Sydonie Mansion

Sydonie Mansion Watch progression on restoring this 22,000 square foot Florida architectural wonder known as Sydonie
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Last week two of my best friends of all time, Kevin and Ron, and I went to Florida Victorian in Deland to pick up some s...
04/29/2026

Last week two of my best friends of all time, Kevin and Ron, and I went to Florida Victorian in Deland to pick up some salvage for Odenwald. Odenwald was empty for 17 years and thieves walked off with all the doors, windows, trim, chandeliers, and anything valuable. They have lots of wooden doors, trim, windows, anything you might need to bring your building back to being historically accurate. In this case, I had some repairs to these walls up high ( we found subterranean termites in this wing. ) I decided it would be fun to put some flywheels up there. The man that owned this building was head of the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad so putting things in that look like rail car wheels should be pretty accurate.

In April of 2014 we bought Sydonie. Two weeks prior, at the end of March, Sydonie’s original shutters were sold from the...
04/29/2026

In April of 2014 we bought Sydonie. Two weeks prior, at the end of March, Sydonie’s original shutters were sold from the front porch in a sale. My first mission was to look far and wide for the person who bought them and beg them back. I failed. This week our former caretaker offered us the shutters from the De Barry mansion! We must have been gifted more than 25 sets from him and from Florida Victorian in Deland!!!! Sydonie and Odenwald should be set! We will try to make them fit our needs and hopefully make the missing hardware that is needed to work them.

This structure was needing some welding repair. It sat over the front yard septic tank for years. During the recent sept...
02/05/2026

This structure was needing some welding repair. It sat over the front yard septic tank for years. During the recent septic work it got relocated here. Today Joel spent the morning soldering it. We may plant some climbing plants on it. Right now it’s a conversation piece. Does anyone know how long it’s been here? Sydonie’s boathouse is right behind it. We aim to make the yard pretty magical.

From roughly 1980-1997 Sydonie and Odenwald sat without full time occupants. During that time, Odenwald in particular wa...
02/04/2026

From roughly 1980-1997 Sydonie and Odenwald sat without full time occupants. During that time, Odenwald in particular was an easy target for thieves because it was made of wood and was easy to break into. All the doors, windows, lighting, trim, and mantles walked away. Odenwald was left a shell. Imagine my excitement last week when I was Renningers and noticed a mantle from the 1870’s that needed me. It’s remarkable how perfectly it fits between the posts that were put in place by the last owners. I simply lifted a board placed on top of them and dropped this in place. I remembered I had some marble and stone scrap in one of our cellars and you can see in the last image that the height and depth of said stone was perfect for the top of these posts. It’s rather spooky how perfectly they joined together. Tomorrow I will try to scrounge around for some matching vases and fun books for that shelf. #1879

As it turns out, on January 23, 2016 I was overseeing building Sydonie’s new septic system and ten years to the date lat...
02/02/2026

As it turns out, on January 23, 2016 I was overseeing building Sydonie’s new septic system and ten years to the date later, we are doing the neighboring mansion, Odenwald’s new system. Tom Hanks would be quite familiar with the scenes. The septic system in place was built in the forties or fifties at the latest and was not up to modern day code. It looked like a concrete box big enough to bury a horse in. I’m pretty convinced the drain field wasn’t working. It needed to go. It took me four months to get a permit for this! I applied before I even owned the place. Thankfully we are almost all done and this one should be adequate for some time. Odenwald was rescued by the last owners, the Kager’s, who came to us and liked what we were doing next door and asked us to keep this place safe. Truly, all I have to do is embellish going forward. This will be a preservation attempt, not necessarily a rescue. We bought to keep it from development that is surrounding us. I guess that in and of itself is a rescue if we can keep it standing with some surrounding land. I’m pretty convinced 14-24 houses would have gone in otherwise. So far I have tented this building for termites, refinished the floors and replaced any old air con units. Odenwald is an 1879 build (where you see the screened porches.)It’s the second oldest building in Orange County. I hope it will stand many more years.

Merry Golden Christmas, everyone! 12/25/25! It’s a magical numbers Christmas. This year we celebrated with half of our k...
12/26/2025

Merry Golden Christmas, everyone! 12/25/25! It’s a magical numbers Christmas. This year we celebrated with half of our kids, my mom and sister and brother-in-law at Sydonie and Odenwald. It was a glorious day! Half of our grandchildren are visiting! Merry Christmas! ⛄️🌲🎄 ❤️

Yesterday, in an effort to further preserve Sydonie and the surrounding area from development, I bought Odenwald. If you...
12/06/2025

Yesterday, in an effort to further preserve Sydonie and the surrounding area from development, I bought Odenwald. If you’ve ever taken a tour with me you know I start it with the history involving two brother-in-laws settling down on the edge of Lake Minore. Odenwald is the second oldest building in Orange County and was built in 1879. More stories will follow. It’s been since about 1997 that these lots were joined.

We woke to such beautiful light yesterday! Come check out Sydonie this holiday season!!! We are overly festive and merry...
12/03/2025

We woke to such beautiful light yesterday! Come check out Sydonie this holiday season!!! We are overly festive and merry inside! We don’t decorate outside due to our weddings, but what awaits on the inside is glorious!

11/23/2025

We are festive and merry and all dressed up for the holidays! Come see us!

If you love the holidays please come see Sydonie’s interior all dressed up for Christmas! Our website features the avail...
11/16/2025

If you love the holidays please come see Sydonie’s interior all dressed up for Christmas! Our website features the available times and sign up is online only. Bring your friends and family and take in the beauty of Sydonie in festive attire till December 20th. Our historic tour will resume again after the first week of January!

Address

5538 Sydonie Drive
Mount Dora, FL
32757

Telephone

(321) 236-1534

Website

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