When Carla and Kevin Barger entered onto the shambling property of Round Hill in 2011, they knew they had stumbled onto something that was historically special. Despite the house’s daunting physical condition, they felt the immediate need to rescue this once beautiful home from the disarray, no matter how much work it would take.
“Walking around the property, we became very emotional,” said Carla. “Without knowing the history, you could feel the history and sense that this place used to be grand but it was in terrible condition.”
The previous owner had passed away after living there for seventeen years; never updating the property while it was in his possession. Once he had died, the home sat there empty and deteriorating for almost two years before the Barger’s found it. Pipes had flooded, the roof needed replacing, walls were missing, holes were in the floor and there was even a tree growing out of the pool. They closed on the home three weeks after viewing it, then three months later, they moved in. Soon after, Carla’s exploration into Round Hill’s unknown history began.
The Round Hill Estate was built in 1938 by the original owner, Howard Sloneker, co-founder of Ohio Casualty Insurance Company. Sloneker owned the home until the late 1950’s and then sold it to Karl Bendetsen, former President and Chief Executive for Champion International. Bendetsen was also an army colonel in World War II and served as a chairman of President Ronald Reagan’s panel for the space-based missile defense program, the Strategic Defense Initiative.
Unfortunately, tragedy struck when a fireplace towards the back of the house exploded in the early 1960’s, causing the biggest fire that Hamilton had ever seen and ultimately destroying majority of the 24 room mansion.
A new home was rebuilt in 1962 by the Bendetsen family, using the original foundation. The Bendetsen’s continued to live there until the late 1960’s and during their ownership, they entertained many important government officials and army generals including the vice president at the time, Hubert Humphrey.
After the Bendetsen family moved away from Hamilton, Miami University in Oxford acquired the Round Hill Estate in 1969. During the university’s ownership, it was under the care of John Dolibois who had been the vice president of development at Miami. Aside from working for the university, Dolibois had also been the former captain in the United States Army during World War II as well as the United States Ambassador to Luxembourg. The university used Round Hill as a conference center as well as a place to host visitors. It then was sold in 1973.
Over the following decades, Round Hill was owned by various Hamiltonians until the Barger’s stumbled upon it. Through Carla’s search of the estate’s history, the Barger’s had the unbelievable opportunity to meet with Karl Bendetsen’s daughter and niece as well as form a friendship with John Dolibois before he passed away in 2014.
As of now, the Barger’s are 95% done with the restoration of the Round Hill Estate and have been successful in preserving the original features of the house. The 75-foot hallway of black marble, four crystal chandeliers, the crown molding as well as the marble fireplace in the living room are all original characteristics of the estate that they have been able to restore.
“The goal was to keep as many of the original things as possible,” said Carla. “You knew it had awesome bones and it could be the glamorous home it used to be.”
In the last seven years, they’ve been very involved in the process and have worked to replace the roofing, fix the stained carpets and flooring, stop leaks and electrical issues, repair and paint the walls and exterior of the home, gut the kitchen and replace the windows.
They have also restored the guest house for the purpose of hosting visiting missionaries, evangelists and ministers at no cost.
The Barger’s are still in the process of restoring the master bath, some rooms upstairs and a room in the basement that they want to turn into a YMCA-type locker room. They expect to be finished in two years.
After all the work they have done, the Barger’s say that their main goal in restoring this 7-acre home was to return the estate back to its original glory. They hope that future owners will appreciate the history of the home just as much as they do and continue to preserve the story of Round Hill for the generations to come.