Beem Mansion

The David Enoch Beem House, also known as Beem Mansion or The Hill, at 635 West Hillside Avenue in Spencer will be one of two homes on the Owen County Preservations Home Tour Sunday May 7th. The Beem Mansion was added to the national registry of historical places July 13, 1989. The 1850s Italianate architectural style house was completed in 1874. Current owner, Dr. William M Dugan Jr., purchased the house in 1985 and the house underwent restoration soon afterward including restoring the tower. The now fully restored house and grounds are maintained by care taker Mike Bruner. The house’s style of architecture borrows heavily from France and is marked by mansard roofs, which are steeply sloping roofs punctuated with windows, and asymmetry. The large two story T-plan brick dwelling sits on a rusticated Indiana limestone foundation with arched openings framed in limestone.

At the time of the Beem Mansion’s construction the architect, who also built another home on south Pottersville Road, was said to communicate between the two home using mirrors as both homes where at the highest points in the area.