MILTON MANSION LUXUR Y ON THE LAKE The asking price is $4.5 million

The home is the most expensive that Howard Hanna has listed locally.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
NOT MANY HOUSES COME with indoor and outdoor movie theaters. But for $4.5 million, you get a few extras.
Wally and Mary Lee Armour lovingly added plenty of extras to their home at 2041 County Line Road in Lake Milton, but they have decided to move after three years of living along the banks of Lake Milton.
"Been there. Done that," Armour said in explaining his decision to put the home up for sale earlier this month. His nonchalance belied the passion that he has put into the mansion.
His artistic ambitions are evident in the house's design, which he completed on graph paper and then turned over to an architect.
"This is his dream house," his wife said.
Armour was a high school art teacher before turning to the car business. He founded Wally Armour Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Alliance, which is now run by his sons.
The Armours, who used to live south of Alliance, chose the wooded five-acre lot along the lake because it was closer to New York skiing but still within reach of their seven grandchildren. Armour is 66 and his wife 65, so they aren't skiing anymore and are ready to move. They don't know where yet, however.
Distinctive features
The house has 10,800 square feet on the first and second floors and 5,000 square feet of living space in the basement.
The showpiece of the basement is a cinemalike move theater with a screen that's 91/2 feet wide. Armour designed the room after visiting a home theater trade show in New York City.
The system has crisp, booming sound, but the theater has its own heating and cooling system so that sounds don't travel through the duct work in the house. It has seating for 22, including double-seated recliners, regular recliners and bar stools.
For guests who would rather see a movie outside by the pool, Armour has the solution. He pushes a button and a door rises on the outside wall of a second-floor bedroom that overlooks the patio.
Another large screen is revealed, and behind it in the bedroom is a projector. Speakers are hidden around the patio and down by the water, making the patio -- or even a boat out on the lake -- a great place to watch a movie, Realtor Debbi Vizi said.
Her agency, Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, said this is the highest-priced home it has listed in the Mahoning Valley.
"Lake Erie is getting filled up," Vizi said. "They are the beginning of a major move out here toward million-dollar homes."
Luxurious
The home is reached by a winding, tree-lined driveway. The front of the house presents a tasteful, but not overwhelming appearance. Dragons that are carved from tree trunks catch a visitor's attention, however.
The grandeur is immediately noticeable inside, as curving stairways made from maple and cherry flank the foyer and its flagstone floor.
A wall made from butternut wood extends high to the ceiling and divides the foyer from the great room and its 30-foot ceilings. The wall facing the lake has 20 windows and is made from cherry.
The carpenter who oversaw construction of the house built the panels for this wall and others in his shop in Great Valley, N.Y., and brought them here for crews to assemble.
The floor was built with hard maple that has a patterned border following the contour of the room. The border is made of cherry and several types of maple.
The great room has a bar and an "entertainment" kitchen with a commercial stove and deep fryer. Behind this kitchen is a "working" kitchen.
The master bathroom has "his and her" sections with cherry cabinets and granite floors and countertops, and the floors are heated. One section has a bathtub set in an alcove surrounded by windows with reflective glass, while the other has a shower.
The house grew to be so large because of the addition of two guest wings, one on either side of the second floor.
Crowning touch
In the middle of the two is a spiral staircase with 20 steps made from cherry and maple. At the top is a circular landing that provides a 360-degree view of the lake and surrounding area.
The couple placed a beacon at the top and calls it the lighthouse.
In all, the house has five bedrooms, seven full bathrooms, three half-bathrooms and garage space for seven cars.
With a sale price of $4.5 million, the Armours plan to leave the furnishings, though Mrs. Armour said she isn't sure what she will do with the two suits of medieval armor that decorate the foyer.
One thing that will definitely come with the house is the property tax bill -- $35,000 a year.
shilling@vindy.com