The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-03-15

MoNrcf.ArR, N. J., March 14.--Work-
men this week began razing the man
oion erected on South Fullerton ave-
nue. twenty-five years ago by Col. Will
lam rellowes. The house. which was
enc Of the most conspicuous and best
known In Montclair. because OF its
Iarge sise and interesting history. was
Oold to the. wreckers for about $500.
Although the interior was not COM
yleted, the building cost Col. Fellowes
$4,000. The Scottish red sandstone
used In the wallis Of the building has
beon purchased by the Cedar Avenue
Isisbyterian congregation, which will
0pely II to the construction Of n new
ehtfch which II will erect this spring.
The church society has also purchased
Cor use in the construction Of its new
Building the red Spanish tile from the
reef Of the Fellowes mansion. 1t is
oaid that this tile. which made the
ysllowes mansion a conspicuous object
Or miles and which was manufactured
especially for Col Fellowes, cost over
$500, or six times the amount paid
BIZ the housewreckers for the entire
building.
The site Of the mansion will be &C.
cupied by two large four story apart
mont houses of the best type, to be
erected by Fairchild h Baldwin, who
three years ago erected on plot ada
cent to the Fellowes property the first
sskyscraper" apartment house ever
built 10 Montclair.
The history OF the Fellowes mansion
y we'll known in Montclair. where the
building has been an object Of consid-
cradle interest. No person except an
occasional caretaker ever lived In the
big house. When Col. Fellowes planned
the building he intended 1t as a home
for himself. his wife and daughter. He
WAS then at the height OF his prosper
fly a. q cotton broker in Wall Street.
Coincident with the termination Of his
ideA to construct in Montclair house
that would long serve az a monument
% his commercial success he gave to
the people OF st. Lukes Episcopal par
ish Q valuable plot Of land at South
Fullerton avenue and Union street. ad-
accent to the site Of his proposed home.
On this piece Of land the parish erected
- INV C0luCCp ~ ON>ophSo tc-ooy
Nearly q, year after Col Fellowes
started the construction Of what he in
tsUded to be his home he met with seri-
oh financial reverses In Wall Street.
III fortune that he had accumulated
bye daring raids In the cotton market
W(p reduced to nothing by one back
W1ed swing Of the pendulum OF specu-
la()on that was making and unmaking
other millionaires at the same time.
c.. Fellowes's creditors seized on his
A9ntclair property. and he. broken in
health and fortune, went South, where
het died within a year.
At the time Col. Fellowes went under
lnsWall Street the big house on South
Fullerton avenue was nearing compile
~ The exterior was finished and
ogtpenters and decorators had begun
thD interior work. The owners fnan-
Gig failure put stop to operations on
III mansion and II was never COM
pllted. Almost every other year dur
inG the past quarter OF a century the
big house changed owners. but each
successive proprietor lacked the cour-
40 to carry out the design OF the orig
inAl owner. All felt that the cost o!
carrying out the scheme OF interior dec
Grafton inaugurated by Col. Fellowes
would be prohibitive il the property
was to be looked upon as a good invest
ment. SO each owner in his turn held
on q while. hoping to sell the property
At q profit to some millionaire who
could emulate Fellowess ideas in home
building.
No such extravagant client appeared