Trebor Mansion was commissioned by David Robinson Straw to be built in 1830 by architect John Monroe, and expanded to 22 rooms in 1836 and 1849, but when the National Historic Registry began certification of the building in 1982, the Board in Washington ran into a little problem with the dates. To put it simply, if the house was built in 1830 (or 1836 or 1849) the building couldn't exist. The three architectural styles used in the construction, Stick, Queen Anne and Jacobean, came onto existence in 1858, 1874 and 1876, respectively. If the building DID exist, it couldn't have been built in 1830. The styles first came to be used in combination in the 1880's, and became known as the premier American style, the Queen Anne Stick Jacobean. But the evidence was overwhelming, and included photographs, and it agreed with the 1830 date. The Board's conclusions were based on Aristotle: When you eliminate the impossible, whatever is left, however improbable, is the Truth. The building was certified as 1830, with the comment that "the builder must have been an extraordinary man to have built this structure 50 years before its time".
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