A Westwood Mansion Shrouded in Mystery

This 1911 Harrison Avenue home, owned by undertaker Henry Borgmann, has a past worthy of an Agatha Christie novel.
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2805 Harrison Avenue

Photograph courtesy of Comey & Shepherd Realtors

This 1911 Harrison Avenue home has a past worthy of an Agatha Christie novel. Not only was it once owned by Henry Borgmann, an undertaker at the former Busse and Borgmann Funeral Home on Central Parkway, the wife of its second owner, Drucilla Stroube, was shot with a revolver in the home’s den in the summer of 1947. “Police called it suicide,” says current day listing agent Mary Bryan, “but her family said she was murdered.” The coroner sided with them. Either way, the gun was never found and “the case was never solved,” Bryan says—a real life game of Clue in a mansion that could easily double as the classic board game’s elaborate estate.

Photograph courtesy of Comey & Shepherd Realtors

Today, the home has been outfitted with brand new mechanicals and windows, plus a gleaming third floor guest suite (including a sizable kitchen with a granite-topped island), but the rest of the home’s interiors are in need of “substantial finish work,” Bryan says. Unique features include original stained ornamental woodwork, intricate built-in cabinetry, and inlaid hardwood floors. If you’re in the market for a fixer-upper with a really cool backstory and some beautiful historic features, this just may be the house for you.

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