The history of the mansion owned by the Langdons Mark Twain’s in-laws in Elmira – Elmira Star-Gazette

Diane Janowski, Special to Elmira Star-Gazette Published 6:01 a.m. ET May 3, 2021

I wrote about the demise of the Langdon home in the Nov. 3, 2017 edition of the Star-Gazette. I have some more to report.

Before COVID-19, I had coffee with a group of friends every Friday morning at Steve Seabergs State Farm insurance office in Langdon Plaza. Sometimes we wondered which part of the Langdon Mansion we were sitting in.

After a sleepless night last month with a lot of thinking, I got up to find a floor plan of the old mansion and overlay it on todays Langdon Plaza to see what was what.

The Langdon Mansion is well documented by stereographic views dating from 1878 to 1880. The surviving furniture and decorative accessories are preserved at the Chemung County Historical Society and Quarry Farm, east of Elmira.

The Langdon Mansion floorplan from the 1903 Sanborn map overlayed onto a current map.(Photo: Provided)

Jervis Langdon was born in 1809 in Vernon, New York. He moved to Elmira in 1845 from Millport with his wife, Olivia. Jervis was interested in the lumber industry and made much money in his endeavors. By 1860, the family had enormous wealth, from lumber and then anthracite coal.

The family had three children: Olivia who later married Samuel Clemens, our Mark Twain Charlesand Susan. The Langdon home had two servants in 1860, Mary Lewis and Catherine Mahon, both from Ireland.

The family lived in several Elmira locations before purchasing a lot in 1862 near Main and Church streets owned by Anson Ely. In 1865, Jervis bought the corner lot that had a modest but elegant Greek Revival residence. As the house was not big enough, Jervis built an addition and remodeled the whole place as Italianate.

The north side of the Langdon home showing the early house with the new house and the circular driveway.(Photo: Provided)

Remodeled is the word they used. In my opinion, they built a whole big new house attached to the older smaller house. The result was a three-story mansion exceptional for Elmira and filled with the latest fashionable furniture. An architect adorned the brownstone home with a pedimented pavilion in front, bays on both sides, and a telescoping arrangement of wings. Around the back were a carriage house and a greenhouse. The architect was likely Andrew J. Warner, of Rochester. Warner was known for his wide porches that featured a central arch opening.

The inside of the house was commissioned to Pottier and Stymus, a new furniture and design firm in New York City, who were to do the cabinets, decorating, painting, carpets, curtainsand handmade wood furniture. The firm had notable clients.

The Langdon drawing room was the largest and most elaborate of all the rooms. The furniture was ebonized cherry embellished with gilt-bronze mounts and medallions. Pottier and Stymus borrowed forms from aristocratic French furniture. The decorators demonstrated Langdons good taste. In later years after Jervis died, Olivia continued to use Pottier and Stymus to create new furniture suites for several bedrooms.

The drawing room of the Langdon Mansion.(Photo: Provided/Mark Twain House & Museum)

Olivia continued to live at 303 N. Main St.until she died in 1890. The house went to son Charles. Charles and his wife, Ida, made changes in 1890.

The house was demolished in 1939, and Langdon Plaza opened in 1940.

So, back to the 1903 floor plan and todays layout. If you visit Steve Seabergs office in Langdon Plaza, please note that you are standing in the Langdon kitchen.

For lots more information about this subject, please seeThe Jervis Langdon Residence in Elmira, New York by Walter G. Ritchie in Mark Twain Journal56, no. 1 (2018), atjstor.org/stable/45173256.

Diane Janowski is the Elmira city historian. Her column appears monthly.

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The history of the mansion owned by the Langdons Mark Twain's in-laws in Elmira - Elmira Star-Gazette