TERRACE HILL: A Descendants View

By James Hubbell, III

2005

F.M. Hubbell had a good eye for real estate and for bargains. Terrace Hill was then, and still is, great real estate, but I’ll bet F.M. Hubbell didnt consider it a bargain when it took four plus years to build, from 1865 to early 1869. I’m guessing that as he watched B.F. Allen build Terrace Hill, F.M. shook his head and said, “What a great location, what a view, what a beautiful site, best piece of property in the state!” I’m sure he looked at the house and commented on its three stories, brick walls, towers and porches. He would have admired the wonderful woods, the oversize doors, the many rooms. Then he would have said, “I’m glad I’m not paying for this.”

Fast-forward 15 years Terrace Hill was still great real estate, but by then, it was a bargain as well. A bargain that I suspect very few people wanted to take advantage of. By that time, B.F. Allen was bankrupt. And while Terrace Hill had cost approximately $250,000 to build, the bankruptcy estate sold it for $55,000, after it sat on the market for 10 years. Why? What was the problem? I think the answers then were the same answers you would get today. The size of Terrace Hill and the complexity and expense of operating it would have been significant. Only a man of substantial wealth could have undertaken the responsibility, and only a man who saw the opportunity to buy for pennies on the dollar a property that was clearly the best real estate in the state would have done so.

F.M. Hubbell loved Terrace Hill. I don’t think he ever begrudged the house a single dollar of the many he invested in it. I think he was pleased to have the opportunity to live in such a fine house, at such a fine address, and in such a great city. I think F.M. Hubbell considered Terrace Hill to be the best bargain he ever found.

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James Hubbell, III, is a great-great grandson of F.M. Hubbell. He has worked for more than 30 years for Hubbell Realty Company, which was founded by F.M. Hubbell to manage his real estate, including Terrace Hill. He is a member of the Terrace Hill Commission, appointed by Governor Tom Vilsack.

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