One of my favorite real estate commenters, Spectacular Bid, led me to today's estate in Cazenovia, New York. This home on Cazenovia Lake was built for Robert Benson Davis, founder of the Davis Baking Powder Company. Davis bought the home known as Hillcrest as it was under construction in 1905. His daughter Lacretia and her husband George Jephson owned the property until Lecretia's death in 1979 and it was their summer home. The current owners are only the second family to own Hillcrest. The six-acre estate includes a carriage house that serves as a three-bedroom guest house, a five-car garage and a basement bomb shelter built during the bomb-fearing 1950s.

The 1905 Queen Anne Victorian overlooks the lake and has incredible Gilded Age details like elaborate plaster relief ceilings, inlaid wood floors, intricately carved wood doors and stained glass windows. A wraparound curved porch has Victorian gingerbread details. One particularly beautiful space is the music room which is located in the turret and features plaster musical figures smiling benignly in the corners. For the most part much of the home's charm has been retained (I'm not a fan of the new granite counters in the kitchen but perhaps I'm too much of a purist). There are six bedrooms total and the home has an elevator, family room with wet bar, home office and a recreation room with a pool table on the third floor. It was listed at $1.69 million last year but can now be had for $1.45 million.



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