One Hundred and Fifty Years ago, on July 15th, 1871, a news article appeared in the Saturday edition of the Ballston [Saratoga County] Journal, “Wm Brown and John Parent are preparing the foundations for two fine houses on Bath Street, opposite the Washington Spring.”
Brown’s house would not be the typical gable-roofed residence, But a fashionable French-Gothic Mansard. The post-civil war period was known for unabashed ostentation. Suppliers, manufacturers, and financiers had profited greatly from the government’s need to equip and maintain its armed forces. There was so many nouveau riche showing off their wealth, it was fashionable to do so. [Read more…] about Ballston Spa’s Éclair House: Some History
