SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Kasr-el-Nouzia, its creator called it. Palace of Pleasure. Like a pastel gingerbread house iced in medieval French countryside, roofed in Moorish mystique. Tufted, peaked, curlicued, etched — all over a copyrighted 19th-century wooden frame.
Even in the historic racing city known for Victorian mansions, the Batcheller Mansion Inn stands out like a fairy tale palace, a legacy of its creator, George Sherman Batcheller.
"Unlike George, I viewed it, saw it and used it as a house of pleasure," says Bruce Levinksy, owner of what is now a nine-suite inn that is widely considered one of the city's finest places to stay.
Lawyer, legislator, diplomat, entrepreneur, Batcheller was born in 1836 or 1837. He was a descendant of John Batcheller, a judge in the Salem Witch Trials, and Roger Sherman, signer of the Declaration of Independence. His grandfather, Ambrose Batcheller, came to upstate New York by way of Vermont, making a fortune in lumber from the Sacandaga River Valley, an area since named Batchellerville.
A graduate of Yale College and Harvard Law School, he would serve as a precocious New York state assemblyman, Civil War brigadier general, state inspector general and foreign dignitary under four U.S. presidents.
He was on his way home to his palace when he died, in Paris, in 1908.
"He only lived in it two years and then he died," says Doris Lamont, Saratoga Springs archivist. "He barely enjoyed it."
Of all that's known of his life, this house built in 1873 seems to be the rather sober judge's one giant stamp of whimsy. Correspondence reveals he had no affection for the horse racing that now dominates the city's image. He vigorously opposed plans to put a hippodrome in the city's Congress Park.
There's record of only one notable social event taking place at his palace. But for this palace he spared no expense or vision, commissioning architects to design an amalgam of styles from around the world, and especially from the Middle East.
A trademark of Kasr-el-Nouzia is the minaret jutting from the patchwork of roofs — Saratoga's touch of the Arabian. As if to ensure its uniqueness, the plans for the house were secreted away among Albany's state archives.
With Batcheller's only heir a daughter who had no children, the house withered over the generations. In 1971, it narrowly escaped the city wrecking ball.
To re-create the building today would cost more than $3 million, says Levinsky, a Saratoga Springs developer. In the late 1980s, Levinsky purchased Batcheller's dream house for about $400,000. Less than two decades before, the widow who was the last of a string of its owners couldn't get $50,000.
Eugene Turchi, the owner before Levinsky, had managed to get many of the interior charms returned by making a public appeal. Fixtures such as the handcarved newel post at the foot of the mahogany and tiger entry hall staircase were left in the driveway in the middle of the night. Other items were willed back to the house by Mme. Le Seaux, thought to be the lover of Batcheller's daughter, Kate.
During track season —late July through August — Levinsky books solid the inn's nine suites for $250 to $395. But during the off-season, the same suites go for a comparative bargain at $120 to $200.
Off-season can be a wonderful time to visit Saratoga Springs. By no means does the city stop in its downtime; it unclogs. There are still streets full of boutiques, cafes, restaurants and book shops, as well as dance and history museums and steaming mineral baths. The biggest difference is August's traffic exhaust has cleared away and the city resumes its subdued Victorian charm. It's a perfect stopover for skiers, who are only about an hour away from several Adirondack Mountain and Vermont ski slopes.
Carefully following the lines of the house, Levinsky carved out nine suites, varying from well-appointed to elaborate, all with private baths and each with a distinctive personality.
Guests who arrive early enough can explore the unoccupied rooms.
The second-floor Katrina Trask room ($180-$375) is named for a Brooklyn-born socialite. Far from being entirely frivolous, Trask was a writer given mournful themes by fate. The death of her children inspired a volume of poems that went into four editions. Her attachment to a tract of garden she found mystical led to the founding of the Yaddo artists' retreat nearby.
Furnishings in that room include a brocade settee, king-sized canopied bed and private terrace.
It's modest compared to the Diamond Jim Brady ($200-$395) room upstairs.
In edition to the mirrored bath with a whirlpool tub for two, there's a pool table. It was named for Diamond Jim, the illustrious railroad tycoon with the continent-sized appetite.
"We named the room after different Saratoga personalities," explains Sue McCabe, the mansion's live-in innkeeper. "He was a big gambler, and back then he frequented the casinos."
His lady, Lillian Russell, is namesake of another room, as are Lucy Scribner Skidmore, William Collins Whitney, Richard Canfield and Rip Van Dam.
The common areas are laden with Victorian detail.
Guests settle on the sofas, carefully nibbling on home-baked cookies as they flip through an extensive selection of books. Everything gleams — the chandeliers, gothic sofas, mahogany fireplaces, plush Asian rugs, and polished parquet floors. Though Levinsky refers to it as a professionally staffed inn, it is run with the familiar charm of a bed-and-breakfast, with a morning meal included in the tab.
On the net: www.batchellermansioninn.com