17

A NEW BEGINNING

Sometimes reality surpasses the wildest fiction. Sometimes people are just instruments of destiny and events that seem highly unlikely unfold into a perfect dénouement. To the confused actors, the play only makes sense in the final act.

Chiara, or Kitt to her friends, was born and raised in Venice, Italy, where she hails from a family whose first written records go back to the year 1090. Her family, of Roman origins, was previously established in the ancient city of Aquileia. When Aquileia was destroyed and set fire by Attila and his Huns in 452, the survivors took shelter in the nearby lagoons, thus establishing the city of Venice. The family participated with three galleons in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, a famous naval engagement against the Ottoman Empire. As Venice had been a very small city with a worldwide influence, it was not uncommon for Venetians to travel for years and find their destiny around the world. Sometimes, kids would embark on their eighth year of life—the age they first receive Holy Communion—and later return either beaten up by a life of adventures or blessed by glory. Kitt would be no exception to this.

A contemporary Renaissance lady, she studied and practiced literature, music, architecture, ethnology, design and painting. A lifestyle icon and muse to artists, she also collects ancient fabrics and objects whose inspiration comes directly from ancient European paintings. As a Venetian aristocrat raised by the English, she was trained at a young age to pursue passions with discipline and high standards of quality and dedication. As a decorative arts editor, she would make regular visits to her designer clients and distributors in their showrooms.

This gave her an opportunity to pursue her favorite occupation. Kitt has a true love of collecting 1950s and 1960s rhythm ’n’ soul, rock ’n’ roll, garage, psychedelic and exotica seven-inch vinyl records. She’s been particularly obsessed with obscure garage bands from Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio since discovering the High in the Mid-Sixties record compilations at the Milan flea market at sixteen. Those compilations included LP volumes for each state. Fate handed her a wonderful and poignant Ohio compilation of unknown teen garage bands. Chance would place the Franklin Castle on her path in a similar way many years later.

During a trip to hunt down design deals for her business and locate more obscure records, she found herself in Cleveland and met some likeminded friends who dreamed of starting a record-hop night, like those once held in the 1960s, in the times of the Mad Daddy, Ghoulardi and Mike Metrovich from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Kitt joined Erin and Josh Ryan’s monthly dance night at the Five O’Clock Lounge, called Shake It Up and Move, as a resident DJ, with fervor. The night picked up steam and soon became a success. On the other side of the city, Mark Leddy, Kristin Garageland and Eileen and Tom Fallon of the Alarm Clocks and many others had been working for years to establish Cleveland’s authentic musical renaissance.

As time passed and ideas thrived, Kitt grew fond of Cleveland’s untamed spirit and started looking for a space that could shed light on the 1950s and 1960s American aesthetics and musical explosion. She wished to create a shrine for music, a space that could be used to host musical events.

The idea was to have something that could be the opposite of a Hall of Fame, a Hall of Obscurities, so to speak. In this space, she could host cinema nights, record listening parties and record hops, concerts, events and world-class guest curators in a museum dedicated to the underground music culture. Cleveland seemed to be an exciting beehive of cool happenings with groups such as Tom Dechristofaro (DJ Allright) and Dave Petrovitch’s (DJ Partysweat) Secret Soul Club and the internationally renowned shows at Marc and Cindy’s Beachland Ballroom, the Happy Dog, Mahall’s and Now That’s Class. Such a space as she was hoping to establish seemed to be a perfect fit for Cleveland.

While looking for such a property with her real estate agent, Michelle Anderson, they drove past the Franklin Castle numerous times, but when Kitt inquired about it, Michelle informed her that it had a colorful past and wasn’t exactly available. Finally, on Kitt’s last night in the United States before returning to Europe, Michelle revealed to her that the Franklin Castle might very confidentially be for sale.

The next morning arrived as a bright and sunny day. With only a little time to kill before Kitt had to board her plane, she and Michelle visited the Franklin Castle. It was a superb and radiant house. It was so hauntingly Hammer Films on the outside and yet so warm and cozy within. Something that really drew her to the house was the fact that it was designed by Frank Edward Cudell and John Newton Richardson, two architects she had studied while working on her degree in architecture in New York. Kitt, as has been the case with so many others who came before her, immediately fell for the house as if she were under a spell.

Aside from the historical prominence regarding the house’s architects, she also found herself attracted to the endearingly primitive carved wooden details of European folkloric iconography located throughout the home, as well as the many original pieces of Eastlake hardware. Kitt also enjoyed the very contained European proportions of the rooms. She found it to be a very well-designed plan with extremely intelligent dispositions of the rooms and spaces. After quite a few animated working meetings with her partners, Kitt was able to convincingly demonstrate that the project had a promising future and successfully secured the means for buying the house. The Franklin Castle was purchased from Michelle Heimberger on August 18, 2011, through the limited liability company Oh Dear! Productions, LLC.

The house was considerably gutted but still very solid, with its exterior sandstone walls and double-brick wall system inside. She was charmed to discover that stone keys from the exterior walls locked into the interior bricks, adding stability to the structure and creating a void where air could act as an insulator. She was astonished by this and other little tricks that were used in the construction. It was discovered that the wainscot paneling and casements were locked into the brickwork with pegs, thus eliminating the need for nails and allowing the wood to breathe with the rest of the house. When renovations started, it seemed like a daunting task, but luckily, Kitt was not alone, as she had friends like Sarah Hollander and neighbors like Richard of the Gables, who had gone through a similar restoration.

It was around this time that Kitt met Pascal, another European, who hailed from Gdańsk, Poland. Both share a love for 1950s and 1960s underground music. Aside from being a librarian, Pascal is also a singer, guitarist and composer, having been in Les Radiations, Whodunit, the Norvins and Les Darlings, his current band. He and Kitt were booked to play records together in Paris and were deeply in love to a point where Pascal decided to join forces in this formidable adventure. Kitt needed this resourceful, handsome and ingenious man, who came to her rescue while she was absolutely crushed by the restoration of the house. To her, he was the prince charming of her dreams. Pascal was the first one who was able to stay for weeks alone in the castle, at a time when it was still in a state of ruin. He wasn’t afraid. Kitt attributed this to his great sense of humor and rationality. To every problem that came up during the restoration, Pascal had an answer. The carpenters got used to hearing him say with regularity “If there is no solution, it means there’s no problem.” If there truly was, though, both he and the carpenters would have a race to find the best solution.

Another part of the team is Rusty, the 1979 Ford F-100 custom pickup truck that Pascal purchased out in the country. Used for hauling construction materials to the castle and as their mode of transportation in Cleveland, Rusty eerily sits in the backyard while Kitt and Pascal are in Europe. He too has become a part of the castle’s growing legend. Not only does Rusty look very spooky sitting at the end of the driveway, but it is also believed to be haunted.

The turning point in the project was a meeting with a brilliant city supervisor named Edie Sugar. It was Edie who brought in Master Byler, an Amish craftsman from a company called Cherokee Construction. He, his two sons Bill and Wally and their friend Chris impressed the team with their work ethic and efficiency. Another person who was a key player early on was Robert Johnson, a phenomenally strong man, who helped in the most difficult phase of the restoration and kept the premises secure. Brian of Gibbs Electric completed the team. If there was anything good to come of the fire in 1999, it was the fact that the ceilings were so badly damaged that the rafters were now accessible and the house could be properly rewired.

Kitt and Pascal’s plans for the restoration of the house were to bring it back to its original glory and have it emulate the way it looked when it was first completed in the early 1880s. They wished to present it as a time capsule of that era, with candlelight, chimneys and no signs of modern amenities. Their plan called for only a few electrical outlets, which would have been needed for a movie projector and record turntables. Unfortunately, the City of Cleveland wouldn’t allow this. The house needed to comply with modern building codes. Personally, Kitt dislikes drywall and modern building materials, but codes are codes and the laws needed to be adhered to.

Aside from this, the city also ordered the coal room on the back of the house to be demolished, as they claimed it was beyond repair. Another change that needed to be made was the addition of a fire block separating the third and fourth floors. At this, a barrier was placed in the stairwell, the historic musicians’ gallery was removed and a door was installed on the landing.

The Franklin Castle after exterior renovations, circa 2016. Photo by William G. Krejci.

In the summer of 2015, while installing underground mains across the backyard, the contractors uncovered a stone foundation that seemed to present a new mystery. After further excavation was done, it was determined that they had uncovered the foundation of Bachelors’ Hall, which had been hidden for over 134 years. After the sewer line was laid, the site was covered and preserved.

It’s hoped that the city will allow Kitt and Pascal to open a museum of curiosities with guest collections from all over the world and host monthly movie and oldies nights, special events and small concerts by likeminded bands. Another project in the works is a furniture line that will be available through the Franklin Castle’s website. This is being done in conjunction with the Amish carpenters who are working on the restoration of the house. The line will be inspired by the castle’s original decorative arts influence of northern and eastern European and Saxon crafts and folklore styles.

By the spring of 2017, a majority of the renovations were complete. The house now contained new parquet floors of white oak and black walnut, restored antique cast-iron radiators and ceiling details. What could be saved after the fire of 1999 had been saved. Where details were completely destroyed, new ones in the same vein were added. Later plans call for reconstructing the carved wooden porte-cochère over the side entrance and the complete restoration of the carriage house. It’s hopeful that the restoration of the Franklin Castle will be completed by the fall of 2017.

One burning question that has been on nearly everyone’s mind is to know if the house will one day be opened again for tours. The answer to this is yes. Once the renovations are complete, reservations for small tour groups will be accepted.

Kitt and Pascal’s wish is that the Franklin Castle will be the destination of choice for anyone wishing to view a Hall of Obscurities, dedicated to lost and obscure musical gems of American subcultures of the 1960s. Of course, they also hope it to become a destination for anyone interested in ghosts and the mysteries of the occult. After all, it’s also a haunted house.