The 100-year-old Horatio and Ella Foss Mansion in Auburn — the scene of a community fundraiser Saturday night — features some of the finest architecture, furnishings and appointments of that period.

A focal point is the house’s dramatic and beautiful flying staircase, so called because it is seemingly unsupported and appears to “fly” to the upper floor. This type of staircase is rarely seen in historic Maine houses, although notable examples can be found in Portland’s Victoria Mansion and Columbia Falls’ Ruggles House. The Foss Mansion is in grand company.

Such a staircase was built for dramatic entrances, and surely Ella Foss was no stranger to sweeping down the staircase to greet her dinner guests. According to Woman’s Literary Union historian Denise Scammon, Ella Foss was a statuesque woman, reportedly 5-foot, 9-inches tall. Born in Solon, she moved to Auburn at 18 to work in the Dingley, Foss & Co. shoe factory. It was there she met boss Horatio Foss and eventually married him. Once their Elm Street home was complete, they entertained often and employed an upstairs maid, a downstairs maid, a housekeeper, a chauffeur and a gardener.

Was Mrs. Foss an early fashionista? Apparently. Many of her dresses were made by local seamstress Mary Kirk, the mother of Geneva Kirk, the one-time WLU member and prominent community supporter. Saturday’s event featured a display of some of these stylish and lovingly preserved dresses.

News stories published during construction of the house reported with fascination on the “electric and gas illumination of the latest type” installed in the mansion. The dining room’s built-in oak china closets included waist-level “pass throughs” to the kitchen to make dinner service easier and faster. The house also had a central vacuum system, a relatively new innovation at the time.

The Foss Mansion, home to the Woman’s Literary Union in Auburn, basks in the September sun. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)

Ornate woodwork surrounds the grand staircase looking into the dining room at the Foss Mansion. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)

Woman’s Literary Union President Kathy Lawrence, left, works with seamstress and WLU member Stefanie Mahr Damien to take inventory earlier this month and check the condition of dresses once belonging to Ella Foss in the Auburn mansion. The women were readying the Foss Mansion for the Centennial Celebration Open House on Saturday. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)

Woman’s Literary Union President Kathy Lawrence pulls a piece of lint off a wall light on the second floor of the Foss Mansion in Auburn as members recently readied for their Centennial Celebration Open House on Saturday. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)

A portrait of Ella Foss on the first floor of the Auburn mansion. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)

A portrait of Ella Foss is prominently displayed on the second floor at the top of the grand staircase. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)

The upstairs living room at the Foss Mansion in Auburn. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)

A George Washington bedspread made by Bates Manufacturing in 1944 covers the bed in the master bedroom of the Foss Mansion in Auburn. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)

The fireplace in the dining room of the Foss Mansion. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)

The grand staircase at the Foss Mansion. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)

Ornate pineapple carvings on the top of the portico railings at the Foss Mansion, home to the Woman’s Literary Union in Auburn. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)