Have you ever wondered how the inventors of everyday objects lived?
Hi everyone, ken here, today we are exploring the mansion of Edwin George, the man who invented
the gas powered lawn mower.
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In 1873, Edwin George was born into a working class family in Pennsylvania, but he dreamed
of escaping the city to explore the frontier.
When he was 17, he moved to Michigan where he could spend weeks traveling through the
wilderness by himself, hunting and trapping furs.
He had a natural talent for fur trapping, which caught the attention of Annis and Miller,
prominent Detroit based Fur Traders.
He was offered a job with them and quickly rose through the ranks, eventually buying
out the company.
By the age of 25, he was running wholesale and retail fur trading operations, supplying
some of the largest department stores in the country with high quality furs.
In his quick rise to the top of the fur trading industry he made a lot of money.
George was ready to start a family and settle down, he married Bessie Scotten whom he had
swooned over for years and the tow built a humble stone cottage in Bloomfield Hills just
north of Detroit.
The house sat on nearly a hundred acres, which George built up into a private golf course
with perfectly landscaped gardens offering vista views.
The young couple now had the perfect property to grow into as they started their family,
but they quickly ran out of space inside the house.
George, while he had been successful in trapping, wanted a more challenging hunt.
He spent months away, traveling to Africa to go on safari where he accumulated too many
trophies to fit in the stone cottage.
George decided to build a much larger home on the property to accommodate his collection,
but Bessie wanted nothing to do with it.
Being deeply religious, she protested the idea of living a lavish lifestyle, going against
the tenants of her beliefs and values.
Eventually, the couple came to an agreement that allowed George to build a mansion so
long as he donated it to the church upon his passing.
The couple unofficially separated at that point, Bessie would spend the rest of her
life living in the cottage and George would build his castle high up on the hill.
The sprawling mansion was designed in the Tudor Revival style and constructed from limestone
with half timbered sections.
The rambling façade was broken up by towers and steeply pitched rooflines pierced by imposing
chimneys.
Expansive, perfectly manicured gardens were then laid out around the house with limestone
balustrade staggering from the house, breaking up the many terraces.
Though, maintaining a portion of the natural landscape was an important part of the deal
the couple had struck.
There were gardens planted with natural fauna following the unaltered contours of the landscape
with rustic garden paths connecting the cottage to the new house.
To one side of the mansion, expansive lawns rolled out over the hill.
Maintaining this lawn became such a hassle, that George began experimenting with ways
to cut down on the labor it required.
In 1919, he submitted a patent for the first gasoline powered lawn mower, which he developed
and sold, increasing his wealth tenfold.
Before we head inside to see the exquisite interior, I would like to say a very special
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Now, let’s go inside.
Entering the home, we arrive in the foyer, where stone columns rest below an ornate archway,
framing our view of the stair hall straight ahead.
The stair hall is clad in half height wood paneling, rising just above the height of
the coffered ceiling.
The newel post, with its intricate relief work, caps off an ornate wooden balustrade
rising towards the stair landing.
Beyond the landing, the balustrade changes form to offer a variety hand carved spindles
below the hand rail.
The second floor stair landing is decorated with antique European tapestries, and, above
the doors, pastoral scenes appear in artisan plaster work.
Going back down the stairs, we will make our way through the hall way to find the living
framed by an oversized, quoined stone archway.
The ceilings are vaulted in this room to accommodate a future chapel as per Bessie’s requirements.
Additionally, just out of site, a pipe organ was built into the house.
Next, we will see the dining room clade in wood paneling below a frescoed frieze.
Natural light flooded this room through the bay window, reflecting from the surface of
the polished limestone fireplace boasting figurative relief work.
Continuing along, we will pass through another stone archway to find the sitting room with
barrel vaulted, coffered ceilings decorated with antique furniture and centuries old European
tapestries.
To the other side of the room, a floor to ceiling fireplace extends nearly 20 feet with
griffins carved into the upper mantel, looking out over the room just below the ceiling.
Finally, we will find the library tucked away, a cozy retreat with carpeted floors and overflowing,
built in book shelves to either side of a quaint fireplace framing relief work in its
flush upper mantel.
Eventually, the grand mansion was no longer enough to satiate the wants of George.
He ran away to Florida to live the rest of his, having an affair with his secretary.
Bessie stayed behind, and true to her word, she never moved into the mansion.
When George passed away in 1951, the house was conveyed to the church which greatly expanded
on the mansion, becoming the Kirk in the Hills which continues to stand to this day.
Was there anything about this house that you loved?
Or was there anything you did like?
Let me know down below in the comments section.
And while you’re there, make sure to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an
exciting episode of "ThisHouse"