Kinsman House work will move to inside

The house was once used as a branch for Hiram College.
WARREN -- It's time for a committee to begin work on the inside of the historic Kinsman House, now that the exterior of the house and adjacent land office have been restored.
So said Mayor Michael O'Brien, as he held a rededication ceremony Wednesday upon completion of several months of exterior restoration and cleaning.
"The oversight committee did this on their own time, Saturdays, Sundays. They bought into it. It was their project," O'Brien said, adding that he hoped state Rep. Randy Law of Warren, R-64th, could help secure state funding to help with the interior work. Law was present.
"This building is an example of the phrase, 'They don't make them like that anymore,'" O'Brien said of the Kinsman House.
He credited Heather McMahon, the city's urban design and grants coordinator, with spearheading the project. McMahon managed the project and the committee.
City praised
Dale Serne, of Gaede Serne Architects Inc., Cleveland, a specialist in historic renovations, said the city has received well-deserved recognition of late for the good job it has done in preserving the downtown. The project architect said he thinks the restoration will make the building a "usable piece of history for another 100 years."
The city's board of control awarded the contract for the renovations in January to Jance Construction LLC of Mentor. The contract was for $485,506.
The Kinsman House, a Greek Revival style structure, was built in 1832. The restoration project had been planned since 2001 as a part of Warren's Community Development Block Grant program.
The house was a light gray before the renovations began. The company cleaned and restored the outside of the mansion and its adjacent land title house, 303 and 321 Mahoning Ave.
Steps were repaired. Windows, shutters, exterior woodwork and all brick and stone exterior surfaces, including chimneys, are part of the project.
Its history
The Kinsman House was used during the 1930s as a branch of Hiram College; in 1940 it became a courthouse annex. The house was restored during the 1970s and designated a state and national historic landmark in 1971.
The Connecticut Land Company Office was relocated to its present site in the 1840s, enlarged and remodeled. It is from that site that the majority of land sales for the entire Connecticut Western Reserve were transacted.
The two buildings provide dramatic backdrops for festivals, events and art performances held in downtown Warren and at Amphitheater and Riverwalk.
O'Brien said he hopes the Kinsman house can be used for party rentals such as wedding receptions. He said the city is hoping to attract a permanent tenant to the land office.
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