| Watson-Curtze Mansion | |
| Coordinates: | 42.1264°N -80.0933°W |
| Mapframe: | yes |
| Mapframe-Marker: | building |
| Mapframe-Zoom: | 12 |
| Mapframe-Caption: | Interactive map showing the location of Watson-Curtze House |
| Built: | 1891–1892 |
| Architecture: | Richardsonian Romanesque |
| Added: | July 16, 1983 |
| Area: | less than one acre |
| Refnum: | 83002244 |
Watson-Curtze Mansion, is a historic home located at Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania designed by Green & Wicks and built in 1891–92.
The mansion was designed by the Buffalo architectural firm of Green & Wicks and built in 1891–1892. It is a -story, two-bay, brownstone mansion in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. It features a short tower, smooth piers with decorated capitals, windows with transoms, carved tympanum, and deep-set windows. The 24 room home also has stained glass windows, oak flooring, an elevator, 12 fireplaces, and a solarium. Also on the property is a contributing carriage house.
The mansion features pierced and hand-carved woodwork, mosaics, stained glass and friezes. There are Tiffany light fixtures including decorative motifs with cherubs, peacocks, leaves, and shells.
The home was built by Harrison F. Watson (1853-1904), an Erie roofing paper magnate and holder of U.S. Patents on gaskets and tubes.[1] Harrison and his wife, Carrie Tracy, an avid gardener,[2] lived in the home with their daughter, Winifred, until 1923.[3]
In 1923, Frederic Felix Curtze (1858-1941),[4] president of the Erie Trust Company,[5] purchased the home and lived at the property until his death in 1941, when his family donated the property and it officially became a museum. Today, the Mansion is owned by the Erie County Historical Society and is operated as a historic house museum.[6] [7]
It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. It is located in the West Sixth Street Historic District.