Lake George Mansion Burns Down
By Margaret Foster | Online Only | July 14, 2009
The Lake George Resort and Motel lost its oldest building, this former 1872 mansion that was an 11-unit hotel for decades.
Credit: LakeGeorge.com
Every summer, thousands of visitors flock to New York's Lake George, as they have for generations. During the 19th century, wealthy families built grand summer mansions on a stretch of lakefront known as Millionaire's Row. Today, few of those old cottages remain standing; most have been lost to fire or development. This month, another disappeared.
On July 4, a blaze destroyed a 137-year-old mansion that had been converted to a hotel in the 1950s. No one was hurt in the fire, and the Capri Village Lake George Resort and Motel is still open and booked for the summer.
"The firefighters did a really good job containing the fire to that one building," says Capri Village owner Linda Famosi, but "the [original] building itself is a total loss." The Bolton Landing Fire Department is still investigating the cause of the fire, which started in one of the 11 guest rooms.
Built by the Middleworth family in 1872, the two-story house was known for its veranda overlooking the lake. Famosi and her husband, John, who purchased the property 10 years ago, may build something else on the scorched site if they can secure the necessary funds and have their plans approved by the town of Bolton Landing. They are in the process of applying for permission to remove the shell of the mansion.
"A lot of thought has to go into what we want to put there," Famosi says. "We don't know what we'll be able to do, approval-wise and money-wise."
Watch a video of the fire in progress
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Comments
Submitted by Brian at: July 14, 2009
Any relics or old photographs burn up in the fire?