nest can buy it.
In all seriousness though, I am glad that the Wren’s Nest is being more responsible, and not even painting until the money is there.
When ARE you going to repaint the Wren’s Nest, anyway?
Good question, Joe.
In terms of our restoration, right now we have an overall general budget put together by a professional cost estimator. Then, we’ve met with let’s say five or six different contractors who perform different types of work: roofing, painting, window and door repair, masonry, etc.
Once we get those bids back, we can insert them into the final budget and decide what we’ll want to spend our money on. Rest assured, we could throw over $1 million into this house, but with a current budget of $210,000, we won’t be able to do everything.
Luckily for you, painting will most probably be a priority. We reckon it’ll be a $30,000 job.
Could painting be done by volunteers?
Nope!
Haha… Nice response to Ronni, Lain. At this point I respect you enough to know that there is a good reason(s), like liability and the fact that valunteers usually do a crappy job on something like that.
That being said, if you change your mind, I will volunteer to help paint.
Still, it’s remarkable what you’ve accomplished in very little time, from no electric bills to a decent budget of $210k.
Brilliant idea of the day: You should contact some wedding planners and let them know what you’ve got working there! Spring is upon us!
Ronni and I are tight, so it’s no big deal. Right, Ronni?
Joe, maybe we should hire you as a consultant. We have to adhere to certain standards of both material and craftsmanship or whatever. Hence the professionals do the painting.
Speak of the devil, our recommended tent people — Classic Tents and Events — just dropped off their big book of pictures for potential wedding people (couples is the word I’m looking for) to look at.
So far we’ve got our first wedding of the season for 6/21. Folks looking to arrange a wedding here: that date is off limits. Folks looking to crash a wedding here: might I suggest this one.
I bet mercenary Amelia could put together a decent looking “flyer” which could then be mailed to people, i.e., wedding planners.
Maybe someone with experience would donate their skills. That someone is not me (not for lack of caring, rather the skill part).
We are tight, Lain!
A flyer is a great idea - so is participation in some of the bridal fairs that occur in the early spring around Atlanta. I’d be happy to help.
I have toured the Wharton home - a couple of years ago - it was decorated as a fundraiser - just for a year - it was truly spectacular. Hard to believe they forgot that you had to maintain a house after restoration.
Hi,
This kinda looks like a more private chat but I was doing research on having a wedding at The Mount and I can’t find any information on it! I saw that you said the first one is scheduled for this June…is that the first wedding ever? Are they still considering doing weddings in the midst of this foreclosure? Thanks for your help!