The Alexander Brown House, at 726 West Onondaga Street in Syracuse, New York, is a Richardsonian Romanesque mansion in Pottsdam sandstone and Spanish tile home built in 1895. It was the home of Alexander T. Brown, inventor and co-founder of Franklin Motors and the Brown-Lipe-Chapin Company, a firm that was absorbed into General Motors.

Brown was a successful inventor and manufacturer. His specialty was transmissions adapted from bike chain derailleurs, but is also known for inventing the shifting carriage that allowed typewriters to have multiple cases or fonts, patented a breech loading shotgun that became Hunter Arms and as any inventor would he added technology into the house. He added such engineering features to the house as a terra cotta shaped glass tile-covered skylight to bring natural light into the attic, a basement to attic hydraulic elevator, and a house-wide vacuum cleaning system.

The 5,500 sf carriage house is known to have held up to ten cars and had a car lift installed so that the projects he was working on could be brought up and out of the cold and into his workshop where his drivers were often known to have lived and assisted. He held the largest collection of military weaponry in private hands during his day and was also known to have kept a live bear in what was once a stable for the horses who once pulled his carriages from the carriage house behind the main house on West Onondaga Street.

The house made the list of Castles in the United States and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

https://en.wikipedia.org

The Alexander Brown home is an example of domestic "Romanesque Revival" architecture. Designed by Gordon Wright and built of Potsdam sandstone, it was completed in 1895. It once had a hydraulic elevator that ran from the basement to the attic.

The interior was extensively altered in 1947 to create offices for a group of physicians (In 1964 the sign above the door says "The Professional Building" and the marquee near the sidewalk announces the offices for two M.D.'s and a dentist). Fortunately, the "debris" left from the remodeling included much of the original trim, mantelpieces, sliding doors, etc., and the interior was largely restored to its original elegance.

In 2001, although a bit overgrown, the home still stands. It is now owned by a local architectural firm. Today -- reflecting the changed character of the neighborhood -- the marquee reads "Securetec Security Systems."

http://syracusethenandnow.org

Free

Private property, closed for visitors