ORANGE — The owner of the North Quabbin region’s only Gilded Age mansion has decided to put the piece of local history on the market.
Cynthia Butler is trying to sell the Revival Wheeler Mansion six years after buying the property, sight unseen, at auction for $150,000 in June 2020. But almost from the beginning, she expressed frustration over the length of time it was taking to open the facility for business and what she felt was a lack of guidance from the town.
“When I moved to Orange, it was to restore a historic property to live in while running a small bed-and-breakfast and event business out of it. I left Los Angeles because I was tired of the Hustle Culture and wanted a more relaxing life,” she wrote in an email. “I have had many logistical challenges with the officials of the town of Orange trying to navigate the process of opening my business. I was told I was required to fulfill many compliance issues and every time I did, the goalpost of opening the business would move, only to later find out that they were not required.
“I feel like the challenges were unfair, overreaching, and I was delayed a year and a half from opening,” she added.
She is asking $1.2 million for the mansion.
Butler’s final straw seems to be her increased tax bill. Butler said her previous property taxes were based on a $409,000 valuation, but that changed to $956,000 in one year — and the latter figure was reduced from $1.4 million after she filed a tax abatement.
The Board of Assessors’ statement to Butler explained that the 75 Main St. mansion had fallen into disrepair and decay by the time of its 2020 purchase. While the assessment account retained a base value in the $1 million to $1.5 million range, abandonment and extensive neglect had brought that total assessment down to the $300,000 to $450,000 range. A property valuation range is essentially an estimated price bracket reflecting a building’s location, condition, size and features.
Butler was informed of the increased valuation in an email from the Board of Assessors earlier this year. She was told she had to pay $10,314 by Feb. 5 and an identical sum by May 4. After the tax abatement, she owes just less than $16,000 in property taxes annually.
To help cover the unexpected costs, Butler sold tickets to two-hour tours and set up a GoFundMe crowdfunding page to accept donations. She was overwhelmed and exhausted, but said at the time that she didn’t want to sell the property and uproot her family.
“I wanted to run a small business and create cool memories,” she said. “I still want a simple life, and this situation has taken all of the joy out of this project for me, so that is why I feel it’s time to move on, because life is too short to be unhappy and there are so many other positive ways I could use my energy.”
She said she can sustain the tax increase by boosting the number of events, but she does not want to need to work nights and weekends in her home at 55 years old.
Butler rents out rooms and the mansion hosts special events and retreats, as well as Halloween and Christmas events and a paranormal investigation in 2021. The nearly 14,000-square-foot building also sports a renovated carriage house and a private hedge maze. It opened as a bed and breakfast with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 1, 2024.
John W. Wheeler, who made his fortune manufacturing and selling sewing machines and served as president of the New Home Sewing Machine Co., built the home in 1902 and 1903 for his wife, Almira.
Wheeler died in the building in 1910 and deeded his home to the Order of the Eastern Star, a Masonic sisterhood. Then-Athol Daily News writer Allen Young previously reported that the building was owned by the Eastern Star for much of the 20th century, serving as a home for its elderly members, who are said to have surrendered their wealth “in exchange for unparalleled comfort and care in their last days.”
The Eastern Star closed the building in 1990, and Karen and Robert Anderson bought it from the Star Realty Trust for $240,000 in 1996. The new owners had intended to open a bed and breakfast called Anderson Manor, but those plans never came to fruition.
Some town officials, including Fire Chief James Young, have said there were compliance issues with the Revival Wheeler Mansion from the start. He told Selectboard members at a February 2023 meeting that he had “heard several different variations of what this business or this building is supposed to be,” which made it “difficult to provide accurate guidance as to what needs to be done.” Butler, who was in attendance, shook her head in disagreement when Young said her plans had changed.
But Young said in an interview that the town worked with Butler the way it would with any other building owner. He said her most recent inspection indicated she was compliant with bed-and-breakfast regulations. Likewise, Jason Granai, Orange’s building commissioner and zoning enforcement officer, wrote in an email that town records indicate the mansion is currently up to code and compliant within its residential occupancy.
“I don’t have a reaction to it. It’s a building for sale in our town,” Young said when asked his thoughts on Butler’s decision to sell.
Young said the Fire Department applies codes and regulations based on the type of building and its intended uses. This information, he said, is always provided by the owner.
Butler is using local real estate broker Sara Lyman to sell the property. Butler said she has gotten a couple of nibbles from interested buyers but they have been discouraged by either the asking price or the area.
Butler, who hails from Alabama, said she is open to all opportunities for her future and is looking for other unique restoration projects in New England. She has also considered returning to a metropolitan area like New York City or Boston for a few years while she figures out her next life decision.
“I love the town of Orange and I love 99% of the residents. It has been one of my greatest pleasures in my 55 years of life to move here and meet so many awesome people. I have made friends that I will cherish forever,” she said. “They have been so supportive of my efforts here and have been with me through the thick and thin of it, so I know it makes them sad that my decision has come to pass the mansion, and hopefully the torch, to someone else, but ultimately, I think they saw it coming.”
To learn more about the property, visit hometown-team.com/listing-detail/1183207404/75-E-Main-St-Orange-MA.
