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This Golden Hill mansion is a home of second chances.

Built in 1930 in the English cottage style, the house sat empty for 19 or 20 years, with no heat or electricity for at least half that time. Windows and doors had cracked. The yard had become so overgrown with trees that one could not see the house next door through the brush.

Builder John Eaton made an offer on the home in 2010, but the owner refused to sell. Eaton bought another property instead. Still, he couldn’t get the abandoned home on the edge of the Woodstock Club golf course out of his mind.

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“This house was horrible,” he said, “but I like Golden Hill.”

Four years later Eaton made another offer — for less money. It was accepted.

If Eaton’s perseverance was the first second chance for the house. It was about to receive a much more critical second chance — Eaton’s skill at restoring homes.

Eaton took the house down to the studs, redoing the floor plan for a more modern feel while retaining certain original touches of the house, such as the staircase and fireplace. In other instances, such as the roof, he replaced what had been there with something much the same.

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“This house would never be the same without a slate roof,” he said.

Late spring of last year Eaton put the house on the market, but took it off after he kept hearing the same critiques from would-be buyers. The garage was too small. There was not enough outdoor living space. And not enough bedrooms (there were four) for guests.

So Eaton went through a second remodel while his family was in the house. He enlarged the garage, added an attached carriage house with separate living quarters, expanded the outdoor space with fireplace and covered porch and gated the whole property.

“That gives it a kind of small estate feel,” he said of the house, which sits on two lots.

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In some instances he made amendments to preserve the historic feel of the house, such as keeping the original paneling in the office on the first floor even though all of the doors on the cabinets are new. In other cases he made necessary updates, such as adding windows to brighten up the house.

The kitchen also required a complete remodel, including removing the maid’s room to open up a wall of windows onto the golf course just beyond the backyard.

Upstairs, former attic space helped create a master suite with a spacious walk-in closet.

Now, the $1.1 million house is back on the market, waiting for its next “second” chance.

Call IndyStar reporter Shari Rudavsky at (317) 444-6354. Follow her on Twitter: @srudavsky.

About the home

• Location: 1210 Golden Hill Drive.

• Details: Four bedrooms, four full baths, two half baths, 5,049 square feet, carriage guest house, three fireplaces, outdoor fireplace, three-car attached garage, two-car detached garage, five kitchens, in-law quarters, guest house, custom outdoor spa, sauna, wooded lot on 8 acres.

• Asking price: $1.095 million.

• Listing #: 21413202.

• Contact: Litz Real Estate, (317) 882-8600, litzrealestate.com.