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October 5, 2026
Lake Cliff, the 1888 Queen Anne at 12984 Lake Avenue, is the last Victorian lakefront estate left in Lakewood. It is also the house from Hot in Cleveland. Its new owners are taking 140 years of paint off it by hand.
Indiana Jones spent his career digging up treasure buried under centuries of dirt. The owners of Lake Cliff found theirs buried under a dozen coats of white paint.
What's happening: A couple bought the historic Lake Cliff mansion at 12984 Lake Avenue in October 2024 and has been restoring it by hand ever since. So many neighbors stopped by asking questions that they built a website, lake-cliff.com, to keep up.
It is. Every exterior shot of the Victorian the ladies rented is 12984 Lake Avenue. That porch, that tower, that roofline. Lakewood.
The inside was never Cleveland. Interiors were shot on a soundstage in Los Angeles, on the same stage that once filmed Seinfeld.
So a show called Hot in Cleveland was filmed in California using a house in Lakewood. Three cities, one sitcom, zero of them correct. (Cleveland Magazine once pointed out that the climbing wisteria on the set porch doesn't grow here. The set designer insisted it does, in spring.)
Brougham Harris built Lake Cliff between about 1880 and 1888. The "H" carved into the front gable is his, and so is the 1888 next to it.
His father, Josiah Harris, was mayor of Cleveland in 1847.
On the architectural record the place is the Harris/Townsend House. Carved into the crown of one of the driveway gate posts is the name the estate had from the beginning: Lake Cliff.
In roughly 140 years, the house has had exactly two owners. This couple is the third.
Lake Avenue used to be lined with houses like this. Summer places for Cleveland money, water on one side, stone walls at the street.
Then the 1960s happened. High-rise apartments replaced nearly every lakefront mansion along what we now call the Gold Coast. The towers worked west and stopped at the Carlyle in 1969.
Lake Cliff is the only Victorian-era lakefront estate house left in Lakewood. In 1992 a Lakewood architectural tour singled out the house and its stone wall as rare survivors of the estate era.
The estate didn't vanish so much as get divided. The gatehouse is a private residence now, facing Nicholson. The barn is a private residence too, over on the Edgewater Drive extension. One estate, three addresses, all still here.
The house was white from the 1980s until this year, which means most of Lakewood has only ever seen it white.
The original siding is still on the house. The owners stripped it back one layer at a time, and it came off like tree rings:
Here's the part that stuck with us. How do you prove a board is original? Nails. Cut nails gave way to wire nails around 1900, so the nail in a board is a clue to the board's age. That's a 140-year-old house being read like a receipt.
No boulders, no booby traps. Just paint fumes and patience.
Sixteen major projects complete. Hundreds to go.
One room renovated. Twenty-seven to go.
The one finished room is the powder room, done in December 2025: period wallpaper, a marble herringbone floor, chair rail, crown molding, a period chandelier, lacquered brass on all the plumbing and hardware, and a marble sink hand-chiseled in Europe. For a powder room.
The exterior paint started in spring 2026 with three months of prep before a drop of color went on. They do the restoration work themselves and partnered with Wal's Paints for the painting, with the crest and detail work painted by @art_di.usa.
The brackets went on in September. Carved acanthus leaves in burgundy tipped with gold, against deep green. The porch arch is stripped and waiting its turn.
It's a private home, so admire it from the sidewalk, which is what everyone has been doing anyway. The stone wall and the gate post with Lake Cliff carved into it are right there on Lake Avenue.
The better view is online. Their site has before-and-after sliders, an "Ask Us" section they answer almost daily, and our favorite, the historic color study laid out side by side with where they're headed. They're also asking for old photographs and memories of the house, so if your grandmother had a story about the big house on the corner, they want it.
It has a name. It has a crest. It has its green back.
Somewhere, Indy's nodding.
Is Lake Cliff the house from Hot in Cleveland?
Yes. The exterior shots of the Victorian on Hot in Cleveland are Lake Cliff, at 12984 Lake Avenue in Lakewood, Ohio. The interiors were filmed on a soundstage in Los Angeles, not in the house.
Where is the Hot in Cleveland house?
12984 Lake Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio, at the corner of Lake and Nicholson. It's a private home, so view it from the sidewalk. The restoration is documented at lake-cliff.com.
Who built Lake Cliff, and when?
Brougham Harris built it between about 1880 and 1888. The crest on the front gable carries an H for Harris and the year 1888. His father, Josiah Harris, was mayor of Cleveland in 1847.
Why is the house green now instead of white?
Deep green is the earliest paint layer found on the original siding, from around 1880. The house was only white from the 1980s onward. The current restoration brings the original green back, with cream trim and burgundy and gold on the carving.
What happened to the other mansions on Lakewood's Gold Coast?
Most were demolished for high-rise apartments in the 1960s. The towers stopped at the Carlyle in 1969, and Lake Cliff survived. It is the last Victorian-era lakefront estate house in Lakewood.
Can you tour Lake Cliff?
No. It's a private residence under active restoration. The owners post before-and-after photos, a historic color study, and answers to visitor questions at lake-cliff.com, and they take questions and memories through the site.
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