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Shingle-Style Architecture at Elm Court

The last stop on Bob Vila�s Berkshire Hills cottage tours is the largest shingle style home in America, the Elm Court mansion built by William Douglas Sloane and Emily Vanderbilt Sloane in 1886. Elm Court will play host to the final three Bob Vila�s Home Again episodes this season. Over the years it has had some adaptive reuse but no outright conversions and remains a family home. It began as a 17,000 square foot home but is now 70,000 square feet in size. The house has been occupied by as many as 70 family members. Its current owner, the great-great grandson of the original owners, has started a painstaking restoration of the home to make it both livable and useful for the community.

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Tour of the Gilded Cottages of the Berkshire Hills Now Playing

Tour of the Gilded Cottages of the Berkshire Hills

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Shingle-Style Architecture at Elm Court

Touring Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts Now Playing

Touring Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts

Interior Tour of Modular Home Now Playing

Interior Tour of Modular Home

Home Structured Wiring Explained Now Playing

Home Structured Wiring Explained

Clip Transcript For:

Shingle-Style Architecture at Elm Court

computer-generated transcript - may not be 100% accurate

" This is elm court it was built by William Douglas Sloane and his bride Emily Vanderbilt in 1886. And it's a wonderful example of preservation. Some adaptive reuse but not necessarily converting a building into a school or performing arts center this is still a family home. We're going to be taking a closer look in the the next few weeks at how it's being salvaged but let me tell you a little bit about what you're looking at here this is a shingle style house. And it is the largest shingle style house in America. It started out as a 17000. Square foot home that grew to 70000. And over the course of the years when the family summer here sometimes there were seventy members of the family in residence in fact they added a wing here which is known as the bachelor's wing. And part of it has been restored on this side. This side really looks wonderful withdraw its turrets and the portico -- and all the different roof line to setter but over here you still see some of the shingle work that. Has survived although it still needs a little bit of restoration the most interesting thing that I think we'll find here is the fact that the fourth generation. Descended the great great grandson. Of the original owners has managed to get Ahold of the property again. And he and his young wife and their three daughters are residing here they're turning it into a facility where people can come and get married people come and stay but they're also doing a real hands on restoration of the whole property working at it themselves."

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