Syracuse, N.Y. — Growing up in Syracuse’s Strathmore neighborhood, Chris LaBerge couldn’t help but notice a grand old mansion that had fallen on hard times on West Onondaga Street.
In its disrepair, it was still striking. It had a three-story turret and exterior wood shingles in patterns — designs resembling fish scales and waves. Bands at the second floor of the turret contained wood carvings of floral or leaf flourishes.
“My parents worked downtown and so, growing up, I went by it a million times and always saw it and thought that it could be something really special,” said LaBerge, 33, a commercial real estate project manager in Denver.
Now, years later, he’s going to get the chance to do that.
LaBerge and local contractor and developer Luke Esposito have agreed to buy the 129-year-old home for $25,000 from the Greater Syracuse Land Bank.
They plan to redevelop it into a mixed-use building, at an estimated cost of nearly $2 million, while maintaining its historical character.
The mansion is thought to have been designed by Archimedes Russell, the famous Syracuse architect who designed the Onondaga County Court House.
The home also has two porches, one on the front and one on the east side. Inside, a grand, open staircase connects the first and second floors. The home’s original brick fireplace and much of its original, detailed door and window casings remain.
“It’s a great example of a grand Victorian mansion that is really emblematic of Syracuse’s history and the history of this corridor and the economic vitality that once coursed through it,” LaBerge said.
When he learned that the Land Bank was looking for someone to buy and fix up the home, LaBerge jumped at the chance.
He called around to people and organizations who had redeveloped old buildings in Syracuse. Most were busy with other projects or viewed the Whedon mansion as not large enough of a project to interest them.
Then he called Esposito, an acquaintance whose previous Syracuse projects have included turning the historic C.G. Meaker Food Co. warehouse, the Addis Co. department store, and the Renaud Wicks and Falker buildings into apartments.
“I was like, ‘I can’t just let this languish,” LaBerge said. “Let me see if I can figure it out. And Luke was kind enough to come on board.”
Built in 1892 for Dr. George Whedon, a Civil War veteran, real estate investor and one of Syracuse’s most successful physicians in the late 19th century, the Queen Anne-style 4,800-square-foot residence is part of a bygone era on West Onondaga Street, a corridor that connects downtown to the West Side.
The mansion was actually a second residence for Whedon, according to a report prepared by Holmes King Kallquist & Associates for the land bank. His primary residence was a few blocks west at 672 W. Onondaga St., a brick home that bears some resemblance to the home at 366 W. Onondaga St. and which also was designed by Archimedes Russell.
Back then, West Onondaga Street was a place for the wealthy. But as urban flight took place after World War II, the wealthy moved out. Many of the mansions that lined the street remain but in various states of repair.
Whedon died in 1912 at the age of 80. Albert C. Schumaker acquired the home in 1921 and used it as a funeral parlor. The Whelan Brothers bought the funeral home in 1952 and operated it until 1977, when they sold the property and moved the business.
The three-story house has been falling apart in recent years. A fire damaged its roof 13 years ago. The city later seized the home for back taxes and turned it over to the land bank in 2019.
LaBerge, a Cornell University graduate, said he developed an interest in restoring old buildings when he saw what developers had done in Franklin Square and Armory Square. He said he has restored a few homes in the Denver area, though nothing like the Whedon mansion.
“Seeing a lot of the adaptive reuse and historic preservation in Syracuse is really what got me interested in development,” he said “I was going to school for city planning and just saw the private side being able to move quicker to do some of these things. Doing this kind of project is really what I’m passionate about, and passionate about doing it in my hometown.”
The sale of the Whedon mansion likely will not occur until 2022. Esposito and LaBerge said they will need time to obtain financing and permits. They told the land bank that the renovations will cost an estimated $1.8 million. They expect to use federal and state historic preservation tax credits to help pay for the project.
The home sits on the north side of West Onondaga Street, three blocks from downtown, which has been undergoing a major revitalization in recent years with many older, neglected buildings being redeveloped for commercial and residential uses.
Salt City Market, a food hall, office and apartment project, opened at West Onondaga and South Salina streets in January. The historic Hotel Syracuse reopened as a full-service Marriott on the other side of South Salina Street in 2016 after a $76 million restoration.
Esposito, 40, vice president of R.F. Esposito Inc., said preliminary plans for the Whedon mansion include building apartments on the third floor and office space on the first and second floors, with a commercial kitchen on the first floor. He and LaBerge hope to partner with a restaurateur who can cater private events at the home and sometimes open the space to the public.
Esposito said they are working with the architectural firms of Holmes, King, Kallquist & Associates and inARCHITECTS to develop the plans.
“The project is really in its infancy,” Esposito said. “We have a general kind of framework that we’re trying to work within.”
LaBerge said economic realities make it impossible for the mansion to be used again as a single-family residence. But as a mixed-use building, it could serve as a seed project that helps to revitalize West Onondaga Street while tapping into some of the economic momentum occuring downtown, he said.
“It’s a rebirth and preservation of Syracuse’s past, in a concept that carries that vitality and economic energy forward,” he said.
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