About 1.5 years ago, I shared with you one of my favorite obsessions, the website, Instagram, and now TV show known as Cheap Old Houses. Today, I want to share a specific project instigated by them that is turning a house from the ugly duckling it had become back into a swan. This is 75 E. Main Street in Orange, Massachusetts, affectionately known as The Wheeler Mansion. It was listed on the Cheap Old Houses site in 2020 with the caption “Save me,” and that’s exactly what this enterprising young woman did.
Though it was purchased in 1996 for $240,000 (which still seems ludicrously low to my New Yorker eyes), the couple who bought it fell on hard times, and eventually abandoned the property. It fell into serious disrepair, but when it was put on the market in 2020, Cynthia Butler of Los Angeles bought the near-derelict home for just $98,000. Here’s a bit of the building’s history.
“Built in 1903 by John Wilson Wheeler who was a rags to riches story. A few short years after his death in 1910, it served as a rest home for The Ladies of the Order of the Eastern Star until 1990. It was privately bought in 1996 to a local family but due to economic circumstances, it was abandoned in 2015 until recently purchased with the intentions of reviving, renovating and restoring this beautifully neglected piece of history into a Bed and Breakfast, Event and Retreat location. This is an ambitious project by an equally ambitious and optimistic woman who has relocated from Los Angeles with her family to dig in and begin the process of bringing some life back to this mansion and bringing some adventure to her life. For that reason, she has selected the name Revival Bed and Breakfast at Wheeler Mansion, sharing a bit of the history while hopefully creating some of its own for future generations to enjoy.”
– Revival Wheeler Mansion’s first post
You can learn more about the fascinating Wheeler Mansion, its history, and its ongoing rehabilitation on the website and on Instagram.
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My OBT 
April 29, 2022 at 6:24 am
I am following a few of the renovation projects that have spun out of the Cheap Old Houses account (it’s like all the Happy Days spin-off series a bit) but I had missed this one. I will need to check it out. I really admire people who are willing to invest the blood, sweat and tears required to breathe life back into these beautiful old buildings.
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April 29, 2022 at 7:34 pm
I am doing that, too! So interesting.
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April 29, 2022 at 7:40 am
How wonderful. If walls could talk I imagine they would be singing praises for this.
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April 29, 2022 at 7:34 pm
I’m sure you’re right!
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April 29, 2022 at 10:09 am
I wish i had a house big enough where I could fix up half for living in, and the other half would be for exploring as nature reclaims it. I really like some of those shots (like the tree in the billiard room), even if that kind of state isn’t inhabitable.
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April 29, 2022 at 7:35 pm
That’s a fascinating idea!
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April 29, 2022 at 10:15 am
I join others who think it is wonderful that somebody has the money to do something like this. Beautiful work. Wonder what the end is going to be? Sell it or open it for tours or a fancy motel — Hal
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April 29, 2022 at 7:35 pm
I think she’s going to make it a B&B. I do love a good restored B&B!
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April 30, 2022 at 6:55 am
I don’t need another dozen or so Insta accounts to follow…. but of course I will. This work looks fascinating and I love old houses (and mansions) too!
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April 30, 2022 at 9:20 am
They’re really doing an amazing job with it!
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