A 28-room Buckeye Lake mansion, for more than a century the grandest home on the lake, has landed on the market.
Called the Wehrle Mansion, the three-story Tudor-style home towers over the eastern end of the lake on 5.3 acres in the midst of the Heron Bay subdivision.
Built in 1917 by Augustine Wehrle, whose family owned the Wehrle Stove Co. in Newark, the home for decades anchored a farming estate that occupied 285 acres including 1½ miles of Buckeye Lake shore, said J-me Braig, director the Greater Buckeye Lake Historical Society.
“It’s very romantic, very beautiful, eye-popping, something you really couldn’t believe is sitting on little Buckeye Lake,” said Braig, a fourth-generation lake resident. “As a kid, I said, ‘that’s where I’m going to live.’ ”
Now Braig and others have their chance. The home has been listed for $3.5 million by DeLena Ciamacco, with RE/MAX Connection Realtors.
“This one-of-a-kind property offers a rare blend of architectural splendor and lakeside living,” said Ciamacco’s listing, which calls the estate “a living piece of history.”
After occupying the property for decades, the Wehrle family in 1969 donated the property to the Catholic Diocese of Columbus, which used it for years before it became part of the Heron Bay development, which now surrounds the estate.
For a while, the property hosted events but for more than 15 years, it has served as a single-family residence.
The 8,300-square-foot home sits on 354 feet of a Buckeye Lake inlet, with a private boat dock.
With its all-brick exterior, cherry doors, six fireplaces, wide-plank teak floors, coffered ceilings and stained-glass details, the home evokes a luxurious past far removed from jet skis and tubing.
Among the 28 rooms are a billiards room, a tile-floored sunroom anchored by a fountain, and a second “summer” kitchen.
Visitors enter the home through a formal wood-paneled foyer. From there, they can choose from the living room, family room, den/office, sun room and billiards room. Two dining areas, two kitchens, one with a “skullery” plus a walk-in pantry, and two half baths, round out the first floor.
The second floor holds nine bedrooms and five full baths, along with a sitting room off the primary bedroom.
The partially finished third floor could serve as a studio, office, bunk room or additional bedroom space.
Although the home is of a very different era and scale than its neighbors, it is part of the Heron Bay subdivision, which includes a basketball court, bike path, clubhouse, tennis courts, pool and recreation area across the lawn from the mansion.
“It’s the grandest house,” said Braig. “There’s nothing like it on the lake.”
Real estate and Development Reporter Jim Weiker can be reached at jweiker@dispatch.com and at 614-284-3697. Follow him @JimWeiker
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 28-room historic Buckeye Lake mansion hits the market for $3.5 million
Reporting by Jim Weiker, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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