The Conrad-Caldwell House, once nicknamed "Conrad's Folly", was built 1893 by Arthur Loomis for Theophile Conrad and his wife, Mary. Mr. Conrad found his fortune in the tanning business. After Conrad died on February 13, 1905, William E. Caldwell bought it, and called it their home for 35 years. In 1947 the local Presbyterian church acquired it, and for the next forty years it was the Rose Anna Hughes Presbyterian Retirement Home.
This building's style is Richardsonian Mansion. Made of limestone, it cost $75,000 to build. Its vertical framework comes from its heavy corner towers features and turrets that are one of three shapes: coned, hexagonal, and pyramid shaped. Randomly placed on the building are carving of animals, gargoyles, and other objects, fenestration, and intricate foliation. As fitting for a house to receive members of society in the Victorian Era, the interior features marble mantled fireplaces, stained-glass windows, high ceilings in parlors and dining rooms, with carved arched doorways leading the way into these rooms from the reception hall with its large staircase. The interior woodwork is cherry, maple, and oak.
The St. James Court Historic Foundation has controlled the building since 1987, and uses it for a museum.
Read more about this topic: St. James-Belgravia Historic District
Famous quotes containing the word house:
“Part way back from Bedlam
I came to my mother’s house in Gloucester,
Massachusetts. And this is how I came
to catch at her; and this is how I lost her.
I cannot forgive your suicide, my mother said.
And she never could.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)