By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
Following an unsuccessful capital campaign by the Shakespeare Chateau Guild to acquire the home, the historic bed and breakfast is hitting the market.
After 13 years of owning the chateau, owner Isobel McGowan has announced she will put the historic St. Joseph home up for sale.
McGown says while the ideal choice for the next owner was the Guild, the next best option is someone who wants to live in the house
“Keep this as a luxury, upscale, personal residence, that could happen,” McGowan tells a group gathered at the Chateau
McGown says on the flip side of the coin, what she calls the worst case, is someone buying it who doesn’t live in it or participate in the community
“As something of a bobble or a trinket, some wealthy person maybe from another country who might be of the mind that they’re not going to live here so why not take all of this beautiful interior design somewhere else,” McGowan explains.
Whether it will remain a bed and breakfast is still in question, but McGowan says if the next owner is as passionate about it as she is, she would be willing to help and pass along her knowledge of the home.
“There’s a lot of moving parts to running this as a bed and breakfast and insuring that the guests that come through my front door don’t see any of the complexity, they only see the beauty, the elegance, the comfort, the welcome that they feel when they come through my front door, that they enjoy an evening of rest and relaxation, that they enjoy a fine breakfast in the morning,” McGowan says.
The original hope was that the Shakespeare Chateau Guild would purchase the home, as well as the house next door to preserve its history, and educate others on historic preservation.
But after the unsuccessful capital campaign, that will not happen, though McGowan says the guild will still pursue the mission of historic preservation.
“To bring the historic assets of St. Joseph to the forefront and help to promote them, and promote their preservation,” McGowan says. “There will be somewhat of a rethinking of how that mission will be achieved and that will yet to be seen going forward.”
McGowan is just the fifth owner of the historic St. Joseph home in its nearly 145-year history.
The future is unknown when the house will go on the market. McGown says she is currently working on a plan for putting the home for sale.
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