2004 Year in Review

Hillendale Bed & Breakfast to be auctioned

The Hillendale Bed & Breakfast in Morrison, is a restored 29-room mansion that will be offered via sealed bid auction on July 13 by Chicago-based Sheldon Good & Company Auctions LLC.

PRESS RELEASE – The stately Hillendale Bed & Breakfast in Morrison, Ill., will be offered at auction on July 13 by Sheldon Good & Company Auctions LLC. The sale will include the beautifully restored 29-room mansion, as well as the B&B’s name, 1½-acre property, and Web site, announced Steven L. Good, chairman and CEO of the Chicago-based real estate brokerage firm.

Located on the Lincoln National Scenic Byway (US Highway 30), the Hillendale Bed & Breakfast is about 100 miles west of Chicago and 45 miles northeast of the Quad Cities. Built as a private residence in 1891, the English Tudor mansion was extensively restored and re-opened by the seller as a bed and breakfast in 1991. The 10,280-square-foot property features 10 themed bedrooms and suites, a guest cottage, fitness room, greenhouse, billiard room, gazebo, tea house, gift store and pond.

“Because of the size and quality of this bed and breakfast, the owners chose to offer the entire business by premium auction. This will allow for a swift, cost-effective and seamless transfer of a successful local enterprise,” Good said.

The auction will be conducted via the sealed bid method with reserve, subject to the seller’s acceptance. All bids must be received by Sheldon Good & Company Auctions by 3 p.m. (Central Time), July 13.

Located 13 miles east of the Mississippi River, Hillendale is named after the area’s many hills and dales. The property has been a popular stop for thousands of business people and tourists, who were either passing through town or on a weekend retreat. Surrounding attractions include antiquing, biking, riverboat gaming in Clinton, Ronald Reagan’s birthplace museum in Tampico, and downtown Morrison with its historically accurate street lighting and restored buildings.

“But the true reason for the property’s strong business has been the bed and breakfast itself,” Good said. “The home’s vintage décor is remarkable, from the old-fashioned cloth ceilings and wood fireplaces in some bedrooms to the mission-style furniture in the conservatory where breakfast is served. Many visitors become repeat guests simply to discover new rooms in the home.”

Good noted the Hillendale Bed & Breakfast will be sold on an “as-is, where-is” basis, with all furnishings included.

Among the property’s long list of distinctive features are a porte-cochere, aged oak woodwork and onyx fireplace in the music room, a bathroom designed with 14-karat gold-accented tile, vintage leaded glass windows and a chandelier in the billiards room, and a formal living room with a marble fireplace and mahogany surround.

“Over the past 15 years, the sellers poured countless hours of work into the house. To restore the home’s exterior, they used 280 gallons of paint stripper alone, and the individual room decorations have been collected from around the world. Clearly, their efforts in maintaining this beautiful home have paid dividends, and this is sure to benefit future owners,” Good said.

The property occupies a 1.474-acre lot, and the grounds are professionally landscaped and filled with statuary, fountains and brick walkways. The pond includes water plants and Japanese Koi, and attached to one of the garages is a greenhouse that was added by the seller.

The Hillendale Bed & Breakfast can be inspected by appointment only at noon (Central Time) on Wednesday June 16; Thursday June 24; Wednesday, June 30; and Thursday, July 8.

For more information, contact Sheldon Good & Company at (312) 373-4300, or visit www.sheldongood.com.

Headquartered at 333 W. Wacker Drive in Chicago, and with offices in the United States, Mexico and Canada, Sheldon Good & Company is the nation’s largest real estate auction firm for residential and commercial properties, having sold some 40,000 properties approaching $8 billion in value.

by  Editor, theCity1.com
June 9, 2004