Read the Article About our Saratoga Springs,  NY Accommodations

What could be restored in the house was done so with perfection; what had to be replicated is seamless and authentic to the original. The 3,200-square-foot first floor is an extravaganza of fine details, elaborately carved and inlaid woods of mahogany, walnut, tiger maple, and cherry, and decorative mouldings and dados.

Handsome paneled wainscoting runs the length of the center hall, with a coffered ceiling; spectacular high-arched doorways that conceal imposing pocket doors lead from living room to library to dining room - framed and capped by intricate pediments with neoclassic details; tall recessed windows are Romanesque with ornamental cornices; and each capacious room is warmed by a fireplace of carved marble.
 

No, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of la Grande Jatte in the library is not by Seurat. Definitely not of the era but equally eye-stopping is the contemporary culinary gallery hung with faux Matisse, Picasso, and Braque on twenty-six-foot-high walls. The kitchen, installed by prior owner Turchi in the 1970s, is flooded with light from a pair of extraordinary single-paned arched windows, originally from a bank, that soar two full stories. They are bordered in contrast by a collection of starkly realistic pastels depicting lush fruits and vegetables in simple square frames. This is as tempting a venue for breakfast as the magnificent formal dining room. You might want to try a continental-plus here on a weekday and indulge in a full repast on the weekend where the Batchellers once dined, their family portraits overseeing your table manners.

But don't think this place is all show. Modem comforts abound in the library, where enveloping sofas invite you to sit and browse through an extensive selection of books or watch television on a forty-eight-inch screen. And the house has a real heart, kept beating by innkeeper Sue McCabe, who, with husband Mike and two children, calls the mansion home. Although there is a housekeeping staff and an assistant innkeeper, Sue's the one who makes breakfast - "If you hear pots clanging at four a.m.," she says, "it's not a ghost, it's me making muffins" - and usually on hand to give guests the grand tour of the inn. "I've been here three years," she says, "and still love taking people through. Their reactions never fail to make me feel lucky to experience living here."

The tour upstairs, if you arrive early enough, will include nine distinctly different guest rooms - four on the second floor, five on the third - and it's definitely tempting to take a peek at the dormered and gabled quarters that are comfortable and less opulent than the common areas. Set under the eaves of the roof, the most unusual accommodation is the Diamond Jim Brady Suite, one-half of it flamboyantly occupied by a regulation-size pool table, its large bathroom outfitted with a double Jacuzzi tub. Batcheller, a spacious retreat, overlooks luxuriant Congress Park across the street; Katrina Trask has a private circular terrace. All rooms provide television, telephone, and refrigerator stocked with Saratoga Springs water.

In the evening, a leather-bound book filled with menus from recommended local Saratoga Springs restaurants is set out and keys to the front door provided if you plan to be out beyond ten o'clock. Upon your return, the mansion, an illuminated beacon of grandeur, will be readied for the night, the lights dimmed, beds turned down with foil-wrapped custom chocolates on pillows, and a plate of freshly baked cookies under a dome in the library, music playing softly in the background, a fire in the hearth still glowing -whispers of the past, pleasantries of the present. cm

Batcheller Mansion Inn, 20 Circular Street, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866; 8001616- 7012 or 518- 584- 7012; fax 5181581-7746. Nine guest rooms, all w/private bath. Rates $125 to $395, including continental-plus on weekdays, full breakfast on weekends. No smoking. Cancellation policy. AX, MC, Visa.