In the heyday of Lonz Winery, owners George and Fannie Lonz threw parties for their friends, winery employees and island visitors at their lakefront Middle Bass Island home.
Guests would enjoy food and drinks in the large – but not ostentatious – Queen Anne-style home facing Lake Erie. George played the violin while Fannie played the piano.
Their guests would sit on the spacious front porch while basking in the Lake Erie breezes and looking across the lake to neighboring Put-in-Bay and its iconic Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial.
“The man loved what he did,” says Michael Veres, Historical Resource Project Manager for the
Ohio Department of Natural Resources,
Division of Real Estate and Land Management. “He lived a full life, making wine and making people happy.”
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Kristina SmithODNR believes this door and another door in the basement are original. The basement, which includes original brick work, will not be open to the public. That’s the legacy that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources hopes to share with the public when it reopens George and Fannie Lonz’s mansion after a major restoration that continues this fall. The project is expected to be completed by October 2025, says Keith VanDeusen, project manager and Team Lead for ODNR,
Division of Engineering.
The mansion and former
Lonz Winery – now a pavilion behind the winery’s iconic castle-like exterior that includes a
museum about the winery, a coffee shop, speakeasy, and bar – is part of the 124-acre
Middle Bass Island State Park.
When the mansion is completed, the first floor will be a museum that recreates the couple’s living space and lifestyle around 1936 – the time when the winery began its booming golden years that lasted through the ‘50s, Veres says. The upper floor will have four bedrooms that can be rented.
“People enjoy staying in historic places,” says
Mary Mertz, ODNR Director. “The views from the upstairs and the porch are just tremendous. Middle Bass is a quiet place. You’re going to go there to read your book and sit in the sun and watch the boats.”
ODNR is still determining whether the entire floor would be rented out to one group or whether to make individual rooms available. Weddings frequently take place at the Lonz Winery pavilion, so it could be an option for bridal parties, Mertz says.
The state capital budget allocated $5 million for the work, which started in 2023.
“We’re trying to be as cost efficient as we can,” Mertz says. “They’ve worked quickly and done a good job so far.”
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Kristina SmithUpstairs, the original floors were saved.Winery, mansion history
The mansion’s story is intertwined with Lonz Winery’s story.
In 1865, German immigrant Andrew Werle built the first winery – the Golden Eagle - on the modern-day Lonz site. A later owner of Golden Eagle Winery, August Schmidt Jr., built the mansion in 1906.
After a fire destroyed the winery building, George Lonz bought Golden Eagle Winery in 1926 and combined it with his family’s Lonz Winery, which was also located on the island. He and Fannie also bought the mansion.
Prohibition had taken effect 6 years earlier, but the industrious George found a way to keep the business going. He shipped grape juice around the country with detailed instructions for making wine vinegar.
“At a certain point, the instructions said, ‘Don’t stop here, or you will have delicious wine instead of vinegar,” Veres says.
While Prohibition was the death knell for many wineries, Lonz emerged from its repeal in 1933 with a solid business and poised to expand his product and its reach.
“He loved the science of wine-making,” Veres says. “He was making amazing sparkling wines out of Lake Erie like no one else was doing.”
He also made well-reputed port wine, and one of his greatest achievements – in his estimation – was winning a French award for his grape juice.
He was an excellent self-promoter and grew the business into one of the largest wine-producers in the United States, Veres says. The Dayton Daily News even dubbed George “Ohio’s Wine King” in 1951, according to “
Lonz of Middle Bass,” written by Henry M. Barr, revised and edited by Michael Gora.
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Kristina SmithThis is the view from the attic. The attic will not be part of the public area.George would bring journalists and stakeholders to the island for a weekend, host them at his mansion and show them how fun and relaxing the winery – which he had rebuilt in its current location - and the island could be, thus ramping up more publicity.
“It kept the origin of wine-making in Ohio alive,” Veres says.
Despite their wealth and success, George and Fannie were also down-to-earth people. George would work next to his employees in the vineyards and welcome them and their families into his home. Many islanders have heard stories of relatives who spent time with the Lonzes in their mansion or remember being there themselves, Veres says.
“I’ve had a lot of really positive experiences working with the people on the island and how happy it’s making people that we’re doing something with it instead of knocking it down,” he says. “It’s great to have as much investment and interest from the locals. They’re excited that a part of their story is being told.”
Once a bastion of island camaraderie, the house and its contents were auctioned during a sheriff’s sale in 1976 after the deaths of George and Fannie, who had no children or heirs, according to “Lonz of Middle Bass.”
Paramount Distilling Group of Cleveland took over the winery in 1979 and converted the house to a dormitory for workers. Eventually, the home sat empty and began to decay.
Restoring a crumbling historic landmark
The mansion was dilapidated when the state took over the property in 2001, a year after the winery closed for good because its balcony collapsed, killing one person and injuring 80. The mansion continued to deteriorate, but like many well-built historic homes, its bones were good.
“This was an almost unapproachable place a year ago,” says VanDeusen, the project manager.
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Kristina SmithA bathroom is in the construction phase at Lonz Mansion.Workers unearthed several parts of the home that were sound, such as the original stone walkway starting near the ferry dock and leading up to the porch. It was intact and just covered in dirt and grass, says Ted Welsh, Capital Improvement Administrator for ODNR, Division of Parks and Watercraft.
The front porch was pretty much gone with just brick support columns, Welsh says. Inside, the floor was taken down to the joists.
“You could see through the floor we’re standing on,” he says, while standing in the kitchen. “We said, ‘We’re going to save as much as we can.’”
The original glass, however, was able to be repaired and replaced, including the curved glass in the turret windows, Welsh says. The original siding also was saved with a good cleaning and new paint job.
The back staircase from the kitchen to the upstairs bedrooms – a common feature in Victorian homes – was also saved. The walls also were good, so much of the building itself reflects the house as it was built in 1906, Welsh says.
Using historic photos of the interior and exterior of the home, they worked to keep the house as historically accurate as possible.
Outside, the handicapped-accessible bathrooms are in a building constructed to look like that carriage house that once stood behind the mansion, Welsh says. Interpretive panels along the side of the building will share the property’s history.
The expansive front porch will have open-air seating, as well as a screened-in seating area, just as it did when the Lonzes lived there.
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Kristina SmithThe first floor will be a house museum that recreates how George and Fannie Lonz kept the house. Upstairs, the bedrooms will be rented out. Recreating the interior was more of a challenge because the couple’s furniture and personal items had been auctioned off more than 50 years ago.
ODNR has worked with islanders to recover some of the pieces that they or their families had bought at the auction and to obtain items from the same era that are original to other homes on the island, Veres says.
They were excited to recover George’s original writing desk, as well as place-settings of dishes, silverware and glassware that belonged to the couple. Some of the additions of items from the era include a large china cabinet, red velvet chairs and a settee.
Wallpaper that replicates a gold floral pattern that ODNR chose from a 1930s catalog will hang on some downstairs walls.
Upstairs, there is a large master bedroom with a turret and three smaller rooms, all with picturesque views of the lake. The bathrooms also illustrate the 1930s, with green tile and checkered flooring. The light yellow, cream, and blue colors used in the bedrooms were chosen from historic paint colors of the era.
These touches are meant to recreate the laid-back, welcoming vibe that the Lonzes’ guests experienced when they visited.
In addition to adding another piece of Lonz Winery history to Middle Bass Island State Park, the mansion restoration will help to fill a need on the island. Aside from cottage rentals, there is a shortage of overnight accommodations on the island, says Andy Thompson, Northwest District Manager of ODNR,
Division of Parks and Watercraft.
“Bringing it back to life as part of this original complex is a great thing for everyone,” he says.
Middle Bass Island is a 40-minute ferry ride on the Miller Boat Line from Catawba Point. It can also be accessed by the Sonny-S ferry from South Bass Island.