Governor's Mansion in downtown Harrisburg

[Hopes]

I like the idea of the governor living among the people.

[Gerania]

Originally Posted by 1timbo1

The Governor's Mansion seems like it's own little gated community that takes up an entire city block. I love going on jogs around that area and have the guards stare me down from their posts. It would really be nice if they patrolled the area around it, because it's not very friendly.

That cheapo house you're referring to could have many, many issues. First of all, that area is very flood prone. Just look at some of the Agnes pictures and you may think twice about moving to that block of Penn Street, it could have major structural issues. Second, I'd personally have an issue with townhomes tightly packed along an alley street which barely has room for one line of parked cars. Third, that area is filled with low income rentals, so I guess to address the OP, yes the Governor lives in a slum. The redevelopment is mostly occurring south of Maclay, specifically the 1800/1900 Blocks of 2nd/Penn/Green/Susquehanna/3rd.

Honestly if I had the money right now I'd rather buy a 60-80K home south of Maclay, towards HACC. I think there's a lot of potential there. However, the uptown area will take a lot longer to turn around.

That's what I was thinking. I wouldn't buy a home in an alley in that neighborhood.

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by alleghenyangel

Well, Atlanta and Harrisburg are not exactly in the same league.. Granted, they are both capital cities, but that is where the comparisons end. The population of Harrisburg is less than 50k people, whereas Atlanta is the unofficial capital of the South, and a metro of over 5 million people.

When these mansions were built 45 years ago Pennsylvania was twice the population of Georgia, and all of Georgia had fewer than 5 million people.

I guess that whatever process that went into locating the governors mansion led one state to put it downtown, and the other to locate it in the boondocks. I am sure that neighborhood (10 miles from downtown) wasn't quite that pricey in the late 60's. Robert Foster Maddox , mayor from 1909 – 1911 had an estate out there.

It appears that you are not alone in not wanting this big estate. It went on the market for $25 million in October 2009 and is still for sale for $20 million.

My brother has a contract to do some home networking on a home called “Le Rêve” in Cumming GA. The home cost $50 million to build and was sold by the bank for $11.5 million in foreclosure. So in general, I am not sure that these mega mansions are good investments.

Frankly, given that kind of money, it would be more fun to have two or three apartments in different cities, than to have a home with an acre of square footage. There is one guy dubbed, "the homeless billionaire" who just owns a jet and stays in nice hotels.

[PreservationPioneer]

Originally Posted by PacoMartin

When these mansions were built 45 years ago Pennsylvania was twice the population of Georgia, and all of Georgia had fewer than 5 million people.

Population of Atlanta in 1970: 496,973 (higher than its current population, btw)

Population of Harrisburg in 1970: 68,061

Besides being the state capital, Harrisburg was not necessarily the dominant city in its region. It's too close to larger, more significant cities such as Philly and Baltimore. Even within central / eastern PA, it was historically overshadowed by larger cities such as Reading. Atlanta has been the dominant city in Georgia and the South for a very long time. You'd have to go back well over a hundred years to find a time when a city like Savannah (much more comparable to Harrisburg than Atlanta, being smaller and the first state capital of Georgia) was the dominant city. The question should really be why Harrisburg does not compare more favorably to Savannah than it does. I think the reason is that in PA there are so many historic, urban cities, whereas Savannah is more unique within its region. Architecturally, they have more in common than you would expect.

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by alleghenyangel

Population of Atlanta in 1970: 496,973
Population of Harrisburg in 1970: 68,061

Besides being the state capital, Harrisburg was not necessarily the dominant city in its region.

Atlanta had 7 times the population in 16 times the area. Harrisburg was still twice as dense.


But Pennsylvania was the 3rd largest state in 1970 behind NY and CA. There was a conscious decision to build the governor's mansion in the middle of a crowded city very close to the capital, while Georgia chose to build in a remote location miles from downtown.

One would also expect the Governor's Mansion to reflect the economic power and prestige of the State, and not the capital city. That said, the century old Governor's Mansion in Alaska is pretty large considering the territory had roughly 60K people when it was built