A Restored Landmark Country Estate js-hero-timeline

  • 1898

    Commissioned by Julia French Boyce and designed by the renowned Cleveland architect, Charles Schweinfurth, Willoughby House was completed in 1902.

  • 1902

    Schweinfurth designed Willoughby House in the Neo-Gothic style. The house was built with sandstone quarried in Amherst Ohio and delivered to the site by rail.

  • 1915

    Until her death in 1915, Mrs. Boyce shared this elegant country estate with her daughter, Nancy, Nancy’s husband and pharmaceutical executive, Albert Van Gorder, and their five children.

  • 1952

    Nancy Van Gorder transforms the Carriage House into apartments and lives there until her death in 1959. The roof is raised and the floor-plan redesigned to its current layout.

  • 1953

    The Van Gorder family transfers the manor to the Andrews School for Girls. Andrews remodeled the home to serve as the school’s infirmary and faculty apartments.

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  • 1986

    Andrews School sells the estate and it is converted to an assisted living facility. The facility was vacated in 2017.

  • 2022

    In June, 2022, brothers Michael and Paul Neundorfer purchase the former estate. They and a team of architects, designers, and craftsmen are currently restoring and renovating Willoughby House. Their goal, to create an inn, restaurant, and events space will mark another chapter: One that those in the community, and beyond, will enjoy for years to come.

Mike and Paul Neundorfer, the founders of Willoughby House

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 Meet The Founders

Mike Neundorfer

Mike Neundorfer loves adventure, connecting with others, and bringing people together with purpose. He and his wife, Marcia, have raised three boys and have four grandchildren. Mike and Marcia have hiked, bicycled, and spent time getting to know people in over 40 countries. They have visited every state in the U.S. and most Canadian provinces in their custom Sprinter motorhome, made by Mike’s current company, Advanced RV.

Mike spends as much time as possible immersed in the beauty of nature and things built. He has a degree in mechanical engineering, an MBA, and other business training. His passion is building and leading teams and enabling excellence.

He founded and worked 40 years in a business that reduces air pollution and energy consumption in power plants, cement plants, steel mills and other heavy industries. Over a decade ago, he started Advanced RV, which designs and builds small, custom, and highly innovative motorhomes on Mercedes Sprinter chassis. With his brother Paul, he is excited about his latest project, restoring and renovating the former Van Gorder Manor in Willoughby.

Paul Neundorfer

Paul is the founder, president and principal designer at Aristotle Design Group, a landscape architecture firm that has completed residential and institutional projects in twelve states, Thailand, Kenya and Belize. Paul graduated with honors with a Bachelor’s in Landscape Architecture from Ohio State University and a Master’s in Landscape Architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

Paul has traveled extensively for work and pleasure, and is a visiting lecturer and senior thesis studio critic at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. In 2009, Paul co-founded The Refugee Response, a Northeast Ohio non-profit working to empower resettled families to grow roots, supporting them in becoming engaged, self-sufficient and contributing members of their new communities. In 2010, he co-founded and designed The Ohio City Farm, one of the nation’s largest contiguous urban farms.

Paul has strong family ties in Ohio and Texas and avidly runs, bikes and swims.