Dwelling in alternate dimension; designed by Autarch Cult and modeled after a house in New Stockholm, Wisconsin formerly belonging to the Grand Autarch [The Mansion in the Mist, 26-7, 99-101, 105, 164-5].
The Autarch Mansion is the keystone to the Autarch’s strange dimension, easily the most important and most impressive item. When Anthony Monday stumbles into the other dimension it is not long until he finds the house:
"...a huge mansion of black stone. Gargoyles and other strange decoration sprouted from its clifflike sides. The windows ere narrow and set deep into the walls, and thick tangles of bush and weed hid the foundations. The mansion was topped by a steep slate roof with round dormer windows set in it. Anthony could see tall shadowy chimneys capped by elaborate iron covers that reminded him of Chinese pagodas. Near the mansion was a large garden full of twisted weeds and vines, and statues stood here and there amid the growths" [17].
Emerson Eells later explains the Autarchs have “tried to make their world look like an old-fashioned English estate” [70]. Eells says he once went on a tour of English historic houses, and therefore it is almost as certain that Bellairs visited a number of manor houses during his various trips overseas. Furthermore, Eells says “at one time rich people owned vast estates, and they built little ornamental buildings on the grounds just to pretty things up. Sometimes the buildings had names like the Temple of the Winds [21].”
The Temple of the Winds turns out to be just as Eells explained - a small, decorative structure on the Autarch’s property. Solidifying the connection to England is a similarly named folly on the Northern Ireland estate known as Mount Stewart, an 18th century manor home. In addition to its formal gardens and world-famous collection of rare and unusual plants, Mount Stewart boasts an octagonal-shaped Temple of the Winds that was supposedly built in 1875 and based on the Tower of the Winds in Athens. The Irish version was designed for use as a banqueting hall.
The “small lake covered with lily pads and gray scum” [61] does give the impression that the Mount Stewart grounds and gardens may have been a partial influence for the book. However, somewhere along the way, be it intentional or by accident, there may have been some confusion with a similar-sounding mansion in Scotland.
Mount Stuart House is located on Scotland’s Isle of Bute in the Firth of Clyde; the origins of the house go back to the eighteenth century, but it was mostly rebuilt following a fire in the 1870s. It was designed by the third Marquess of Bute, who was described as the "best unprofessional architect of his generation" and the nationally known architect Sir Robert Rowand Anderson. Described as the finest examples of Victorian Gothic architecture in Britain, it has included features that were highly innovative at the time, including an indoor heated swimming pool (the first of its type in any building) and the first house in Scotland to have electric lighting installed.
This majestic red sandstone house looks surprisingly familiar when compared to Edward Gorey's artwork.
While passing through the community of New Stockholm, Wisconsin, Anthony and Miss Eells later discover a duplicate of the dreary Autarch Mansion. Through their detective work they discover the previous owner was Marius F. Ambrose, who they later confirm was the Grand Autarch they encountered in the Autarch dimension. The Wisconsin version of the house is a near replica, without a lot of the thorny underbrush that has crept upon the Autarch’s house.
There is, incidentally, a small community called Stockholm, Wisconsin (no prefix to designate being either “old” or “new”), northwest of Winona, Minnesota.
