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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Another sign of real estate drama, a house up for sealed bid auction in posh Greenwich, Connecticut of all places. The owner, Stanley Cheslock, originally put the market on the home for $31 million in the usual manner but found that the current market was a bit stagnant.

The HIllcrest Estate features 26,000-square-foot mansion designed by Gilles Le Gorrec and built in 2003 as well as two carriage houses and 12-car capacity garage on 30 acres. The home has four master suites, guest suite and a service suite. There is a large kitchen that includes a wood-burning pizza oven, top-of-the-line appliances, separate accessories kitchen and a butler's pantry with walk-in refrigeration. The massive home has not one but two cathedral-ceiling living rooms that both open onto a 2,500-sq. ft. terrace. Other details include a 100-ft. central atrium, rooftop cupola with stunning Long Island Sound views, hand-crafted stained glass windows, iron-clad elevator, seven Rumsford fireplaces, multiple laundries, handmade plaster moldings, chestnut flooring and geo-thermal heating and cooling. There is also a theatre-quality home cinema, 3,700 bottle-capacity wine room, cherry wood office/library, 50-ft. indoor lap pool with Siberian spruce sauna and granite steam room, and a fully equipped private gym. The expansive grounds adjoin The Stanwich Club, one of United States' premier golf courses, and include a large mouth bass pond, waterfalls, English gardens, and statuary by sculptor Arturo Di Modica.

The estate may be purchased in whole or in part, with the mansion and 22 acres available for a minimum reserve price beginning at $15 million. The two carriage houses and more than seven acres are available for a minimum reserve price beginning at $4 million. And of course the whole package starts at $19 million. Sealed bids must be submitted by 5 p.m. Aug. 15, along with a check for $750,000 and bank documents proving the potential buyer's ability to pay.

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