Charles H. Owsley designed the Buhl mansion, and he festooned it with every doodad in the Richardsonian Romanesque vocabulary. His festooning was done with taste, however, and the dormers, turrets, arches, and other outcroppings all make a harmonious composition.
A generously sized porte cochere always makes a good impression on visitors.
The grand staircase is always the central feature of a millionaire’s mansion, and the one in the Buhl mansion is not a disappointment.
The huge stained-glass window on the landing is not the original; it is a replacement added when the house was rescued and renovated in 1996.
A somewhat less grand staircase continues up to the third floor.
Frank H. Buhl gave this club for the innocent recreation of the men of Sharon, so they would not have to spend their evenings in saloons drinking and getting into even worse trouble. As the Buhl Community Recreation Center, it is still going; it now admits women as well. The original building was put up in 1902; the architect was Buhl’s favorite, Charles H. Owsley of Owsley & Boucherle in Youngstown.1
The grandest house in Sharon, the Buhl mansion was built for Frank H. Buhl, owner of the Sharon Iron Works and de facto lord of Sharon. Buhl had his favorite architect, Charles H. Owsley, design the house. We’ll see much more of it, but here are a few moody pictures at twilight on a snowy evening.
