Willoughby House, Julia’s 1902 take hold in former Van Gorder Manor

Inn, fine-dining restaurant bring new touches of elegance to century-old landmark

If there’s a secret to Mike Neundorfer’s success in the establishment of Willoughby House and Julia’s 1902, it’s his hands-on focus on what makes his team and their customers happy.

It’s been a year since Neundorfer’s first foray into the hospitality business. The 10-suite Willoughby House was framed around the painstaking two-year restoration of what had long been known as Van Gorder Manor, a century-old stone landmark that once was a country estate at the western edge of Downtown Willoughby. After serving as a family home, a medical center for the Andrews School for Girls and an assisted-living facility, the building had been empty and abandoned for a decade.

Now, under the auspices of the Neundorfers, the Van Gorder Manor has found a new life as an inn and fine-dining restaurant at 37819 Euclid Ave. It was recently named to the National Register of Historic Places and has been honored by many groups for the integrity of its restoration.

Now in his 70s, Neundorfer’s day job is his Willoughby-based Advanced RV, which designs and builds small, custom motorhomes on Mercedes-Benz Sprinter chassis for a high-end market. He and his wife, Marcia, spend their free time RVing throughout the United States and Canada.

Before that, he worked for 40 years at a business he founded to reduce air pollution and energy consumption in power plants and other heavy industries.

“I have a passion for meeting people and getting to know their objectives,” he said. “It’s the same in the hospitality industry.”

After workdays spent at Advanced RV, he goes home to Willoughby Hills to pick up Marcia, and they spend most evenings at Willoughby House and Julia’s 1902, where they continue to build and nurture the relationships that foster teamwork.

In the process of forging a hospitality success at the inn and restaurant, Neundorfer has developed a loyal following of staff and customers, despite breaking what many consider the rules of hospitality.

The gratuity is automatically added, so no additional tipping is required.

Staff members receive what he said is a fair wage, paid health insurance, paid time off and profit sharing — a policy that, he said, eliminates internal competition and engenders loyalty along with a sense of investment in the work they do.

Neundorfer declined to share what his employees are paid but directs the curious to online fair wage calculators that factor in regional costs of living such as the Living Wage Calculator, devised by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“Some people may think we’re expensive, but our chef works hard to keep the prices low and the quality high,” Neundorfer said.

Julia’s 1902 has several dining rooms with details such as ornate fireplaces.

Chef Jose Coronado is a partner in the business, as is Neudorfer’s younger brother, Paul Neundorfer, a notable landscape architect and founder/president of Newbury Township-based Aristotle Design Group. Paul travels often for business and is a visiting lecturer and senior thesis studio critic in landscape architecture at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand.

Coronado and his wife, Anna Cutaia, who is the front-of-house manager for Julia’s 1902, live just a few minutes away with their three children. Coronado, who is 35, had been the chef at Felice Urban Cafe near Shaker Square, where Paul Neundorfer was a partner.

“Anna tastes everything before it goes on the menu,” said Coronado.

Relationships with growers and the creative use of herbs, spices and techniques from his native Guatemala keep guests returning again and again. Happy hour in the bar and small plates, offered on Tuesdays, give guests more control over the dinner tab, even with a 20 percent gratuity added.

So they can answer questions from diners, servers are educated about menu items, their ingredients and techniques used to prepare them. The menu describes the foods as “global” with color, flavor and texture bestowed by ingredients such as green pea puree, avocado mousse, pickled jicama, fermented mustard seeds and cashew crust tofu.

Seven spacious inn suites, accessible in the main building by stairs or elevator, are complemented by a trio of two-bedroom suites in the adjacent carriage house. A continental breakfast, available on a sunny porch on the ground floor of the main building, is included in rates that start at about $200. Those in guest rooms also receive a 15 percent discount on Julia’s 1902 meals in the dining rooms.

As Marcia Neundorfer conducted a walk-through, she pointed out architectural details of the old building that have been preserved amid decor that includes four-poster beds, gorgeous chandeliers of Murano glass and elegant window treatments.

“When we brought descendants of the original Van Gorder family members to see what we’ve done, they remembered spending summers here as teens,” she noted.

Working with a professional videographer, she researched the building’s history and prepared the text for the YouTube video about the history of Willoughby House:

Willoughby House and Julia’s 1902

Where: 37819 Euclid Ave., Willoughby

Hours: 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday and 4 to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.

Upcoming events: Five-Course Beer Dinner with Market Garden Brewery, 6 to 8 p.m. May 8, tickets $80 per person plus service fee and tax at julias1902.com under “reserve a table”; Father’s Day brunch, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 15 (Mother’s Day brunch on May 11 is sold out).

Info: willoughbyhouse.com | julias1902.com | 440-306-8332.