A bit of history on today's "Pillar Manors"
President, Kathy Flanders

Excerpts taken from an article written for Manchester Magazine, written by Christina Cassotis/June 1989

"Every day residents and visitors of Manchester, NH drive by the two most stately buildings on Hanover Street and wonder about their history and interiors. Something about those magnificent white pillars of (what was originally known as) The Belmont and of The Milton takes one's mind on a journey back to the turn of the century: to horse-drawn carriages driving along cobble-stone streets of the bustling Queen City.

Perhaps a wealthy eccentric businessman with a penchant for things BIG built one mansion for himself and the other for his children's nanny with whom he had a decades-long affair. Or maybe these served as the final dressing rooms for many of the Queen City's prominent citizens. Could it be that on one suspected funerals were such big business and the second building was erected to handle the volume? Both guesses would be wrong. The structures are today what they were 85 years ago: apartment buildings.

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These photos © Chase McNiss

Edwin L. Gresley built the apartment buildings in 1904, 10 years after he built what is now 495-497 Hanover St., his private residence for years. His daughter is said to have lived in The Belmont. There is no doubt that Gresley did a top job using quality materials both inside and out. Something happened to the lovely buildings between 1904 and 1979: The 50's. The Formica Era. Suddenly no one wanted handcrafted yellow pine kitchen cabinets. And no one wanted that old wallpaper left over from the 40's, so it was papered over. And then came The 60's. And crecalite, that pretty pressboard with a Formica finish in bright pink or bright aqua, both patterned with white snowflakes. And more wallpaper or maybe a few coats of paint. By the time the 70's hit, these sister buildings were two six-family buildings of wall-to-wall tackiness with overgrown juniper plants outside. The enormous Corinthian pillars on each building were literally coming apart at the seams.

During the initial renovations done by the previous owner, removed were five, maybe six layers of paint and wallpaper in the bedrooms, living room, and dining room. Five weeks alone were spent on scraping the lumber in those rooms. The crecalite kitchen and pantry walls are no more. The canvas ceilings have been replaced with sheetrock. The original headings and dentil moldings have been replicated for placement above the bare doorways from where they'd been removed. The window casings have been scraped, sanded to perfection, shellacked and then varnished. All the windows have had the metal glides revamped with steel wool and the original ropes have been replaced with brass chains. They made sure every window goes up and down smoothly and every latch and door handle has been polished so the brass shines. The stained glass windows in the dining room and stairwells have been re-puttied and lovingly cared for as best possible. Kitchen cabinet doors have been re-milled and new counter space created in the pantry. The bathrooms also got face-lifted including new floors, wallpaper, brass faucets, light fixtures and towel racks. Storage space was enhanced and enlarged."