A Pennzoil Heiress Built This Mansion. A Local Boy Dreamed of Owning It.

PHOTOS BY GAREY SCOTT, HOME FRONT PHOTOGRAPHER

Young Samuel Breene spent years in the 1920s watching as a massive Tudor Revival-style mansion was built on Maple Avenue in Oil City; his family lived in an old Victorian along the same street. 

He was there as the turret went up on what became known as the Black Castle, and he observed as craftsmen placed the ornate windows and woodwork — all while dreaming of owning 113 Maple Ave. Before he was even old enough to drive a car, Breene declared that when he grew up he would become a lawyer, and he would buy that mansion. 

In 1965, that’s just what he did. 

While that childhood-dream-turned-reality is a story itself, Breene’s 10,000-square-foot home comes with its own long and complicated history; one that’s rooted in western Pennsylvania ingenuity and oil fortunes. 

Constructed between 1927 and 1929, the mansion was built for Elizabeth Suhr Black, a Pennzoil heiress. Her father, German immigrant Henry Suhr, came to Oil City to make his mark in the burgeoning petroleum industry. 

The family eventually founded the Penn Refining Company, which later was consolidated with other oil companies into Pennzoil. Black and her opera-singer husband, James Cuyler Black, owned the home on Maple Avenue until Breene fulfilled his childhood dream of buying it in the 1960s. 

The sprawling property is perched on a bluff overlooking the aptly named Oil City, where the Suhr family made their fortune. They were among other investors and workers who flocked to the area to capitalize on the then-booming oil industry.  

Drake Well, nearer to Titusville, is where the modern petroleum industry began in 1859, proving that oil could be drilled commercially rather than just collected from seeps. Oil City quickly became a major hub of the early oil boom, moving crude from northwestern Pennsylvania into markets across the country and helping fuel Pittsburgh’s rise as an industrial powerhouse. 

The region’s success in the oil industry played a factor in transforming transportation, manufacturing, energy and geopolitics across the globe. At one time, Oil City’s petroleum exchange helped set oil prices around the world; the region was considered one of the nation’s most important financial centers, second only to Wall Street. A slate of beautiful, ornate homes also once existed in Oil City, but many have since been lost to time and disrepair. 

Defying the odds, 113 Maple Ave. survived the boom and bust of industry in Oil City, in large part thanks to the Breene family, who still owns the property today. 

Berry and Sam Breene, who grew up playing and celebrating holidays in their grandparents’ home, say that it’s been an honor to preserve such an integral part of their hometown’s history. 

The brother and sister didn’t just inherit a piece of history, they’ve been a part of it. The Breene family were also key players in the oil-and-gas industry in western Pennsylvania, but on their grandmother’s side. 

While the first Samuel Breene may have had the dream to one day own the Pennzoil mansion, it was his wife, Elizabeth, known as Betty, whose family had deep oil money pockets. 

Her family founded the James B. Berry Sons’ Company, which eventually became Quaker State through a series of mergers and partnerships. While Sam is named for his grandfather, Berry’s name honors her grandmother’s heritage. 

Now a realtor living in Pittsburgh, Berry says she loves how her family’s history is woven into the fabric of the home’s story.

“When my dad was a little boy, he would sneak down the driveway and the chauffeur would pretend to be mean to him, and then sneak him a piece of candy,” she recalls with a laugh. 

During her own childhood, Berry loved playing hide-and-seek in a home filled with prohibition-era hidden closets and bookcases that function as doors to secret closets. 

“As an adult, I love the architecture. I love the space, the high ceilings, the original tile,” she says. “As a kid, it was fun and I’ve always liked playing host. But also as a kid, there was some clout associated with the house, and I was the type of kid who wanted to blend in.”  

Still, she notes being able to walk from the community pool for a snack at the mansion was quite a flex. 

An agent at Compass Realty, Berry has now listed the family home for $1.15 million. She notes the Suhr mansion is one of the more unique homes in the state; at today’s prices, she says the home’s size and craftsmanship would cost over $10 million to build.

Despite its large proportions, the estate feels remarkably livable for family life, although the property has also drawn interest as a retreat, bed-and-breakfast or event venue. 

Set at the end of a long wooded drive, the three-story, six-bedroom, four-bathroom home is nestled into eight acres of wooded property. 

The grand foyer centers around a curved staircase in the turret. The entryway’s flooring ties were handcrafted by Henry Chapman Mercer, a prominent artist in the Arts and Crafts movement who also designed the tiles in the Pennsylvania State Capital.  

The space leads into a large formal entertaining area that includes a dining room with original Edward Kuhlmann murals, a breakfast nook that opens to a covered patio and an enormous living room paneled in dark, rich wood. The generously sized kitchen, which received an update in the 1960s, includes a butler’s pantry and plentiful space to work or entertain.

The upstairs includes bathrooms with the original tile and six bedrooms, including the primary suite, which spans 1,500 square feet and includes three walk-in closets, plus a large ensuite bathroom. Rounding out the estate are an elevator, Ratskeller-style family room, nine fireplaces and a heated, four-stall garage. 

Berry says that, despite the age and size of the home, the family has consistently completed crucial updates to keep the estate in good repair. From new boilers to updated wiring and a new roof in the last decade, the Breene family has invested time and money in protecting the home from the same fate as other millionaire mansions in Oil City. 

Sam, who lives in Oil City with his family and serves as a Venango County Commissioner, echoes his sister’s bittersweet thoughts on selling their family estate. 

“I disconnected myself from the personal attachment at first,” he says. “But then I remembered that so much of the value of the place and what makes it unique is the history, and I take that for granted because it is my family’s history. I think, ‘Why would anyone care?’” 

Through the sale process, he has found that many people do indeed care about the history of the home. Potential buyers have been enraptured by the architectural details as much as the family’s story. 

Today, the siblings have a hard time pinning down just one memory at a home that contains so many. For Berry, serving as hostess at the estate as well as playing epic games of hide-and-seek will always top the list.

As for Sam, one specific moment tops his list: the first time he was allowed to stay up to watch a Super Bowl. The game was the New York Giants versus the Buffalo Bills, and the kids spent more time playing hide-and-seek than watching football. He also recalls going around town himself to deliver invitations to the family’s massive yearly Christmas party.  

“We wouldn’t eat in the dining room regularly, but for a night you could feel like a Rockefeller, or a king, when everything was laid out on the table with the whole family there,” he reminisces. “We always had neighbors, we always had people who needed somewhere to go — anyone and everyone.”