Elmira's Strawberry Mansion catches Cheap Old Houses spotlight. How much it's listed for
Elmira’s historic “Strawberry Mansion” is up for sale and in the spotlight.
The property at 415 William St. was featured last week on the popular “Cheap Old Houses” Instagram page, which boasts over 2.4 million followers. The post has already generated nearly 50,000 likes and 700 comments on the social media site.
“GOOD GRIEF ELMIRA!” reads the caption.
The property certainly hits the sweet spot for Cheap Old Houses. Built in the 19th century, the 7,800-square-foot, five-bedroom, three-bathroom mansion is listed for just $59,900.
While the Victorian home boasts 10-foot pocket doors, 12-foot ceilings, classic fireplaces and custom finishes, realtor Mike Hamilton cautioned that the Strawberry Mansion “needs a lot of work” to restore it to its former glory. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.
“Anytime a property goes on the market in Elmira that’s this size, people read more into it,” said Hamilton, of Howard Hanna Elmira. “It’s one thing to buy a building of this size, it’s another thing trying to pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into it to renovate it.”
What to know about the Strawberry Mansion
The Strawberry Mansion earned its colorful moniker due to its distinct red brickwork, which has withstood the test of time. Today, though, it is partially obscured by ivy growing up the front of the building.
The property is also known as the William S. Gerity House. Elmira City Historian Diane Janowski said Gerity and his brother owned a drugstore at the corner of Lake and Market in the Gerard building. The family took in boarders during World War II.
The building eventually transitioned away from single-family use. Janowski said it was utilized by the Elmira Little Theater and later became the Mary Grantier Rest Home for many years. More recently, the property served as an adult care facility operated by the Strawberry Mansion Society. The building still features a handicap ramp for easy access.
The Strawberry Mansion sits in a mixed commercial and residential neighborhood, bordered by homes and the Meals on Wheels of Chemung County. Hamilton said the property could be a fit for a variety of uses with the right restoration efforts, including residential, commercial or office space.
Sale will benefit Elmira’s Salvation Army
The property reverted to county ownership in the last decade, selling for $29,000 in 2018 and $28,000 in 2019, when Charlie Schmitt and Brenda Brown of Statesboro, Ga. acquired it with the intention of transforming the building into apartments.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
The couple hasn’t been back to Elmira since New Year’s Eve 2019, and in the interim, they purchased a second home in Georgia using funds initially earmarked for the Strawberry Mansion.
“Our plans just changed. It’s a long drive from Georgia to get up there,” said Schmitt. “We had it planned out to be three full apartment units for a VRBO. You could comfortably get seven bedrooms in there. It’s big.”
Schmitt is an Elmira native who graduated from Notre Dame before embarking on a career that has featured stints with the NFL, NHL and PGA league offices. He currently has a law office in Statesboro.
Schmitt plans to give back to his hometown by donating proceeds of the sale to the Salvation Army through the Realty Gift Fund. Elmira's Salvation Army borders the rear grounds of the Strawberry Mansion.
More: This Hornell home was featured by HGTV's Cheap Old Houses: What it sold for
What makes the Strawberry Mansion special
While the building is in need of significant renovations, Schmitt said the Strawberry Mansion still boasts a variety of architectural treasures, including ornate trim, original wood paneling and wood floors. It also features a built-in floor to ceiling mirror in the parlor.
The Victorian-style dwelling was designed with an entrance porch, a balcony on the second story, and a semi-octagonal front bay.
“The potential is exponential. It’s magnificent,” said Schmitt. “The stairway has a landing and there’s a bench in the middle of the landing. In the days of the 1800s and early 1900s the ladies wore hoop skirts, and that’s where they stopped and rested on their way up and down the stairs because the hoops were so big. It’s a cool house.”
And, of course, there's that signature red brick.
“It’s extremely well built. It’s not going anywhere,” Schmitt said.
More: A castle for under $100k? Elmira, NY, mansion that's for sale goes viral on Instagram
Elmira’s historic mansions continue to go viral
The Strawberry Mansion isn’t the first Elmira home to go viral with an assist from Cheap Old Houses. Over the last few years the account has featured several Elmira homes with the right combination of historic features and low price point.
A $125,000 home at 367 W. Church St. was highlighted in May and garnered 23,000 likes. An Elmira “castle” at 615 Columbia St. featured in 2021 created so much interest it crashed the Signature Properties Corning website. That post received a whopping 150,000 likes.
The Cheap Old Houses Instagram account was started by Elizabeth and Ethan Finkelstein in 2016. The couple developed a passion for highlighting historic homes in need of some TLC to restore them to glory. The homes featured on the page range from city dwellings to rural farmhouses, with most listed for under $100,000.
The Instagram account grew to the point that the Finkelsteins launched a television series of the same name in 2021, available on HGTV and discovery+. The couple explores low-priced properties in each episode, before selecting one to feature on Instagram. Episodes also highlight renovations of homes featured previously on the account.
“These affordable houses are popular among millennials because of surging rents in larger cities and the possibility of remote work,” reads the show description.
See the @cheapoldhouses post about Elmira's Strawberry Mansion on Instagram.
This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Elmira Strawberry Mansion, up for sale, in Cheap Old Houses spotlight
