Born in Olmsted Township in 1840, Washington Lawrence rose to prominence in the late nineteenth century as an investor in the Brush Electric Co. and president of the National Carbon Co. He later purchased 125 acres of property and became an established millionaire on Cleveland's west side.
With help from locally renowned architects Forrest Coburn and Frank Barnum, Lawrence constructed a stone Romanesque mansion, complete with a library, ballroom, three sitting rooms, and ten bedrooms, as well as an unheard-of front hall elevator. However, the same year his large family moved into the unfinished lakeside home, Lawrence died of an illness in November, 1900 at the age of sixty.
The property was later sold, and would become the Bay View Osteopathic Hospital from the 1940's until about 1980. It was then converted into condominiums by architect Bob Corna, who named the development Cashelmara, Gaelic for "stone house."
Cashelmara Townhomes retained hints of the historic mansion and the hospital, including the grand staircase, expansive porch, and wood-lined elevator. The luxurious space now boasts floor-to-ceiling windows, private balconies, a boat launch, and a private beach, with each unit designed to have a gorgeous view of Lake Erie.
