Sunlight streams through decaying joists and trusses, and large holes in the roof of what is now the Cambridge Inn on Main, prior to renovations. | Photo courtesy of Tony Buonincontro

Visitors and owner Tony Buonincontro mingle in the lobby of the Cambridge Inn on Main on Sunday, June 12 during an open house. | Photo courtesy of Dusty Rogers

Entrance to the Munson Room at the Cambridge Inn on Main. | Photo courtesy of Dusty Rogers

The old Sienna River Gallery at 117 West Main Street, where now stands the new Cambridge Inn on Main. | Photo courtesy of Tony Buonincontro

Visitors and owner Tony Buonincontro mingle in the lobby of the Cambridge Inn on Main on Sunday, June 12 during an open house. | Photo courtesy of Dusty Rogers

After more than a year and a half of renovations, Cambridge Inn on Main is now open for reservations. Community and business leaders say the new boutique hotel will help revitalize Main Street.

Cambridge Inn on Main, located in a storied, 132-year-old brick building at 117 West Main Street, was purchased by Tony and Mandi Buonincontro nearly 18 months ago. On Sunday, June 12, they held an open house at the two-story hotel where visitors could tour the six guest rooms and suites.

The rooms and suites are themed, with 1920s architecture and design, and are named after local points of interest and historical figures, preserving and paying tribute to the historic community connection of both the building and the family that renovated it.

“I like old buildings,” said Tony Buonincontro. “The more you learn about it, the more you become passionate about what it was and wanting to save it, and kind of get connected to these buildings.”

The old Sienna River Gallery at 117 West Main Street, where now stands the new Cambridge Inn on Main. | Photo courtesy of Tony Buonincontro

Originally built in 1890, the building at 116 West Main has been home to a general mercantile, hardware store, men’s clothier, meat market, sporting goods shop, a variety of grocers and a home decorating center. Its most recent occupant, Sienna River Gallery, closed about eight years ago. The building sat vacant until the Buonincontros purchased it in December 2020.

By then it was blighted and falling apart. Floor joists on both stories had rotted away and the floors were collapsing. The roof had holes that were “big enough for people to climb through,” Tony Buonincontro said.

Sunlight streams through decaying joists and trusses, and large holes in the roof of what is now the Cambridge Inn on Main, prior to renovations. | Photo courtesy of Tony Buonincontro

If a heavy storm rolled through before the new roof went in, “it would have looked like somebody turned on four garden hoses and just ran them inside the building,” he said.

They spent the first four months making structural repairs, replacing the floor joists and roof, and clearing out debris. Buonincontro said they spent half a year just getting the building ready for the actual construction, which began in July of last year.

The Buonincontros have renovated other buildings, including Villa Buonincontro, an old barn in Fort Atkinson they turned into a wedding venue, but nothing quite this ambitious.

“This was probably the most intense project,” Tony Buonincontro said. “But it also was the most fun.”

The Buonincontros did many of the renovations themselves, including framing, putting in floors and ceilings, painting and wallpapering. They were committed to using designs and materials that would have been used in 1891 when the building first went up. That got expensive in the middle of 2021, when prices for lumber, steel and other construction materials skyrocketed.

Tony Buonincontro’s day job is a national accounts manager for LP Building Solutions, a building materials manufacturer based in Nashville. Before that he spent 20 years at ABC Supply Company, a building supply giant based in Beloit.

“I work a full time job to help me cover the ability to do something ridiculous as this,” he said. That meant working a full day, then working on the hotel until late evening, sometimes as late as one in the morning.

But it hasn’t just been Tony and Mandi – they’ve had help, including some college students, as well as Richard and Jean Scott, Mandi’s parents. “They were constantly here” pulling up trailers to haul away debris, Tony Buonincontro said.

“I couldn’t even list all the people that I have had here helping.”

Almost everything about the Cambridge Inn on Main references the community’s history.

Each room has a theme, like the Cannonball Suite, a reference to the Cannonball train line that ran from Cambridge to London, and the two-bedroom Munson Law Suite, where prominent local attorney Earl Munson worked for about 50 years. The Lake Ripley Room and the Cam-Rock Suite are named for the nearby park and lake, and the Founders Room pays tribute to the early families who settled Cambridge.

Entrance to the Munson Room at the Cambridge Inn on Main. | Photo courtesy of Dusty Rogers

The Buonincontros themselves have deep roots in the community.

Tony Buonincontro grew up in Fort Atkinson. Mandi (Scott) Buonincontro is a Cambridge High School graduate whose family has farmed here for generations. Her great-grandparents once owned the mill that today is the PLOW restaurant, 159 West Main Street. Her mother once owned a craft store in the village called Homespun House. And former longtime Village President Eileen Scott was her great aunt.

“I am so excited to be back working so closely with the town that I grew up in,” Mandi Buonincontro told the Cambridge News in an interview last year.

People from all over the region came to the open house on Sunday, including groups from Chicago and Rockford, as well as local community members and other Cambridge business owners.

Tony Buonincontro said the village and community have been “beyond supportive.” He added that it’s been fun to be part of a community of local businesses.

“It’s an honor when you see the other people you’re working with and the support they have for each other’s businesses,” he said. “This is the best thing that could happen for Cambridge.”

The Wisconsin Economic Development Commission gave the village of Cambridge a grant to support the renovation. In a press release, Missy Hughes, secretary and CEO of the commission, called the hotel a “game-changer.”

Lisa Moen, Cambridge’s village administrator, said it will “help spark our main street again.”

“Cambridge is proud of its history,” Moen said during a phone call. “It’s important to keep that through the buildings.”

Dusty Rogers, owner of Details Boutique, Revive Salt Room & Sauna and Galleria 214 at 214 West Main Street, said Cambridge Inn on Main will help take the village from being a spot for day trips to a weekend getaway destination.

“I’m so impressed by what Tony and Mandi have done,” Rogers said, “taking a building that was close to being condemned and turning it into something that’s so beautiful that’s such an asset for downtown Cambridge.”

She added the hotel is a great complement to the village’s walkable downtown.

“There’s been a lot of talk about how Cambridge downtown isn’t what it used to be in the ‘90s,” she said. “But people need to take another look. We’re back.”

Although the building is over 130 years old, the Cambridge Inn on Main is fully modernized. Reservations and check-in are done online, and the hotel is staffless, similar to an Airbnb or Vrbo setup.

All rooms come with a private bathroom and a coffee maker, a Wi-Fi connection, modern mattress system with a 3-layer personal protection encasement, and access to the “Scott Commons” lounge, according to the Cambridge Inn on Main website.

Tony Buonincontro said that right now they have reservations booked in late June, and have some wedding guests booked into the fall, but reservations are now open to anyone.

Guests can visit www.cambridgeinnonmainwisconsin.com, fill out the online inquiry form and “I can have them in a room within hours,” he said.

The Buonincontros had their challenges with the renovations, but now that the hotel is open they were proud to share the journey their family and the building have gone through.

“This building now is as straight as an arrow,” Tony Buonincontro said. “It’s been here for 130 years. And it’ll be here for 200 more.”

Reservations are already being taken for dates beginning May 1

Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.

Get our newsletters delivered right to your inbox.

Would you like to receive our daily news? Signup today!

Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.

Check your email for details.

Invalid password or account does not exist

Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.

An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account.

Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.

A receipt was sent to your email.