You Can Be The Ruler of This Upstate NY Scottish Castle

You can make the dream of being the Queen or King of the castle a reality. Tucked away in 45 Owasco Street in Auburn, the structure deemed "The Castle" can be your chance at living your fantasy.

There's a lot of history in "The Castle." According to New York Upstate, the home was built in 1870. The 3,400-square-foot Gothic revival mansion served as the home of Auburn Woolen Mill Superintendent Samuel Laurie and his wife, Jeannie (McAllister) Laurie. They had 10 children, three who died as infants.

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Samuel Laurie apprenticed to a manufacturer of woolen goods and developed a solid business sense. He came to the United States as a poor young man. He studied and applied his knowledge to gain a reputation as a woolen manufacturer during the 1850s. By 1868, he served as superintendent of a mill in Rhode Island. In the same year, Laurie came to Auburn to review the Woolen mill’s operations and it later grew successful under his management.

Though most refer to the structure as "The Castle" now, locals used to call it “The Auburn Castle.” It had four main bedrooms, two servants’ quarters, one bathroom, a library, a parlor, a kitchen with a butler’s pantry and its own stairway, a main staircase, and a carriage house.

In 1890, Laurie's wife died in the home. The Panic of 1893, a national economic crisis, caused Laurie to lose the Auburn Woolen and Canoga mills, along with his home. Soon after, the house was purchased by a new family, and so even more history begins.

The Castle housed several more of the mill’s superintendents before the Pastushan family bought it in 1929. They owned it for more than 85 years. While residing in the home, Nicholas and Mary Pastushan turned the carriage house into an auto painting shop and gas station, Quick as a Wink Oil Co., in the 1930s. The Pastushans left the house to their daughter Virginia Dewey.

Current owner, Patrick Connelly, purchased the home from Dewey for $40,000. Taxes for the three parcels (castle, carriage house, empty lot) in 2019 were $3,078.70. The assessment on the three parcels in 2019 was $113,999.

Now, Connelly is partnering with real estate broker Michael DeRosa with an online auction for the property. The auction closes Oct. 1, at 7 p.m. Eastern. None of the previous owners have altered the property, keeping all the original woodwork, bookcases, doors and more. "The Castle" is eligible for placement if the buyer chooses to have it registered in the  National Register of Historic Places.

“I decided to go with the auction approach because I believe that these types of properties are best suited for auction given that there are no true comparables for the Castle which to base an accurate fair market value appraisal,” DeRosa said.

Starting bid is at $25,000. To view more photos of the castle in its entirety with more history, click here.