This historic mansion with a rum-running past isn’t selling. Here’s what’s being done to lure a buyer

The owner and Realtor selling the Low-Martin mansion in Windsor, Ont., are trying some unconventional techniques to market the historic house, which has remained up for sale more than two years.

The mansion, also known as the Devonshire Lodge, was built in 1928 for rum runner Harry Low who was, at times, visited by Al Capone.

In the 1960s, the house was bought by Paul Martin Sr., the father of former Canadian prime minister Paul Martin. 

“When you buy something like this, you don’t want to change anything,” owner Vern Myslichuk said.

Myslichuk, who bought the house in 2012, owns Bettermade Cabinets and began the task of restoring it from top to bottom.

“Everything’s a restoration, from the drywall to the plaster to the panelling. Nothing was torn down and just modernized. Everything I did was to add to the feel of the house,” he said. “I think going forward, it should stay that way.” 

He’s spent the last two years trying to sell it but he doesn’t want just anyone buying it.

Recently he took on Realtor Razvan Mag to sell the house. He is seizing the power of social media to try and get the word out and find someone interested in taking the house on and meeting the nearly $3 million price tag.

He is using the quirky history of the house and its meaning to the city to inform a video series and even hiring a professional dancer in the hopes of catching the right buyer. 

“He does some cool videos and I’m not really traditional myself, so I really like his approach,” Myslichuk said.

Mag’s most recent video envisions a future where the house is bought by a Toronto developer and turned into a three-storey condo unit. 

Mag acknowledges that is an unlikely outcome, since any changes to the house would need approval under the Heritage Act — a point made by Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens as a response to the Instagram video.

“One hundred per cent he’s correct but the interior could get retrofitted and I’d hate to see this [as] a contemporary open-concept home, for example,” Mag said.

CBC has reached out to the mayor’s office for comment.

Myslichuk says if the right person doesn’t come forward, he’ll just keep living there. 

“It was so dilapidated when I bought it,” Myslichuk said. “If you let it go to the point that it’s unrecognizable, that’s where it can’t go again.”

“This isn’t one of those circumstances where we are just seeking out the highest bid,” Mag said. 

“This is truly finding someone who will appreciate and continue the legacy of this heritage home, this historical monument of Windsor.”

Calling on the mayor, city to step up

But Myslichuk and Mag are hoping to get the attention of the mayor and politicians at other levels of government for other reasons. The city has been making strides to build up Walkerville as a historic distillery district and they say having the mansion in the city’s hands would make sense.

“We do believe that the city or some level of government should be owning the house and we posed the question of ‘if it were owned by some sort of government, what would you like to see,” Mag said, suggesting that it could be an event venue or hold city offices.

In his Instagram post, Mag asks to meet with Dilkens to “… just to get an idea of what the city’s stance is on potentially owning this home.”

Myslichuk says people that don’t know him just assume it’s owned by the city. He’s even had people stop by to peer inside.

“When they realize I’m the owner, they have this dumbfounded look on their face because they really believe that the city would be owning this particular property,” Myslichuk said.

Coun. Fred Francis sits on the city’s heritage committee and points out that Willistead Manor and the surrounding park land, which has heritage designation, was a donation to the city.

The Duff-Baby house is another prominent historical building in the city that has heritage designation and is owned by the provincially run Ontario Heritage Trust.  

“It’s not just as simple as the city should have it or not have it. There’s a lot of things that go into it that, might either allow that to happen or derail that from happening,” Francis said

He says it’s an interesting and innovative tactic to put the idea in the public sphere, and it would be worth having a conversation about it if there was interest from the public.

“There’s nothing wrong with having a debate and seeing what opportunities are available to enhance public space in the city of Windsor and enhance public heritage space in the city of Windsor.”

“I just think it really needs to be preserved, and who better to preserve it?” Myslichuk said. “I think that the city has a better opportunity to do so than most people.”