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“The tile work which we performed could only be compared in extent and quality with that found in such places as Newport, R.I. or Hollywood, California where price was of secondary consideration. The objective for the entire house and grounds was it be the finest that could be produced. The first consideration was always quality.”
- Excerpt of a letter written by J. Francis Purdy, of the J. Francis Purdy tile and marble company of Albany, to J.B. White, J.B. Realty of Saratoga Springs, Sept. 14, 1951.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Strands of rope and twisted wire span the metal gates and stone entryway stations of the Ballston Avenue estate. A pair of ornate lamps peek streetside across the busy Route 50 thoroughfare where motor vehicles speed on by. A large marquee standing tall atop all of it spells out the most recent use of the property: Villa Balsamo - Restaurant, Cocktail Lounge.
The property, which measures 14 acres in all and features natural ponds, sites a nine-bedroom, six-bathroom mansion set back approximately 350 feet from the road. In its near-century of existence, the 10,240 square-foot structure has served a small handful of owners and has functioned as a private home and as a public restaurant. A return as either one of those options is possible in the future.
“It’s waiting for its next owner and occupant,” says Patrick Gibson of the Diehl Done Team at Keller Williams. The property is listed at $4.3 million.
Floyd J. Shutts, a bank manager-turned-knitting-business-wholesaler, purchased the land in 1927 and reportedly invested a half million early 20th-century dollars to build his 15-room mansion two years later. Following his death – Shutts’ was buried at Ballston Spa Village Cemetery in 1934 - the estate was purchased in turn by restaurateur Gerald King (during whose ownership in the 1960s Bing Crosby was among the visitors, vintage scribes insist), and by Schenectady businessman Chester Hotaling – who turned it into the Chester House restaurant.
At some point in the mid-20th century, Saratoga Springs realtor J.B. White, whose offices were at 100 Broadway, sought to put the property up for sale and apparently reached out to the J. Francis Purdy Co. of Albany for detailed information about the work Purdy had conducted during the initial development of the mansion. The historical files of the Saratoga Room in the Saratoga Springs Public Library provide a copy of the letter response penned by J. Francis Purdy to J. B. White dated September 14, 1951.
“In reply to your letter of the 12th regarding the Shutts estate on Saratoga-Ballston Road – the tile work which we performed for Mr. Shutts in his home could only be compared in extent and quality with that found in such places as Newport, R.I., or Hollywood, California where price was of secondary consideration,” the letter reads.
The tile used in the master bathroom “were of the most expensive produced,” Purdy writes, and “the tile work in the other bathrooms, solarium, game room, kitchen, halls, pavement over garage, etc., represented the best that our industry could produce according to the standards of 1929.”
Purdy concludes: “It was a sad development that Mr. Shutts did not live long to enjoy with his family the beautiful home and grounds he developed.”
An undated advert regarding “The King Shutts Estate” indicates the property would to be shown only through appointment by J.B. White. Price for the complete property: $85,000.
In the mid-1970s, the property was purchased by Joseph Balsamo. Balsamo came to America in 1950 from Sorrento, Italy, served in the Merchant Marine, and was reportedly part-owner of a restaurant in Queens that stood half a mile north of Kennedy International Airport and half a mile east of Aqueduct Racetrack.
“When he saw this place, it took him a year of driving up here from Brooklyn once a week and waiting for the owner to come out to collect his mail,” Ralphie Balsamo told Saratoga TODAY regarding his father’s efforts to purchase the estate.
The persistence paid off. Joseph Balsamo, who died in 2018, successfully convinced the owner to sell, and soon after Villa Balsamo began its offering as a restaurant, showcasing the culinary talents of the family’s Southern Napolitan cooking.
