The Weston House on Center Ridge Road. (West Life file photo by Larry Bennet)

Funds sought to develop historic Weston House
By Kevin Kelley
Westlake
Published May 6, 2009

The Westlake Historical Society is seeking $400,000 from the city to renovate a 19th century home on Center Ridge Road and turn it into a museum and local history and genealogy center.

The Weston House, located at 27946 Center Ridge Road, just east of the entrance to the Westlake Recreation Center, was donated to the city nine years ago with the stipulation that it be restored and used as a museum. In the ensuing years, the city spent $55,000 to secure the exterior of the building and fix the roof. The city leased the house to the historical society, which was expected to come up with a plan to turn the structure into a museum.

Although it spent a good deal of money and volunteer hours working on the house, the society has been unable to secure adequate funding to create a museum at the site.

Jim Anderson of the Westlake Historical Society and Steve McQuillin, chairman of the society’s Weston House Preservation Committee, presented the new plan to City Council’s public grounds committee Thursday evening.

McQuillin said the society doesn’t have the funds or fund-raising capabilities to develop the property any further, but does have a vision for the historic house.

“We’ve got a building that’s stabilized but not useful very much,” said McQuillin, who works as a building preservation consultant.

McQuillin envisions the structure serving several uses, from museum to meeting hall. Its location next to the recreation center is ideal, he said.

The developed historical home could be a landmark asset for the city, he said.

“It could be the city’s signature project for the bicentennial,” McQuillin said, referring to the 200th anniversary of Westlake’s founding, which will take place in 2010.

These graphics from the Westlake Historical Society show proposals for developing the historic city-owned Weston House on Center Ridge Road. The top overhead view shows a proposed botanical garden and parking lot just north of the structure. The bottom drawing shows a side view of the Weston House with an octagon addition on the right. (Graphics courtesy of Westlake Historical Society)

The preferred plan, or “Plan A,” as Anderson called it, involves restoring the main floor of the Weston House as a museum of early pioneer life in the former Dover Township area. The second floor would be turned into a local history and genealogy center. McQuillin said the society has had discussions with Westlake Porter Public Library Director Andrew Mangels about operating and staffing the center. Mangels confirmed these discussions with West Life but said the library has not made any commitments to the project.

The Weston House’s partial basement would be expanded to provide restrooms, a kitchenette and additional display areas.

And an addition in the shape of an octagon would be built behind the historical house. In addition to holding additional displays, the new structure would include a large meeting room that could be rented out to help generate income for the museum.

The plan submitted by Anderson and McQuillin also showed a proposed botanical garden behind the Weston House along with a 32-car parking lot adjacent to the recreation center drive entrance.

Plan B, Anderson said, is to develop all the floors of the Weston House as a museum but not build the octagon addition. Plan C is to develop just the first floor, he said, and Plan D is to keep the house boarded up but maintain the exterior.

The house is architecturally significant, McQuillin said, due to its sandstone construction.

The house is believed to have been built in 1844 for Austin and Roxanna Lilly, who came to Dover Township in the 1830s from Ashfield, Mass., a place where many Dover settlers came from. The couple lived there until 1867. However, Anderson said he has incomplete evidence that portions of the house date to 1828.

Named after a later owner, George Weston, the house was later given to the city by his great-granddaughter, Alice Ladanyi.

The house has been listed on the National Register of Historical Places, McQuillin said. An Ohio Historical Marker was installed in front of the structure in 2005.

McQuillin said the Weston House could also serve as the site of events put on by the historical society. The Clague House Museum, also city-owned but run by the society, does not have room for large functions, Anderson and McQuillin said.

Mayor Dennis Clough said at the committee meeting that the city obtained the house with the intention that the public would eventually go inside it. The mayor said that’s still his goal, although he did not commit to the society’s “Plan A” for developing the site. The city did not budget any money for developing the Weston House, Clough said.

McQuillin said the society’s request that the city loan or invest roughly $400,000 in the Weston House could be reduced by historical preservation grants, tax credits, naming rights to the meeting hall, and income from renting the meeting space.

But Ward 3 Councilman Dennis Sullivan said assuming significant rental income as a business plan was perhaps “pie in the sky.” Other council members were reluctant to give quick support to the proposal. Ward 5 Councilman Ken Brady, chairman of the public works committee, said the Weston House development was a “nice to do” project but not a priority like sewers and other infrastructure needs. He advised the society to continue seeking funding from other sources.

Brady said council would soon schedule a finance committee meeting to determine what funds were available for such discretionary projects.

On the Web:

• Westlake Historical Society