STONE
   MANOR

 

On the south shore of Geneva Bay, a monolith known as Stone Manor rises from a vast sweep of emerald lawn. If only one home on the lake could be called “palatial,” it would this one. Designed by architect Henry Lord Gay and completed in 1901, the 50,000-square-foot landmark is one of the nation’s best examples of Italian Renaissance style.

The mansion was built for Otto Young, a wholesale jeweler who became a Chicago real-estate tycoon in the wake of the Great Fire of 1871. Even today, rumors persist that Young was not fully accepted by Lake Geneva’s early “in” crowd, so he decided to create an estate that would outshine all others. Whatever his reasons, Young poured well over a million dollars into the project at a time when neighboring mansions cost a tenth as much. Amenities included a ballroom, nine immense bedroom suites on the second floor (each with a connecting bath), and another fourteen bedrooms on the floor above.

Homes & Havens