Advertisement

Victorian mansion barged across Tampa Bay sells for $1.6 million

The Ruskin mansion was built in 1910 and was moved to avoid demolition.
 
The Victorian mansion was moved by barge across Tampa Bay to save it from demolition in 2006.
The Victorian mansion was moved by barge across Tampa Bay to save it from demolition in 2006. [ Courtesy of Coldwell Banker Realty ]
Published May 15, 2020|Updated May 15, 2020

A 110-year old Ruskin mansion was sold Friday for $1.6 million — but neither its age nor its price tag are this home’s most unusual trait.

The Victorian home, called Lamb Manor after its original owner Asa Lamb, was once whisked across Tampa Bay on a barge, its white-roofed turret sailing under the Sunshine Skyway bridge like an island castle. That happened in 2006, when the home was relocated from Palmetto to Ruskin by its previous owners, George and Nancy Corbett, who rescued the house from demolition for $1 by agreeing to move it (which cost about $250,000).

It was named the Wall Street Journal’s 2015 House of the Year, after the Corbetts spent millions adding several rooms, a home theater, a lagoon with a waterfall plus rare antique furniture and windows.

The Corbetts then sold the seven-bedroom and six-and-a-half-bathroom home to Richard and Alysson Yohn, who planned to use the home not only for their family, but also to open up the guest house to visiting pastors and missionaries.

The Yohns listed it for sale again in November 2016 for $2.4 million after Richard, an energy company executive, was slated for a job transfer.

But that job transfer never happened, and the Yohns then unlisted the home until this January, said Jennifer Zales, the Coldwell Banker listing agent. The new, lower asking price was $1.6 million, which the house closed for on Friday, Zales said.

She declined to disclose any information about the new buyer other than to say the person is from out-of-state. As of Friday afternoon, the deed, which would have additional information, had not been recorded with Hillsborough County’s official records office.

An aerial view of the Victorian home. [ Courtesy of Coldwell Banker Realty ]
A view from the porch of the Ruskin mansion. [ Courtesy of Coldwell Banker Realty ]
The dining room of Lamb Manor, which was built in 1910. [ Courtesy of Coldwell Banker Realty ]