A yr after closing the 400-pound, solid-oak door to their Waco citadel, Texas’ Fixer Higher king and queen Chip and Joanna Gaines are reopening it to the general public.
Based on a launch, excursions of the century-old “Cottonland Citadel” will resume November 1. One-hour, guided strolling excursions that discover its design and historical past might be provided Mondays by way of Saturdays, for a restricted time.
The regal three-story, 6,700-square-foot residence within the coronary heart of Waco was modeled after a Rhine River citadel in Germany. Development was began in 1890 and completed in 1913. The Gaineses bought the construction in disrepair in 2019 and spent three years planning and executing a renovation, which they made the main target of a particular Fixer Higher sequence on Magnolia Community in fall 2022.
The four-bedroom citadel opened for excursions for 3 months earlier than the TV particular aired – the primary and solely time a Chip-and-Jo TV fixer higher has been opened to the general public. Hour-long expeditions took guests by way of each room, nook, and cranny — from turret to toilettes and all seven fireplaces.
Photograph courtesy of Magnolia
The Waco citadel went on tour earlier than it was featured on a particular season of Fixer Higher – Welcome House.
CultureMap was among the many first media retailers to step inside, and revealed seven spectacular surprises behind the citadel partitions.
Final yr’s excursions have been additionally an open home of kinds. The Gainses had deliberate to promote the property after the TV particular aired. In June 2023, it was listed by way of their Magnolia Realty for $2.9 million and was additionally provided on public sale.
However they saved the keys to their citadel, and it is now a part of the Magnolia portfolio.
“After restoration, the property went to public sale the place the client and Magnolia mutually agreed to not shut,” a launch says. “The Citadel’s story continues with Magnolia by way of limited-time dwelling excursions.”
Based on theWaco Tribune-Herald, Magnolia obtained a particular allow from town of Waco in late September to renew operations as a “home museum” for at the least six months, till April 17, 2024.
The discharge from Magnolia doesn’t specify when excursions will finish or what’s going to occur subsequent with the citadel. However an FAQ on the tour web site nonetheless says, “Chip and Jo plan to promote this dwelling to somebody trying to reside in Waco’s lovely Citadel Heights neighborhood.”
The house continues to be staged precisely the way it was on the present, they are saying.
Tour tickets at the moment are accessible on-line, in timed intervals from 9 am-12:30 pm, Monday-Saturday, November 1, 2023-January 31, 2024. Tickets are $50 (youngsters below 4 free), with a ten % low cost for teams of six or extra. A portion of gross sales might be donated to The Cove, a Waco nonprofit that helps homeless youth.
The citadel’s official tackle is 161 S. thirty third Road, within the historic Citadel Heights neighborhood of Waco, about 2.5 miles southwest of the Magnolia Silos advanced.
By pure coincidence or genius advertising (and with Magnolia, it is at all times the latter), the Gaineses’ fixed-up Lodge 1928 additionally formally opens for reservations on November 1. The 33-room, luxe boutique lodge sits within the historic Grand Karem Shrine Constructing in downtown Waco and is known as for the yr by which it was accomplished. Charges begin at $375 per night time.
Lodge 1928 will get its personal weekly TV sequence, Fixer Higher: The Lodge, starting 8 pm November 8 on Magnolia Community. Watch a trailer right here.
