Original woodwork, generous rooms, four upstairs bedrooms, and a porch made for watching the Old West End go by.
012495 Robinwood02Living room03Dining room04Full kitchen05Front porch06One of four bedrooms07Room to stay together08Evening on Robinwood09Upstairs full bath
The house
Historic bones. Come-as-you-are energy.
The Katie Lee is a full-home stay across from the Arboretum, with room for up to eight guests and the kind of spaces that make a trip feel shared—not crowded.
01
Room to gather
A living room, traditional dining room, and welcoming parlor with a piano.
02
Four bedrooms
All four bedrooms are upstairs, each with its own window air conditioner.
03
Porch with a view
A large front porch faces the park—ideal for breakfast, tea, or doing absolutely nothing.
04
Made for a Toledo stay
A well-equipped kitchen, backyard grill, Wi-Fi, and easy street parking on Delaware and Robinwood.
1905Toledo · Ohio
The house before us
More than a century of stories.
A surviving photograph shows 2495 Robinwood standing here by 1905 or 1906. By 1908, Toledo's social directory listed Ferdinand W. Machen at this address. The original woodwork, generous rooms, and front-porch rhythm still carry that early Old West End character.
The Machen family's connection lasted for generations. One later resident, James F. Machen, even filed United States patents from this address. Some of the home's story lives in public records. Some survives as house lore. Both belong here—but we'll always tell you which is which.
A house in five chapters
The marks left behind.
Every date below is tied to a directory, death notice, patent, property record, or the home's documented purchase.
1908
Ferdinand W. Machen is documented at 2495 Robinwood in Toledo’s social directory.
1919
Loretta Machen dies at the family residence on Easter Sunday afternoon.
1963–73
James F. Machen files three inventions using this house as his address.
1991–2022
The home is held by the same owner for more than thirty years.
2022
A new chapter begins—and the house becomes The Katie Lee.
Invented at 2495
This house held more than memories.
In the 1960s and 1970s, James F. Machen named 2495 Robinwood as his address on three United States patents. These are his original drawings and signatures.
01
Filed 1963 · Patented 1965
Ladder Holder
A portable attachment designed to make an ordinary extension ladder self-supporting.
Katie Lee heard it first: quick footsteps crossing the unfinished attic, with the unmistakable rhythm of a child running overhead.
01
Katie heard it
She was the first to describe what sounded like a child running across the attic.
02
Carter's stones
In June 2023, our family came together at the house for Toledo's Old West End Festival, shortly before Katie died. My seven-year-old nephew Carter returned from the science museum with tumbled stones he had made and left them on the attic stairs. By morning, the stones had unmistakably changed position. No one admitted moving them.
03
I heard it too
After staying here multiple times, I eventually heard the same fast movement overhead when no one was up there.
04
A guest saw something
An unrelated guest later said they thought they saw a child running—and privately asked whether anyone else had reported a ghost.
Four separate experiences. No one described a threatening presence, a bad feeling, or anything that made the house feel unwelcome. Just movement—and the sense that, occasionally, someone else may be passing through.
What the record proves
A Toledo Blade death notice confirms that Loretta Machen, daughter of Ferdinand W. Machen, died at this family residence on Easter Sunday afternoon, April 20, 1919. There is no evidence connecting Loretta to the child-like footsteps or figure. That part remains unexplained.
✦ Believe it—or don't. ✦
Unprompted message from the guest who believed they saw a child · identifying details removed
From the archives
Toledo Blade · April 21, 1919 · Page 20 Loretta Machen died here on Easter Sunday, April 20, 1919.
KLForever
The name behind the home
For Katie Lee.
This house is named for my sister, Katie Lee. She was creative, covered in tattoos, impossible to forget, and never interested in blending into the background.
The home carries her name in that same spirit: personal, colorful, welcoming, and full of character. It is not a museum. It is a place for people to be together, make some noise, and leave with a story.
Katie Lee · April 8, 1988 — August 5, 2023
Eat · wander · play
Katie's Toledo.
Not a generic visitor guide. These are the places Katie actually chose—and what she would tell you to order, see, or do.
The Katie Lee was used to film scenes for People Magazine Investigates: Surviving a Serial Killer—“Surviving the Cook Brothers,” Season 1, Episode 6. In this still, the episode's featured survivor is seated in the home's dining room beneath its original dark woodwork.
