Historical Wilmington Mansion Gets HGTV Attention
A Historical Wilmington Mansion Gets HGTV Attention.
You really just never know what social media posts will get attention.
The HGTV instagram handle Cheap Old Houses posted this former convent in downtown Wilmington.
The caption reads “LOOOOOK It’s the spectacular Tudor mansion you were always meant to own!!! Listed for $799k by Lauren G Madaline of Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc. “Mauchline. Constructed between 1916 and 1917, the impressive Tudor Revival home was designed by architectural firm Wilson Eyre and McIlvaine as a single family residence.”
This historically significant building became popular very quickly. Once a convent, the mansion was gaining national attraction after the social media post was seen by thousands. Calls came from as far away as Louisiana and Montana.
The listing agent Lauren Madaline, hosted 40 showings in just the first two weeks of it being listed. Surprisingly, all 40 were serious buyers and not just nosy neighbors. Madaline carefully vetted each one.
St. Anthony’s of Padua bought the property back in the early 1970s. It was used as a convent for the Padua nuns until 15 years ago. The population of nuns has dwindled so there really is no longer a use for the property.
It’s an expensive home to upkeep. The utilities were slowly turned off and eventually the home became vacant. Although it is structurally sound, it needs quite a bit of work.
The home was originally built for Frank G. Tallman whi was an executive at E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. It was completed in 1917 and had 5 bedrooms in the main block with an addition of servants’ quarters.
The bedrooms were reconfigured when the nuns were in residence and there were closer to 12 bedrooms in total.
Needless to say, this is a big undertaking. The house is currently under contract so we shall see what will become of it.