The following excerpts about the history of this home are from an article written by James A. Camp that is posted on
The Villa Bed & Breakfast website.
Mr. B.J. Donnelly was born in Springfield, MA in 1867 and lived most of his life in Swamcott, MA, near Boston. He acquired a vast fortune through ownership in marble, granite and stone quarries in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. His estimated wealth in 1929 was over six million dollars.
In 1929 Donnelly contracted the famous architectural firm of Kiehnel & Elliott from Miami to design a winter residence in Daytona Beach resembling a Spanish villa. Kiehnel and Elliott were instrumental in designing El Jardin, the Carlyle, Barclay, and Shorecrest Hotels, and the Scottish Rite Temple in Miami, and the master plan for Rollins College in Winter Park. Here in Daytona they designed the Princess Issena Hotel. Ted Paulson, who also built the Princess Issena, did construction of Donnelly's house.
In 1992 James A. Camp - who had the property listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Florida Historical Trust, and the Daytona Historic Preservation Board - purchased the mansion. At this time Mr. Camp established The Villa Bed & Breakfast.
True to its Spanish style, the mansion is textured stucco, with red barrel tile roofs, arched windows, wrought iron light fixtures, second floor balconies, dark oak beams, hand painted and stenciled plastered moldings, and stucco walls. The main staircase is clear heart cypress with white oak treads.
The main house has 10 rooms - a center hall, main staircase, four bedrooms and four bathrooms, a formal living room, conservatory, kitchen, formal dining room, and a breakfast room.
The servants' quarters in another wing have two bedrooms, bath, and sitting room. Located under here is the basement, which originally housed the laundry and boiler for the heating system.
Above the two-car garage is a self-contained apartment used at that time by the chauffeur.