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FROM SOCIAL MEDIA TO SALVATION

BRAVA TILE HELPS TO RESTORE AND PRESERVE A HISTORICAL HOME

“We chose BRAVA simply because in the synthetic tile space, they really make a top-quality product.”

— Kevin Simmons, Homeowner, Mauchline Manor

The post went viral almost immediately.

In 2022, the popular HGTV program “Cheap Old Houses” took viewers on an ambitious quest, seeking out profoundly neglected historical homes and restoring them to their former glory. The show also shared the stories of these fascinating properties, underscoring the importance of preserving them for generations to come.

One such home in Wilmington, Delaware, had been sitting virtually untouched for 15 years, its last occupant having been a nun from the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia (her fellow Sisters, having lived in the residence-turned-convent for over three decades, had already departed). When she left, the home was shuttered behind her and left vacant.

Located just northwest of the center of Wilmington, the expansive Tudor mansion’s property line stretches the full length of a city block. The home was designed by the Philadelphia-based architecture firm Eyre and McIlvaine between 1916 – 1917 as a single-family residence, boasting nine bedrooms and five bathrooms, a Great Room, a servants’ wing, a greenhouse, and a side lawn that on its own extends nearly half the length of the block. Just above the main entrance, carefully carved into the outside of the home, is one word: “Mauchline.”

HGTV featured the property on its social media channels, including a post on its Instagram that had the words “SAVE THS HOUSE” superimposed on the image of the aging Tudor. Seemingly overnight, the real estate agent’s office was flooded with calls from around the country. Prospective buyers had lofty ideas, from transforming the home into a boutique hotel to converting it into a bed and breakfast — but few were up to the challenge it presented.

While the home incorporated technology and features that were very modern for its time (many homes don’t have zone heating today, let alone in 1916), it was listed as “currently uninhabitable” with good reason: it lacked running water and HVAC, lead paint and asbestos were present, and the electric wiring was essentially ancient, being the early knob-and-tube method commonly used from the late 1880s to the 1930s. There was also a huge muddy hole in the lawn where a great fountain had once stood.

Then there were the asphalt shingles, installed in the 1980s to replace the original tile roof that failed — not only were they past their lifespan, they also didn’t complement the home’s character or style.

Nevertheless, the public interest stirred up by the Instagram post continued unabated; day after day, everyone from the property agent’s family and friends to local residents, businesses, and even other agents clamored to know who the lucky buyers were and their plans for the estate.

A handful of offers were considered, but it was a pair of former San Francisco tech leaders who successfully claimed the suffering half-timbered Tudor Revival — and who surprised nearly everyone by announcing their desire to both fully restore the property and make it their permanent residence, just as the original owners had nearly 107 years ago.

“The look and feel is as close to slate as it can possibly look.”

— Kevin Simmons, Homeowner, Mauchline Manor

“The reason preservation’s important is because they don’t build homes like this anymore.”

Kevin Simmons is taking a break from his seven-day, 60-hour plus workweek. Such a schedule might be typical for a vice president of San Francisco-based Salesforce Inc., but Simmons left his prominent position — as did his wife Cheryl Black, a former CEO of YouTech — and moved to Wilmington to be closer to their daughter and her family. Yet these are the hours he currently keeps, as he and Black work to bring their new, historic home back to life.

“I’m generally covered in mud, paint, and dirt,” admits Simmons happily.

It's tiring work, but immensely rewarding. The couple shares a strong pride in the home’s cultural significance and remarkable craftsmanship, and have taken it upon themselves to ensure its legacy doesn’t disappear.

“It’s really important to preserve things from the time that they were built,” says Black. “It shows us our history. It teaches us about different phases of architecture, different phases of technology.”

“If we don’t save the history,” adds Simmons, “you lose all that craftsmanship. You can't replicate the engineering and the care that went into this home.”

The Mauchline property does have quite the storied past. During the nineteenth century, it was part of a sizeable area of farmland owned by the Rodneys of Delaware, a prominent family of farmer and politicians that included American Founding Father and President of Delaware Caesar Rodney, as well as three Delaware governors, a United States Senator, and two United States Representatives.

After passing through the hands of various members of the Rodney family, the property was eventually sold in 1915 to Annie Dickie Tallman, the wife of DuPont executive Frank Gifford Tallman, Sr., and a new house and landscape were constructed. The name “Mauchline” was bestowed upon the home in honor of Annie’s father’s birthplace in Scotland, and the property stayed in the Tallman family until 1971, when it was purchased by St. Anthony’s of Padua Roman Catholic Church and repurposed as a convent.

Fast forward to August 2022: Simmons and Black officially became the new owners, adding “Manor” to the Mauchline moniker. Their reluctance to fully change the name speaks to the connection they felt when they first laid eyes upon the home.

“It kind of called out to us,” says Black about their labor of love. “It’s got gorgeous bones. This house was beautifully architected, done with great detail and care … and it was falling apart. It just needed saving.”

Restoring 11,275 square feet of living space is no small feat, but the couple had the unique fortune of possessing all the original notes from the home’s architect, Wilson Eyre (“the Frank Lloyd Wright of his time,” opines Simmons) as well as his correspondence with Frank Tallman. They served as a construction playbook of the past, from the types of electric and plumbing installed to the properties of the cement and how many coats of paint were used.

This also proved invaluable when it came to the expansive roof. The key desire was to restore the roof back to the look and feel it would have had when it was first built. “We want to pay homage to the craftsmanship that was put into the house,” stressed Simmons, “but of course, you need some modern technologies.”

So they began to search for roofing solutions that would properly represent the home — “this house would never have an asphalt roof,” asserted Simmons — as well as offer premium protection and durability.

Enter BRAVA.

“I use BRAVA. I think the quality of the product is amazing.”

— Graven Ramirez, Eagle Eye Roofing

Graven Ramirez has roofing in his blood. “My father was a roofer, my brother was a roofer. My summers as a kid, we spent roofing. I’m always looking at roofs,” he says with a wide grin.

The owner of Eagle Eye Roofing speaks proudly about family and the strong work ethic instilled in him by his parents growing up — both major influences on his success as a roofing contractor. “What makes me different than most contractors, I think, is the relationships that I build with people, and with the guys doing the work,” shares Ramirez. “To me, they’re the most important part…. Those guys are like family.”

Simmons and Black were immediately impressed with the Bordentown, New Jersey contractor, finding Ramirez to be “an honest, kind, caring individual,” admits Black. “We just trusted him instantly.”

To accomplish their goals for the Manor’s roof, the couple weighed their limited options carefully. “We could have gone tile, we could have gone slate; we weren’t going to go back to an asphalt,” states Simmons. Ramirez presented them with BRAVA’s high-end synthetic slate roofing, certain it was the right fit for the project, and the couple agreed.

— Kevin Simmons and Cheryl Black speak about the benefits of choosing BRAVA

Eagle Eye offers all three of BRAVA’s product profiles. “The BRAVA Tile has a Spanish barrel tile look,” explains Ramirez. “The BRAVA Shakes are cedar shakes, which look amazing. And the BRAVA Slate gives the authentic look of slate roofs.”

For Mauchline Manor’s impressive roof with its two prominent gables, the contractor installed BRAVA’s Composite Slate Roof Tile, adding copper details to further highlight the beauty of the new roof. “The guy is an artist,” says Simmons of Ramirez, admitting that “after a lot of research into BRAVA, the products, and the possible longevity,” he and Black knew that the combination of the contractor’s old school craftsmanship and the BRAVA technology “would bring the artistry and really merit the look and feel that we wanted to project from the home itself.”

“We chose BRAVA for several reasons,” says Black. “My number-one reason is because it’s sustainably made. I love that versus mining for slate. But in addition to that, it’s beautiful. It has a gorgeous look and it lasts for a long time.”

Another important factor for the homeowners was durability. “Graven and I spoke about how the roof is central to a home,” relays Simmons. “You can have bad walls and a bad structure, but if you have a sound roof, it’s like it’s a foundation to the whole structure itself…. We think that BRAVA will help this house be here for the next 150 years.”

“I think the quality of the product is amazing,” adds Ramirez about BRAVA’s roofing tile. “The colors are very realistic, and it’s easy to work with. It does justice to slate, and I think it does justice to this project.”

The work to fully restore Mauchline continues underneath the Manor’s stunning new BRAVA roof, which has received ongoing admiration from the community. To help defray the major renovation costs and property taxes, Simmons and Black are planning to open a section of the home for a number of wedding receptions annually, as well as fundraisers for the local church. They’re even hoping to host a reunion of the nuns who once lived there.

“Even using modern technology, we often say that once something's built and lost, having to redo that is both wasteful and absurd because it's wasteful,” muses Simmons. “You can save a home like this. It takes a lot of work, takes a lot of energy … but the payoff is so worth it.”

About Eagle Eye Roofing

Eagle Eye Roofing is a certified, licensed, and insured roofing company. Family owned and operated with over 20 years of experience, the Bordentown, New Jersey contractor specializes in synthetics, metal, tile, slate, and high-end asphalt. Eagle Eye takes pride in developing long-standing relationships and maintaining high-quality craftsmanship standards, providing its customers with the best residential and commercial roofing services in the industry.