Clinton Hill's Haunted Mansion Comes Along

Do you know anything more about what they are planning to do to it? My mother grew up in this house. Her father, Dr Merrill N Foote, owned the house from about 1920 to around 1947. I’m not sure if they bought it directly from the Schieren family, or from someone else. It was a bit of a white elephant in not the greatest neighbourhood – my grandparents bought it because it was both big enough and cheap enough for what they needed, while still being close to the hospital and the Heights.

The ground floor was his doctor’s office, the middle floors were their home (although i think the actual kitchen was in the basement), and several elderly relatives had an informal apartment in the attic space. When they had it, it seems to have preserved some of Schieren’s furnishings, including a suit of armour on the landing that had come with the house. It had two boilers, one for the front part, one for the back, and needed a full-time man to stoke them, plus two maids and a cook to manage the housework.

My mother went back in the late 70s, and someone was trying to fix it up then. It was so sad that it had gotten into such a bad state (we’d seen the NYT article), but it is nice to know that it isn’t actually falling down any more!

I live across the street….been watching the progress. They seem to have finished the roof which looks beautiful..terracotta I think. From what I’ve seen the inside appears to still be down to the bones.