The mansions of Columbus are known for their opulence and stylish accessories, but only rarely are they decorated with “for sale” signs.
At least four homes listed for $1 million or more are on the market in Columbus, most of them antebellum showplaces. But with the economy’s weakened pulse and a dip in interest in historic homes, the number of million-dollar homes that have actually sold in recent memory is slim.
“This generation of owners has matured,” said Dr. Chance Laws, a retired ophthalmologist who is listing his 1856 home at 200 Fourth Ave. S. for $1.1 million. “It’s just kind of a coincidence that the downturn in the sale of residential properties is coming along at the same time some of antebellum homes have owners who are just at the age.”
Laws bought the antebellum home in 1979 and named it “Belle Bridge,” thinking of it as the belle of Bridge Street, which was the former name of Fourth Avenue South.
“This one is move-in ready,” said Gina Rhett, Laws’ Realtor. “It’s got that great historical value, but it’s a comfortable home you can relax in as well.”
That’s because Laws spent years renovating it, gutting the inside first and then stripping away the exterior before restoring it to its original grandeur.
“I tried to restore it and yet modernize,” Laws said. “None of the houses in town are truly restored, because when they were built, they had no indoor plumbing, electricity and so forth.”
The before-and-after pictures Laws keeps in his scrapbook are remarkable, the attention to detail painstaking. In his pictures, the grand flight of stairs just inside the door was nothing more than exposed wood, a far cry from the smooth polish it boasts now or the rug that Laws had custom-made to account for the rise and the run of each individual step. Even when he added on a family room with 12-foot ceilings in 1980, Laws took special care to obtain rare heart-of-pine flooring from another 1840 home.
Each accessory has an explanation of significance; each piece of furniture has a story of how it was sought out in New York, New Orleans, Mobile or elsewhere, even London.
A house is not just four walls, a floor and a ceiling. If these homes could whisper, they would fill novels with descriptions of lives, deaths, triumphs and failures of generations past. The introduction Samuel Sloan wrote for the first volume of “The Modern Architect” in 1852 is telling of the 19th-century attitude toward a man’s home.
“A man’s dwelling at the present day is not only an index of his wealth, but also of his character,” Sloan wrote. “The moment he begins to build, his tact for arrangement, his private feelings, the refinement of his tastes and the peculiarities of his judgment are all laid bare for public inspection and criticism.”
Before the Civil War — or The War, as it’s still known in Mississippi — houses were the main attraction. They were the social hubs of the South, the places were people gathered for celebrations, for mourning, for work and for play.
“There weren’t restaurants or fast food,” said Gail Laws, Chance’s wife. “They came to each other’s homes.”
“There were about 15,000 people here before the Civil War,” Chance Laws said. “They probably had a very active social life, here. Columbus was a bustling place.”
Belle Bridge has indeed seen an active social life, not just in the antebellum period but under the Laws’ management as well. It’s been a regular feature on Pilgrimage. It has hosted alumni parties for MUW, Valentine’s Day extravaganzas, large boisterous galas and small, intimate gatherings.
“I like to entertain,” Chance Laws said. “People have always gotten an extra kick — and it adds a little extra spice — to go to antebellum homes.”
But for all the work the Laws put into the house, and for all the memories they have there, they may be at the mercy of the economy for now.
“There’s only been about one sold in the Golden Triangle in the last three years,” said Hilbert Williams, a broker-owner of Crye-Leike Properties Unlimited.
It’s a sliding scale of interest.
“When I bought the house, there were five people that submitted written bids on it,” Chance Laws said. “There was a lot of interest in old homes at the time, and everybody was wanting one. It kind of waxes and wanes. Right now, people aren’t interested, but it comes and goes.”
For the Laws, the reason to move is as simple as a desire to get into something a little smaller. Their five children are spread out from Spain to Los Angeles, and Chance and Gail are ready to downsize.
“We’ve got five bedrooms, 6,400 square feet, and our children hardly ever come home all at the same time, and we would just like something smaller,” Chance Laws said.
“It’s really time for someone else to raise a family in this house,” added Gail Laws.
With homes listed for $1 million, there are a host of other possible motivations for moving out: death, old age, a major life change — life just gets in the way sometimes, and it becomes time to continue on.
“Usually what happens with these homes is that someone redoes them, lives in them for a while and moves on,” said Rick McGill, an owner-broker at Crye-Leike Properties.
Indeed, it takes a special kind of person to sign up for the “extreme maintenance” that comes with an antebellum fixer-upper.
“It’s a labor of love with those properties,” McGill said. “You’re going to work on those pretty much all the time. Those properties are labor intense.”
Riverview, one of the houses McGill is representing, is another million-dollar listing. Located at 216 Third Avenue South, it is a Southern mansion with an “unreal amount of documentation on it.” Once the home of Colonel Charles McLaran, its grounds took up a whole block at the time of its construction. Its mahogany staircase is a focal point, spanning the house’s four floors and ending in a cupola encased in stained glass.
Riverview, which is listed at $1.25 million, has been on the market for approximately two years. Even with the economy the way it is, it still has been the target of serious interest, but there have been no solid offers.
Potential buyers have come from New Orleans, the Carolinas and the Gulf Coast. One reason Columbus has such a concentration of antebellum homes is because Union troops never penetrated far enough to burn them down during their demolition sprees.
“Everyone who has looked at it is considering relocating here,” McGill said. “(Hurricane) Katrina really left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. People really love that kind of home, though, so the only thing left for them to do is to come up to Columbus and find this type of house.”
The Colonnade, Sid Imes’ home at 620 Second Street South, is also on the market at $1.2 million. The Colonnade is notable for its asymmetrical architecture, which was inspired by homes in the Mobile, Ala., area even though Greek Revival houses were generally known for their symmetry. Built circa 1860, it is one of the last truly antebellum homes.
Of course, not all houses listed at $1 million or more are antebellum estates. Angela Laster of Crye-Leike is brokering a five-bedroom, six-bathroom mansion at 5414 Old West Point Road. The home was custom-built in 1979 for Dr. S.B. Wiygul and his wife, Dell.
“They’ve reached their golden years, and they have built another house to downsize,” Laster said. “I’m advertising it as a stately, Southern showplace, because that’s truly what it is. It’s like stepping back in time; it’s so beautiful.”
The two-story mansion is outfitted with a two staircases that span the length of the house. It also features a wet bar, a sauna, a pool, and his-and-her bathrooms in the master suite. The 5,160-square-foot house, which also comes with 180 acres, is listed at $1.82 million.
Still, even the most lavish home isn’t a sure sale in today’s housing market. Laster called all of her contacts whom she thought might be in the price range, and when she keyed the house into Crye-Leike’s Multiple List System, it wen
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