Large old stone house outside of Lafargeville on Route 180, submitted anonymously
Update 03/06/08: Unfortunately this entire building has been torn down.  The only thing that remains is the wind mill tower (still turning). See pic below.

Comment from submitter: Anonymous writes "I believe this is the backside of the house. It is located on the left side as you drive from Stone Mills to Lafargeville."  According to an e-mail from 'Eric' the house belonged the Bretsch family when he was young, and the family had a huge dairy barn to the right of the house (see photos of ruins below).

Comment: I inquired of the historian Bonnie Schafer about this building, she writes: "The house was called the William Martin Mansion at one time. John Lafarge transferred a little over 217 acres to William and Sophronia Martin on June 7 1830. The stone house was quarried from nearby native limestone, had 11 rooms, 2 large hallways and fireplaces. Mr Martin was supervisor of town of Orleans.
The property passed a few time, Delano Calvin and heirs owned it at one time. In 1882 the stone house and farm was conveyed to Wendel Hyel and transferred to Georgiania Jerome on Nov 20 1922. Its been in the Jerome family every since. From my understanding no one has lived in the house since early 1970. I checked with the town clerk too, its listed under Manford and Lousie Jerome.
In 1990 while out biking we heard a very loud noise from the building as we
passed by... a closer look we found that the stair case had collapsed."

Comments: *One account mentions that when the stone part of the mansion was demolished the stone (likely crushed of course) was used for a base for Route 180.
*A person previously wrote: "The one across from the farm has an underground tunnel to the big high house across the road, next to the barn.  It was part of the underground railroad.  The cellar has collapsed onto the tunnel." 

Date unknown
The above excellent old postcard is courtesy of Eric and shows the intact LaFarge Mansion  

Comment: Eric, who lived there as a kid, writes: "The original mansion had 40 (one article says 42 - M.) rooms. The wing we lived in had only a few rooms. I visited the house in the 1970's when it was still standing but empty. The ceilings were 13 feet high and the windows were long, almost to the floor, and the walls were 4 feet thick. One could sit in the window seats. The windows were framed in wood and there were shutters inside."

 

Taken on 01/11/07 Charred remains

Comments: *Raymond Lowe, the fire chief of Clayton FD says: "It was a grand old house and was fully engulfed by the time we arrived. As a side note, there was a tree in the center of the house that was growing when she caught on fire."
*From TaylorBell (via Flickr.com): "Wow, that house has some serious character."
*From Virgi French (via Flickr.com): "oh my!! you could huff and puff and this beauty might tumble down. ;-)"
*From bud_0000000 (via Flickr.com): "Your Image Truly Is Wonderful"
*From keenturtle (via Flickr.com): "This is amazing.  Excellent find.  It lives on!!"
*From ford2n2003 (via Flickr.com): "Awesome!!!"
*From prissy_tom_boy (via Flickr.com): "just gorgeous!!! "old and beautiful" group thanks for sharing it!"
*From annahLa (chronically backlogged) (via Flickr.com): "So sad it's gone! But this is a wonderful photo-- glad you captured it! 
Seen in "old and Beautiful" group."
*From JJKDC (via Flickr.com): "Wow. Just a gorgeous old house...."
*From lelyha (via Flickr.com): "Your Image Truly Is Wonderful"
*From mm.northwoods (via Flickr.com): "~Wow Esta es una Foto Impresionante! La ví en"