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Lizzie Borden house gets a new owner |
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Written by DeadGirl
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Monday, 21 June 2004 |
Donald Wood says he will offer extended tours at the Fall River residence -- where the infamous murders took place -- and continue to run it as a bed-and-breakfast.
June 21, 2004
BY ROB MARGETTA
FALL RIVER -- A Newport nursing-home owner on Friday purchased the house best known as the place where Andrew J. Borden and Abbey Durfee Gray Borden were killed in 1892.
The house is known locally as the "Lizzie Borden house" after its most infamous occupant -- the woman who many still believe committed the ax murders.
But its new owner, Donald Wood, said he didn't buy the building out of morbid fascination. In recent years, the building has been converted into a bed-and-breakfast, which Wood said presented a "good business opportunity."
Wood, 57, who lives in Portsmouth and owns Heatherwood Nursing and Rehabilitation, in Newport, and South County Nursing and Rehabilitation, in North Kingstown, said he contacted the house's previous owners, Martha McGinn and Simone Evans, as soon as he found out it was for sale.
"I had stayed here a year ago, so when it came on the market in December, I saw it on the news and called Martha to tell her I was interested," Wood said. He said he agreed to purchase the house in January and has since been negotiating a contract with Smart Advertising Inc., a corporation run by the McGinn family.
The list price for the house was $699,920 when it went on the market. Wood said that, at Martha McGinn's request, he would not divulge the purchase price, but the price will become public tomorrow, when the sale is registered in city records.
The house's history with Lizzie Borden began in 1872, when Andrew J. Borden, a wealthy businessman, bought it to live closer to downtown Fall River. After the infamous murders in 1892 and Lizzie Borden's acquittal the next year, she and her sister Emma moved to a house on French Street, where Lizzie lived until her death in 1927.
The Borden sisters sold the Second Street house in 1918, and it has changed hands several times since then. The McGinn family purchased it in 1940, using it as a private home and operating Leary Press, a printing shop built next to the house in 1940. In 1996, the family converted the house into a bed-and-breakfast.
Wood said he has several modifications in mind for the house, most notably the razing of the adjacent Leary Press building to create more parking for the bed-and-breakfast operation.
The printing business, which the McGinn family operated and still owns, will relocate, Wood said.
He said he intends to begin remodeling the house's interior in December and finish next February. The building will also receive a new coat of paint next spring, he said.
Its hours of operation will also change. It will remain open year-round as a bed-and-breakfast and will offer tours every day from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., instead of just on weekends. Wood's partner, Lee Ann Wilber, who will be in charge of operations at the property, said the tour time will be lengthened from a half-hour to an hour.
"We want people to be relaxed and have a chance to take pictures and ask questions," she said.
http://www.projo.com/massachusetts/content/projo_20040621_fr20liz.eb60e.html |
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