Scarsdale’s ‘Halloween house’ is for sale; same family lived here since 1962 – The Journal News

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Everyone in Greenacres knew the house because of the elaborate decorations home owner Inga Olson cooked up each Halloween.

In the annals of luxury real estate in Westchester, Scarsdale has a reputation as the king of tear downs, with wealthy buyers pulling down historic houses from the 1920s, 30s and 40s to build bigger dream homes in their place.

Many times with these old houses in Scarsdale someone gets their hands on them and knocks them down, saysAgnes Seminara-Holzberg, who is now representing Inga Olson and Brad Bodine, in the sale of their 1914 Georgian Colonial, which has seven bedrooms, six bathrooms and 6,550 square feet of interior space.

Inga Olson grew up in this 1914 Georgian Colonial in Scarsdale. The home has seven bedrooms, six bathrooms and 6,550 square feet of interior space. Every part of this house has a memory for me, Olson says.(Photo: Kyle Nolon/VHT Studios)

It turns out that Olson grew up in the house, which is in the Greenacres neighborhood, and she and her husband had undertaken a major renovation and expansion of the old charmer in 2004.

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Seminara-Holzberghas nothing but praise for the work the couple did on the house, as they doubled its square footage with a new master suite and open-plan family room/kitchen while keeping her father in his old master bedroom. They also added a new garage with a lot more space than the one designed to hold a Model T.

They adopted it, they modernized it, expanded it and saved it,Seminara-Holzberg says. But they stayed true to the older home and mimicked it in the 2014 addition its a house that has evolved.

This Scarsdale house was designed by Charles H. Cullen, the architect who designed the Scarsdale Golf Club.(Photo: Kyle Nolon/VHT Studios)

Renovating an older house takes a lot more money than knocking it down and starting over, she adds.

For Olson, the decision to sell the home shes lived in since she was a toddler is both obvious and painful.

This house is humongous and the taxes are ridiculous, she says. It kills me I grew up in the house, raised my family here, took care of my parents here.

Every part of this house has a memory for me, Olson says. Its like pulling off a Band-Aid really slowly. I love this house, everything about it.

But their two children are now grown and the house is just too big for the couple, she says. Literally, we live in two rooms.

I mean, when it takes you 10 minutes to answer the door, you know its time, she adds with a laugh.

Richard and Maribeth Olson bought the house in 1962. Their daughter, Inga has lived here her whole life. She and her husband renovated and remodeled her childhood home.(Photo: Kyle Nolon/VHT Studios)

The house was designed by Charles H. Cullen, the architect who designed the Scarsdale Golf Club and some of the buildings in the Gansevoort Market in Manhattans Meatpacking District.

Her parents, Richard and Maribeth Olson, bought it in 1962 when Inga was a year old. Her father was an art director and freelance commercial photographer whose clients include Kodak, Jell-O, Ford and Prudential Life Insurance. Maribeth was a fashion illustrator for the likes of Lord & Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bonwit Teller.

After she died in 2000, my dad asked us to buy the house so he could stay there, Olson says. They kept him in his original bedroom until his death in 2012.

This Scarsdale house was designed by Charles H. Cullen, the architect who designed the Scarsdale Golf Club.(Photo: Kyle Nolon/VHT Studios)

The first thing we did was a complete renovation of the original house, starting in 2002, she says. It was in such bad repair, including rotting beams from termite damage.

We did everythingnew plumbing, new wiring, all new windows, a new roof, new shingles, new walls, Olson remembers.

Richard and Maribeth Olson bought the house in 1962. Their daughter, Inga has lived here her whole life. She and her husband renovated and remodeled her childhood home.(Photo: Kyle Nolon/VHT Studios)

One of her favorite rooms in the old part of the house is the glass sunroom off the living room. We used it more when I was growing up, she says. My father had a green thumb and he grew palm trees and lemon trees.

Shes also crazy about the elevator they installed because of her fathers hip replacement surgery.

Now my husband and I wonder how can we live anywhere else without an elevator, Olson says. When my dog comes back from a walk, he passes out in front of the elevator waiting for me to open it.

Architectural details in this classic Scarsdale colonial include crown moldings, dormers, original pantry cabinets, generously proportioned rooms, hardwood floors, 10- to 13-foot ceilings and French doors.(Photo: Kyle Nolon/VHT Studios)

The house has an array of other amenities, including two fireplaces, a gym and sauna, a high-end audio system, a four-car heated garage, a covered patio and a second-floor balcony overlooking the large back yard.

Architectural details include crown moldings, dormers, original pantry cabinets, generously proportioned rooms, hardwood floors, 10- to 13-foot ceilings, French doors, wide doorways and beamed ceilings. The master suite has a walk-in closet and a spa bathroom.

Its just kind of sweet to live as an adult in the house you grew up in, Olson says. My son has my old room, my fathers room is now the guest room.

She remembers her old tree house, sledding in the back yard, always taking the stairs to her room two at a time, and the way the upstairs floorboards creak when you step on them in a certain way.

When I grew up, you played outside, so I knew the ins and outs of every yard in the neighborhood, Olson says.

For a number of years, everyone in Greenacres and surrounding towns knew her house as the Halloween House because of the elaborate decorations and scary live-action drama Olson cooked up.

Im guessing we got around 750 to 1000 trick-or-treaters, along with two Scarsdale cops to direct traffic in front of the house, she says.

The house is quite near the Greenacres School and walkable to the Hartsdale train station,Seminara-Holzberg says.

Prices in the neighborhood and the houses immediate vicinity tend to be $2.5 million-plus,she says.

At 0.61 acres, its the sixth-largest plot of the 25 Greenacres homes currently on the market,Seminara-Holzbergsays.

Unusual for Scarsdale,she says, the house has three complete levels that are all above ground, with no true basement.

Meanwhile, given Scarsdales history, Olson worries about the future of her wonderful old home. Im afraid that whoever we sell it to will tear it down.

This home in the Greenacres neighborhood of Scarsdale is known as the "Halloween house" for its annual decorations. It is on the market for $3.4M(Photo: Kyle Nolon/VHT Studios)

75 Huntington Ave., Scarsdale

Price: $3.4 million

Estimated annual taxes: $50,108

School district: Scarsdale

MLS: 6039854

Contact:Agnes Seminara-Holzberg,William Pitt and Julia B. Fee Sothebys International Realty

Bill Cary is a freelance writer who lives in the Hudson Valley.

Homeowner Inga Olson and her family are the current owners of the home. Inga grew up here and provided some interesting history of her family home's prior owners:

Mary and Sumner Ross Hollander (around 1915-1920): The couple werethe first owners of the home and was used as their country estate. Sumner'sgrandfather foundedL.P. Hollander, a large furnishing goods firm in Boston. The senior Mr. Hollander sent his grandson to New York City to runits department store at 3 E. 57th St.

Robert andMarion Wormser (around 1920-1936). They were the second owners. Wormer'sdaughters were socialites and there are fun articles about the parties they attended. One daughtermarried Lyman Bloomingdale, one of the brothers who founded the Bloomingdales Department store. (The Bloomingdale estate was just up the road from our house) another sister married a Guggenheim.

Harold and Beatrice Shevers (around 1936-54). Harold Shevers wasPresident of the Apsey Manufacturing Company, Inc.

Franklyn (Dyke) and Catherine Brown (around1954-1962). Dyke worked as the Vice President of the Ford Foundation, and later started the Athenian School near San Francisco.

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Scarsdale's 'Halloween house' is for sale; same family lived here since 1962 - The Journal News