Paul Arthur Sorg Mansion

3 W. Terrace Avenue

Lakewood, New York

Paul Arthur Sorg was the son of an affluent resident in Middletown, Ohio.  His father, Paul John Sorg, was associated with the American Tobbaco Company.  The family spent summers in Lakewood in the 1890s and the early part of 1900s.  Sorg lived at 12 E. 87th Street in New York City where his living quarters included the entire top floor, 22 rooms in total with 8 servants on staff.  He also built the home in Lakewood with 180 degree views of Chautauqua Lake.

Paul Sorg completed this mansion he called "Bide-a-Bit"* in 1906.  It was designed by an English architect and combined Tudor-style elements with aspects of a Scottish hunting lodge.  The carvings of the exceptional interior woodwork include figurines from Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales".

The pilgrimage in "The Canterbury Tales" is set in early April, as spring is underway.  Chaucer uses this timing to symbolize renewal of life and spirituality, aligning with the season's association with rebirth and the resurrection of Christ. 

Paul Sorg passed in 1913 and his wife, Jennie, continued to summer in Lakewood until she passed in 1929.  

After Jennie passed, John Coe, a local resident, opened the mansion as a tearoom called the Sorg Manor.  It continued as a tearoom under the ownership of Edward and Augusta Green in 1950.  The new name, The Green Farm, was carried from their previous tearoom in the Stow, New York area.  In later years, the tearoom was closed and the Greens developed an elegant gift and clothing shop. It was closed in 2000 and sold to private interests.  

*Bide-a-Bit means to stay or linger for awhile.