Guilderland

Neighbors along East Lydius Street called it "the mansion," and some kids referred to it as "the Mary-Kate and Ashley house."

Over the years, it grew into a suburban legend.

After the unoccupied and unfinished 11,000-square-foot red brick custom home was destroyed in a pre-dawn fire Tuesday, its troubled backstory was buried in the still-smoldering debris as a backhoe clawed at unstable, jagged Italianate remains.

Fire officials and police refused to speculate on a cause, but the blaze is under investigation while a short sale was pending.

"I'm in shock," said Richard Lyons, the listing real estate agent for Prudential Manor Homes. "I'm hoping there is an explanation for this, but there's no good explanation."

Lyons had not heard of any recent break-ins, but neighbors had complained about underage drinking parties in years past when a young caretaker lived in the house.

The current asking price was $599,000. It had been listed for $1.99 million in 2008. Only two of its seven bathrooms were finished. The house had 23-foot ceilings and six bedrooms. Property taxes were about $29,000 a year.

A closing date had not been set, but the house had been under contract for about a month with a local couple whom Lyons declined to name. He said they were distraught when informed that the house had burned to the ground. The massive blaze at 3494 E. Lydius St. sent flames roaring 80 feet into the air and was visible miles away when firefighters arrived shortly before 2 a.m. It took dozens of firefighters from eight companies more than four hours to bring the conflagration under control.

A fire hydrant nearly a half-mile away had low pressure and four tanker trucks and a portable pond were called in.

Nobody was in the house at the time and no firefighters were injured, said Bill Fleming, assistant chief of the Fort Hunter Fire District. "It was a tough fire, the biggest one we've had in town this year," he said. "My number one goal was no injuries."

Lyons said he had scheduled the gas service to be reconnected this week. The house had electrical power at the time of the fire.

The current owner, William Selig, 42, who grew up in Colonie and graduated from Christian Brothers Academy, bought the house in 2007. He works in the financial industry, lives out of the country and saw the property for sale on the Internet. He could not be reached for comment.

The house was conceived of as a dream house by James McDonald, a Schenectady native and founder of the sheet metal company MCD Mechanical. It was left unfinished after he died of cancer at age 51 in 2001. McDonald had video cameras and floodlights installed in the tall pine trees on the property bordering the Pine Bush Preserve so he could watch construction remotely in his final months.

His widow put it on the market as-is for $850,000 in 2002. Rumors swirled that Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, child stars from the TV series "Full House," looked at the house while they considered attending a local college, as did heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield as a second home when his child attended a local private school.

The Rev. James Moriarity, former pastor at Cornerstone Christian Church in Guilderland, owned the house briefly before selling it to Selig.

"We're very fortunate it had just rained hard and there was no wind or it could have been a lot worse," said Susan Fraley, who has lived next door for seven years.

"That house had a sad story," said her husband, Charles Fraley. "Maybe it wasn't meant to be."

pgrondahl@timesunion.com • 518-454-5623 • @PaulGrondahl