The once stately mansion house on Saginaw's south side was home to a wealthy mid-Michigan lumber baron and later an actress. Today it sits a lonely occupant on an overgrown lawn along a crumbling street in a stereotypical Michigan rust belt city.

The Charles Lee mansion is has also likely seen its last days. The Saginaw City Council has voted to raze the home. According to the Saginaw News,

the time is coming to say goodbye to the 142-year-old lumber baron mansion located at the edge of Saginaw's downtown.

The Saginaw City Council, in a 4-3 vote Monday, April 25, resolved to demolish the historic though blighted property in order to make room for future development in the area.

Saginaw Mayor Dennis Browning explained why he supported a motion to demolish made by Councilman Michael Balls during the "miscellaneous business" section of Monday's Council meeting.

"With the progress we are starting to see in the city of Saginaw, as much as I'd like to keep some of the historical buildings, many of them need to come down," Browning said. "The opportunity for that particular house has been there for a long, long time."

The city has owned the property since 2011.

An interesting historical note -when the home was built in 1874, it wasn't in the city of Saginaw at all, rather the adjacent city of East Saginaw which was consolidated into Saginaw, a separate city across the river, in 1890.

See The Property and Inside the Mansion

Before the building becomes just a mid-Michigan memory, MLive ventured inside to film. Sadly at the end you hear one of the tour participants remarking on the craftsmanship of the property. Seeing the outside of this home, it's easy to remember 'they just don't make 'em like they used to.'

Here's a look around the property from YouTuber and historian Dennis Morrison.

 

More From 107.7 WRKR-FM