The Kellogg name is synonymous with breakfast cereals around the world,
and its no secret that the brand has made billions of dollars. But what kind of
mansions have the Kellogg family called home? Hi everyone, Ken here, welcome to "ThisHouse"!!
Today we head down to Dunedin, Florida to explore the winter home of William Kellogg.
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In 1860, William Kellogg was born in the growing city of Battle Creek, Michigan. By the time he
was 18 years old, he was working as a broom salesman traveling back and forth between
Michigan and Texas, but he wanted more purpose in life than his sales job could provide for him.
In 1879, he went to work for his brother, John, at the Battle Creek Sanitarium. Unlike other
sanitariums, the Battle Creek Sanitarium was ran more as religious wellness retreat that
combined the strict moral code of Seventh Day Adventists with pseudo-scientific practices.
Guests could check in and out as they pleased, and regardless of social status,
all were welcome whether they were rich or poor. While staying in the sanitarium,
guests would receive electrotherapy, would be exposed to extreme temperatures, and eat
a bland diet free from added sugars, caffeine, and flavor as enjoyment of food was viewed as sinful.
To serve their guests a perfectly bland and nutritious meal, the Kellogg brothers
formulated a process for creating corn and wheat flake cereal. It was an instant sensation in the
Sanitarium and guests were curious to see how it was made. William wanted to keep process
a secret and patent the idea, but John was not interested in taking on another business
venture and argued for transparency in the sanitarium. John got his way,
and every guest was allowed to view the entire process of creating corn flakes. This drew the
attention of one guest, Charles Post, who copied down every step of the manufacturing
process before founding Post Cereals in 1895 which would later be renamed to General Foods.
Post saw his wealth sky rocket almost immediately as he released Postum, a cereal based beverage.
Then 2 years later in 1897, he released the breakfast cereal known as Grape-Nuts.
According to some reports, he profited over 1 million dollars in his first years of production,
the modern equivalent of nearly 36 million dollars.
By this time, William Kellogg had realized the opportunity that he and his brother had
missed out on. During that same year, in 1897, the brothers launched the Sanitas Food Company
which performed really well. But there was still a hurdle to overcome, not everyone wanted bland
food. Post had been adding sugar and fruit juice to his flakes and customers were consistently
choosing his cereal over theirs in the grocery stores. William and John went back and forth
on the idea of sweetening their cereal to compete, but John simply would not budge,
for him, it would violate his religious beliefs about bland food. William respected that, but he
did not feel that his brother’s beliefs should dictate his own life. In 1906, William broke
away from his brother to form his own company, which eventually became the Kellogg Company.
As the years passed, William amassed a fortune.
During the height of the Great Depression when average people were losing their homes,
he expanded his business to create more jobs and keep families off the streets.
Furthermore, in the early 1930s while poverty was at its highest, he created the W.K. Kellogg
Foundation to ensure that children would receive meals, donating 66 million dollars in 1934 to
kickstart the program, the modern equivalent of nearly one and a half billion dollars.
In that same year, knowing that he had done good for the world, he decided to treat himself
to a luxurious vacation house where he could spend his winters. He headed down to Dunedin,
Florida to purchase Villa Marino, the former estate of prominent developer, Edward Frischkorn.
The Mediterranean revival style mansion had been
built in 1925 and designed by roaring 20’s architect,
Addison Mizner who included secret passageways and whimsical staircases to dazzle guests.
Before we head inside, I want to give a huge shoutout to Leland
Kent for providing us with interior photos. You can find a link to his
Abandoned Southeast website down below in the video description.
Walking inside, a colonnaded rib vault was decorated with bright colors and hand
stenciling above gold leafed Corinthian capitols anchoring to dramatic red veined marble columns.
This continued to the entry hall where the sweeping staircase rounded towards
the floor against a stunning backdrop of hand painted murals.
We can take a closer look at some of these details and notice the Moorish
screens placed over the windows as well as the faux marbling of the stair’s iron spindles.
The entire house was finished out with bright, cheerful colors with each room taking on its
own theme. Though the interiors we are seeing now are not completely original, they are not far off
from how they appeared when William lived here. He donated the house to his foundation after spending
only a couple of winters in the home, passing away in 1951. Eventually, the house was sold in 1964 to
Bill Mathew, a successful newspaper broker who had the house updated to include a groovy disco room
with a retractable ceiling and full service bar. He would host huge parties in the house, dancing
all night long under the disco ball with the best sound system that money could buy at the time.
As we begin winding our way through the maze like addition we will find the bar complete with mosaic
tile work, inlaid mirrors, and finished out with floor to ceiling wood paneling. I promise
you that this is just a detour before we get back to the original part of the house, but on our way
back we will stop by his bedroom suite where a built in four poster bed is complimented by
elegantly gilded wood paneled walls and a marble fireplace to mark the entrance to the bathroom.
Entering the bathroom, we will notice the exquisite craftsmanship of the curving
marble floor’s inlay as well as patina mirrors framed by marble surrounds.
The interior of the tub was finished out with a tile mosaic depicting a floral motif
which is carried over to nearly identical hand painted porcelain pedestal sinks.
Making our way through fretwork meant to mimic the native fauna, we will arrive the in
the gilded boudoir, nearly original the state of Mrs. Kellogg’s days in the house.
For now, we will be done seeing the groovy additions from the swinging 60s and head back
to explore the rooms more characteristics of the 1920s – Starting with the ballroom
boasting an exposed timber ceiling with hand stenciled patterns appearing in reds and blues
above a gilded stone fireplace capped off by a bronze hood featuring intricate relief work.
We can then head over to the family kitchen boasting
a barrel vaulted ceiling and exposed brick walls,
as well as stunning stained glass windows delicately resting above the tile counter tops.
The breakfast niche continues with terracotta tiled floors and
built in cabinets below stained glass windows featuring the family’s crests.
Many of the bathrooms remained untouched, with state of the art conveniences and
stylish 1920s tile work. While the powder room echoed design trends of an earlier time,
harkening back to the days of Eastlake styling with playful pinks and greens worked into
the color scheme with hand painted murals reaching all the way to the rounded ceiling.
When Bill Mathew passed away, a successful Ophthalmologist by the name of James Nielsen
purchased the estate in 2003. James enjoyed the home with his wife until his passing in 2021,
at which point his widow placed the house up for sale. At this time, preservationists wanted to
grant the home historic designations, but Nielsen argued that such designations would make the house
impossible to sell. Then, the current owners of the property purchased the estate and once again
fought back against preservationists and the local historic society with plans to demolish the house.
They argued that the house was in terrible condition, full of black mold and asbestos,
and would be a hazard to live in. They came to an agreement with the Mayor and historic
society to allow several items to be salvaged from the house to create a museum, but when the
city showed up to collect the fountains, statues, and other architectural salvage,
most of it had already been stripped from the home. A burglary was reported and it was found
that a Tampa Bay salvage group had ransacked the house without permission. Eventually, all of the
stolen items were recovered with plans auction them off to fund other preservation projects,
then, last year, in February of 2022, the Kellogg house was demolished.
Thankfully, we have these photos to remember it
by as most of the exquisitely crafted former mansion now sits in a landfill.
Which part of this house was your favorite? Let me know down below in the comments section. And while
you’re there, make sure to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an exciting episode of
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