KLEINMAN HOUSE

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Historic home reminds owner of fairy tales

Story Amanda Larch | Photography Rachael Layne

Tim Kleinman almost didn’t purchase the Stone House in Ironton. He planned to attend an out-ofstate auction but turned his car around in a spur of the moment decision to bid on the home and change the trajectory of his, and the home’s, future.

“I knew this house was going to be up for sale,” Kleinman, a local businessman, says. “I turned the opposite way and came down here, walked through it and ended up with my hand up. It was an outside bid, no reserve, and I scratched my head and said, ‘boy did I get into a project.’”

As a child living a few blocks over, Kleinman and his siblings would often ride their bikes past the Stone House, and he remembers he always admired its charm. Once he moved into his current home, only three doors down from the Stone House, and which he also completely refurbished, it was only a matter of time before the stars aligned for him to purchase the historic home and help restore it to its original beauty.

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Kleinman couldn’t resist the draw of another project—though this is his biggest to date. He has totally refurbished the interior, including windows, doors, ceilings, woodwork and bathrooms, almost entirely by himself in the last two years.

“After I got into it, I’ve seen it was a whole lot more than I should have taken on because I like doing most of this stuff myself,” Kleinman says. “I just can’t stand to do one thing, and I did a few projects like this, but this was the biggest taking on because this house has so much character. It’s incredible, the stonework. It blows me away to this day. I just couldn’t leave anything alone that wasn’t completely restored.”

Built about 100 years ago by thenlocal businessman Paul Sweikhart, the Stone House is located at 11th Street and Kemp Avenue. Sweikhart, who was in the housing business himself, saw the house in Cincinnati, so the story goes, which was the house of the year there. Kleinman says Sweikhart may have gotten ahold of the blueprints to build the home for himself and his family.

Kleinman wanted the interior to reflect the time period of the home when it was built. “You don’t want to take away from that, but you have to modernize it, too,” he says.

Some of the renovations Kleinman completed include tearing out a wall to make the kitchen one large dining area, and he installed a gas fireplace and central air.

“It never had central air; four wealthy people lived in this home and never any central air because it had hot water heat,”

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he says. “There’s no duct work with that type of heating, it has those old registers. I ripped all that out, put central air and heat downstairs and a separate central air and heat upstairs in the attic so it would all be uniform.”

Many homebuyers want natural light and open spaces, and to accommodate this and to recall the original look of the Stone House, Kleinman redid the windows.

“There’s so much light because of all the windows, and 100 years ago, it had big, long windows that almost looked like doors,” he says. “The paneling made the place look like a dungeon. I couldn’t stand that walk down here; you felt like you’re walking into a cave. So I rounded the arch in the ceiling, and it turned out really pretty. That’s one of the highlights of coming in here.”

Kleinman refurbished the handmade 100-year-old stairwell, and he says the stairway area completely sets off the house when people walk in the front door. It’s one of the outstanding features of the home, as well as the separate stone garage and an original French door that Kleinman uncovered almost on accident.

“There’s one wall in the whole home that I didn’t tear out,” he explains. “I didn’t know what was there because on the outside you could see the arch, which they call soldier brick. It was all filled in with a different color stone and I hated that; I couldn’t stand that discolored stone.”

On one sleepless night after ordering a window for that space, Kleinman walked to the Stone House and happened to pull on the interior wall to discover the French door. Needless to say, he canceled his order and

since has completely restored the French door. “I thought it was just an empty hole, but here was an original French door. I about had a heart attack.”

While the two-car garage is separate from the home, Kleinman included it in his renovations as well. It’s made of the same stone as the house.

“It really sets the place off, too, because of the stone,” he says. “You don’t see too many stone garages, and most of them are attached to the house. I tore the ceilings out, wrapped all the walls, painted it and put all new electric in.”

With the Stone House just a few minutes’ walk from Kleinman’s residence, he was further reassured this project was meant to be for him.

“That was another reason I wanted to purchase it, when you have all your tools real close and you feel like working, you can come right here and walk home and if you feel bad or have a headache or this or that,” he says.

Kleinman recently listed the home on the market and hopes he can gain a new and friendly neighbor from the sale.

“This is the best neighborhood in the whole city, in my opinion,” he says. “That’s another reason I bought it because it’s, to me, the best neighborhood in town. If you go to flip a house, the area makes a lot of difference, for the buyers.”

As someone who has always loved antiques, the Stone House’s character is Kleinman’s favorite aspect of this project. He’s reminded of fairy tales when he looks at the stone.

“For me, it’s got more character on the outside — I don’t know about other people’s insides — than any home in the whole city of Ironton,” he says. “And I’ve been told that many times. It looks like a storybook house.” a

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