For the last month or more in this space we’ve looked at where you can drive to find interesting architecture… octagon houses, cobblestone buildings, manufactured diners, geodesic domes, roadside architecture, and more. This week we take a look at mansions.

So… what qualifies as a mansion? For my purposes, it’s a notably large and well-appointed house, and we’ll start with the one I visit almost every day… the JOHN MAGEE HOUSE in Bath.

Mr. Magee built his new home probably in 1831, when he left Congress and married his second wife. Since Bath wasn’t even 40 years old at the time, this edifice must have been breathtaking, if not staggering. The first depiction of it, in 1857, shows an Italianate style with two fountains.

It was altered a fair amount between 1893 and 1999, when it served as Bath’s library… now it’s the Steuben County History Center, still sitting in its parklike green space (1 Conhocton Street) stretching toward the center of town. Besides its research, office, and artifact storage facilities, Magee House is also home to the Elm Cottage Museum, covering Bath and Steuben County – it will be open again once the pandemic is better under control. I ESPECIALLY LIKE: the post office delivery bike,

Canandaigua’s 1887 SONNENBERG MANSION (remodeled 1902) is justly famed for Mrs. F. F. Thompson’s gardens, but the 40-room Queen Anne-style house itself is stunning on its little rise. The entrance area has hunt trophies, high windows, and dark woodwork – I keep expecting Frederic Remington or Theodore Roosevelt to walk in. There’s a wide veranda, and wide-spreading trees. You can visit several period outbuildings, such as the greenhouse and carriage house, and the gardens are glorious in season. (151 Charlotte Street) I ESPECIALLY LIKE: the portrait that Mrs. Thompson paid for, but wouldn’t take home – you may need to ask the docents!

Down at 295 Main Street, Canandaigua also rejoices in GRANGER HOMESTEAD, an 1816 Federal style mansion built by Gideon Granger, America’s longest-serving postmaster general (1801 to 1814, in the Jefferson and Madison administrations; his son Francis held the job for nine months in 1841.) After leaving the post office, Gideon declared that he would build a mansion “unrivaled in all the nation.” The grounds also include a carriage museum, and the office where Stephen A. Douglas studied law, after graduating from Canandaigua Academy. I ESPECIALLY LIKE: the Festival of Trees at Christmastime.

George Eastman (founder of Eastman Kodak, in case you were wondering), made a fortune in Rochester. In 1902-1905 he spent a fair amount of that pile by building another impressive pile… the GEORGE EASTMAN HOUSE, now Eastman Museum (900 East Avenue).

The “colonial revival” mansion looks period, but it had all the modern conveniences available at the time. The 50-room house had its own generator, its own telephone system, built-in vacuum cleaning, and an elevator, not to mention the greenhouse and extensive outbuildings, and a sprawl of gardens. I ESPECIALLY LIKE: daily concerts on Mr. Eastman’s pipe organ – honest!

Binghamton’s contemporary 1904-1907 ROBERSON MANSION is now home to Roberson Museum and Science Center (30 Front Street). Building in the Italian Renaissance style, Alonzo Roberson included a grand staircase, a third-floor ballroom, private baths for each bedroom, and a three-story servant’s wing. (Even with all the “modern” conveniences of 1907, an awful lot still needed to be done by hand in a house this size.) I ESPECIALLY LIKE: the HUGE model train layout, suggesting the whole Binghamton region!