The blue cottage and neighboring guest houses resembling nothing short of a gingerbread house sits among modern homes on Excelsior Avenue like a ghost of Saratoga Springs’ past.

Named one of the top ten places to save by the Preservation Foundation, the Smiley-Brackett Cottage is one of very few Gothic Revival cottages in the area. 

Built in 1840 by Harry Lawrence, the blue with white trim cottage is currently deteriorating and being taken over by vegetation. Aside from the main cottage, there are two guest houses of similar design and a garage on the property.

“It’s the structure and the people who lived here that make this cottage so unique. It is a huge piece of Saratoga Springs’ history and, really, it’s just a fun looking place,” said Marjorie King-Martin, acting executive director for Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation.

The Lawrence Family was a prominent family throughout the 1800’s who owned land spanning from Wilton to Greenfield and lived in the cottage which was inspired by Andrew Jackson Downing’s Gothic designs until Sarah F. Smiley, a Quaker preacher, bought it in 1873. Smiley was a nationally-known religious figure who challenged the role of women in religion, King-Martin said.

In 1907, Edgar T. Brackett, and attorney and president of Brackett, Eddy and Dorsey Law Firm, bought the cottage and later his son Charles Brackett would own the property.

“The structure- Gothic Revival- is historic in and of itself, but it’s the people who actually lived in the house that really adds to the whole story,” King-Martin said. “It’s the stories that bring the building to life.”

Charles Brackett graduated from Saratoga Springs High School in 1910 and followed in his father’s footsteps by studying law at Williams College and later Harvard Law School. After college, Brackett moved into the Smiley-Brackett Cottage and began to pursue his real passion—writing. He became a drama critic for the New Yorker magazine and had short stories published in the Saturday Night Post. In 1929, Brackett decided to take his writing to the next level by moving to Hollywood, where he teamed up with Billy Wilder, and wrote, produced and directed movies such as “Sunset Boulevard,” “The Lost Weekend,” and the original “Titanic,” among many others. These three movies, however, won Brackett three Oscar awards. While Brackett lived and worked in Hollywood, he kept his home on Excelsior Avenue and frequently visited Saratoga Springs. When Brackett died in March 1969 at the age of 77, the Smiley-Brackett Cottage was left in the hands of his caretaker, who still has ownership of the house and property.

“It’s a very whimsical, fantastical place, and to think that a man lived in this little cottage to go to Hollywood is just extraordinary,” King-Martin said. “I would hate to see Saratoga Springs lose this cottage, because when buildings are taken down, we can’t get the original back. We lose a little bit of history. This house just needs a total infusion of tender loving care.”

This is the second in a series about the Saratoga Preservation Foundation’s “Ten To Save” which highlights 10 buildings and neighborhoods that the organization has identified as being at high risk due to neglect, deterioration, over development, or vacancy and abandonment.