Showcases in 1912. Up the mouth of Pleasant Valley on a 350-acre estate with the Winona landmark Sugarloaf sentinel-like across the valley. No expense was soared: Interior doors were solid San Domingo mahogany.
Foot chase eds Winona mansion foray
HOMER, Minn. — Police caught six intruders at the abandoned Briarcombe mansions after dark, apparently exploring the historic structures uninvited after dark. Police said at least two of them, perhaps four, had managed their way inside. In any event, four scattered into the into the dark Briarcombe woods. Police rounded them up after foot chases. Ticketed for trespassing and fleeing, all from Wisconsin, were:
> Zachariah Rogge, age 18, of Eau Claire.
> Noah Erickson, 18, of Independence.
> 17-year-old boy, from Trempealeau.
> 14-year-old boy, from Chippewa Falls.
Standing outside at a second vehicle and cited for trespassing were:
> Ava Davis, 19, of Winona.
> A boy, 15, from Winona.
The Briarcombe mansions, built in 1912, are matched side-by-side homes on a secluded estate. Originally each had 11,500 square feet, eight bedrooms and six bathrooms. They are at 22571 Briarcombe Lane on tbe backside of Bridges golf course. One mansion has been partially dismantled. The other, although also abandoned, has been preserved. It last sold in 2013 for $875,000. There usually is a watchman on the premises. Burglaries have been frequent over the years. The latest incursion appears more in the spirit of the growing albeit spooky and dangerous game of urban exploration adventuring.
No expense spared
Brothers-in-law Samuel Prentiss, a Winona banker, and Fredrick Bell, a lumber mill owner, built the mansions for their wives — the sisters Maude and Francis of the Laird lumbering family. The sisters, after being widowed, continued living in mansions into their spindly years, each keeping to her own mansion, There was a connecting tunnel underground. The estate originally included a dairy and an orchard. It also featured the first outside swimming pool in Minnesota. The pool was built in 1913.