Franklin Castle facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Franklin Castle (aka Hannes Tiedemann House)
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 Location in Cleveland
Location in Ohio
Location in the United States
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| Location | 4308 Franklin Blvd. Ohio City, Cleveland, Ohio United States |
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| Built | 1881 |
| Architect | Cudell & Richardson |
| Architectural style | Queen Anne |
| NRHP reference No. | 82004417 |
| Added to NRHP | March 15, 1982 |
Franklin Castle, also called the Tiedemann House, is a large stone house built in the Queen Anne style. It is located at 4308 Franklin Boulevard in Cleveland's Ohio City neighborhood. This building has four stories, more than twenty rooms, and eighty windows. When it was built in the late 1800s, Franklin Boulevard was a very fancy street in Cleveland. Many people say it is the most haunted house in Ohio.
On March 15, 1982, Franklin Castle was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This means it is an important historical building.
Contents
The Castle's Early Days
The Franklin Castle was built between 1881 and 1883. It was designed by the famous architects Cudell & Richardson. The house was built for Hannes Tiedemann, a rich immigrant from Germany.
A Family's Sadness
The Tiedemann family faced many sad times in their new home. On January 15, 1891, Hannes Tiedemann's fifteen-year-old daughter, Emma, died from diabetes. Not long after, Hannes's elderly mother, Wiebeka, also passed away in the house. Over the next three years, the Tiedemanns lost three more of their children. These many deaths led some people to wonder if something unusual was happening in the house.
Building a Ballroom and Rumors
To help his wife, Louise, cope with these sad events, Hannes Tiedemann started a big building project. He added a large ballroom that stretched across the entire fourth floor of the house. During this time, towers and stone carvings called gargoyles were also added to the outside of the house. These additions made the house look even more like a "castle."
There were rumors that secret rooms and hidden paths were used for bootlegging during Prohibition. Bootlegging was illegally making or selling alcohol. However, it turns out these rumors were not true. The only hidden path was a small stairway used by servants to go from the kitchen to the front door.
Louise Tiedemann died from a liver disease on March 24, 1895. She was fifty-seven years old. The next year, Hannes sold the house to the Mullhauser family. By 1908, Hannes and his entire family had passed away. This meant there was no one left to inherit his large fortune.
The Middle Years of Franklin Castle
From 1921 to 1968, the castle was used by different German cultural groups. In January 1968, the Romano family moved into the house. This family, with six children, reported many strange encounters with ghosts. They even tried to have the house "exorcised" and had a ghost-hunting group investigate. By 1974, the Romanos decided to leave.
New Owners and Ghost Tours
The Romanos sold the castle to Sam Muscatello. He planned to turn the castle into a church. To earn money for the church, Muscatello offered haunted house tours and even overnight stays. In 1975, human bones were found in a closet. However, it is believed these bones were placed there by the new owner. This was likely done to get more attention for his ghost tours.
In 1982, the castle was officially recognized as a historic place.
In 1984, Michael DeVinko bought Franklin Castle. He was the fifth and last husband of the famous singer Judy Garland. DeVinko immediately began making big changes to the house. Over the next ten years, he spent almost a million dollars fixing up the castle. He even found some of the original furniture. Despite all his work, DeVinko put the house up for sale in 1994.
Recent History of the Castle
Franklin Castle has had several owners in the last thirty years. The castle was empty from 1994 until 1999. That year, Michelle Heimburger bought the castle and its carriage house for $350,000. She used money she earned as an early employee of Yahoo!. Heimburger, who grew up in Cleveland, loved the house and wanted to make it beautiful again. Sadly, a fire badly damaged the castle that same year. Even though many repairs were done, the full restoration could not be finished.
The property was damaged again in March 2011. This time, the carriage house caught fire.
In July 2011, it was announced that the Franklin Castle could be changed into a three-family home. A sale was also expected soon.
European artist Chiara Dona Dalle bought Franklin Castle in 2011 for $260,000. In February 2012, she received permission to make changes to the outside of the building. Local news reports said that the new owner planned to turn the building into three separate homes. She intended to live in two of these spaces herself.
