The Ashcroft Residence on Fairmont Circle

The Ashcroft family moved into the Fairmont Circle residence in 1930 after banker Harold Ashcroft commissioned the newly completed house overlooking the neighborhood intersection. Harold, his wife Eleanor, their two daughters, and Harold’s widowed mother occupied the three-story home, supported by income from a respected regional savings bank. Local newspapers described the residence as a symbol of confidence during uncertain times, blending traditional Federal proportions with fashionable Art Deco detailing.

For several years the house remained carefully maintained, with every room regularly occupied and household accounts kept in meticulous order.

The first clear warning came in late 1932 when the family’s bank entered receivership after mounting loan losses during the Depression. Harold dismissed the housekeeper, closed the upper guest floor, and postponed repairs to leaking roof sections and damaged windows. Property taxes accumulated while legal proceedings tied up remaining assets. Following Harold’s death from illness in 1935, disagreements between relatives delayed any sale. By 1937, foreclosure ended the family’s ownership, and the remaining furnishings were left behind when Eleanor moved with her daughters to live with relatives.

The Ashcroft Residence has stood vacant since 1937. Auction records show that no purchaser completed plans to restore or occupy the property, and ownership changed repeatedly through unresolved financial claims. Maintenance ceased entirely, allowing moisture, seasonal weather, and gradual structural settling to affect the once-elegant interior. The family never returned, the legal disputes quietly faded from public attention, and no rehabilitation followed. Today the house remains empty above Fairmont Circle, its rooms preserved by neglect while the building continues its slow deterioration with no settled future.