Now is your chance to restore one of the finest Second Empire style Gilded Age Mansions in Upstate New York. Built for Henry Graves in 1877, the mansion now sits as a shell of its former self. Welcoming you with solid walnut doors into a vestibule, the mansion retains all of its original parquet flooring and decorative ceilings as well as its 9 original fireplaces. The mansion has suffered water damage since a former caretaker, Thomas Campbell, lived in the house in the 1990's.
At that time, a California preservationist invested more than $150,000 in restoring the mansion, including adding reproduction gas light fixtures and refinishing much of the interior woodwork.
Around 2000, the mansion was sold and was eventually foreclosed on where today it is owned by a bank and can be yours to restore for just $54,900.
To Follow the restoration, visit them on Instagram @thegravesmansion
Check out this video with Campbell showcasing the interior of the house in 1993:
To See More Historic New York Houses, Click Here: Great Houses of New York, 1880-1930 (Urban Domestic Architecture)
Property Details:
$54,900 20 bd, 9 ba, 10,964 sqft, 9.5 acres, Built in 1877
27 Church Ln, Au Sable Forks, NY 12912
History:
In the mid-1870s, Graves started building his mansion at a cost of $75,000 - equivalent to about $1.25 million today. The Second Empire-style home had 20 bedrooms, nine bathrooms and nine marble fireplaces. The copper door handles and hinges had carvings of hummingbirds - his wife’s favorite creature. Among other extravagant features included solid oak front doors, some weighing over 350 pounds; imported ceramic Italian tiles; intricate wood carvings on the ceilings; handcrafted oak and black walnut staircases; and an enclosed-glass garden room.
Even President Grover Cleveland stopped by the Graves Mansion in 1886 during his summer vacation. Cleveland stood on the second-floor veranda and waved to a crowd on the lawn below. Graves passd away in the mansion in 1917.
More Photos:
