If these walls could talk, they might whisper intriguing stories about the early days of the American automobile industry and one of the legendary families behind it.

The walls belong to the Packard Manor Estate on Chautauqua Lake, built in 1915 by the co-founder of the Packard Motor Car Co.

It sold this week for $3 million — among the highest prices, if not the highest — ever paid for a Chautauqua County residence.

“It’s as big [a sale] as any I remember,” said an employee in the Chautauqua County clerk’s office.

The 4z-story, turreted mansion was erected in 1915 by William D. and Katherine B. Packard on 1.2 acres and 180 feet of lakefront in the Chautauqua Institution.

According to real estate records, the property at 10 Elm Lane near the institution’s northern boundary was purchased by Robert D. and Sally M. Metzgar of Warren, Pa., from Chautauqua County philanthropist Elizabeth Lenna, the widow of Reginald Lenna.

A former institution trustee, Lenna had owned the property at least since 1998, when the manor was renovated in a style that maintained its historic features but included such modern amenities as air-conditioning, said Richard Benedetto, co-owner of Real Estate Advantage in Jamestown and Bemus Point, which brokered the latest sale.

The Metzgars declined to discuss the transaction.

Robert Metzgar previously served as president of North Penn Pipe & Supply in Warren, a wholesale supplier of goods and services to oil and gas exploration companies and industrial supplies. He is a major contributor to Penn State Behrend in Erie, Pa.; serves on the PNC Bank Advisory Board; and is an officer for both the New York and Pennsylvania Oil and Gas associations.

“While property values have plummeted in other areas across the country,” Benedetto said, “the jewels of Chautauqua Lake and Chautauqua Institution have held their value.”

The realtor said some homes on institution grounds have sold for almost as much, but the price tag for the Packard property was the steepest in his memory.

Such high-end properties rarely come on the market, Benedetto said. “I wish it happened more often.”

The home features a large living room, den, office, dining room, sun room, gourmet kitchen with pantry, eight bedrooms, terrace, third-floor apartment, nine full baths, recreation room, spa, whirlpool and sauna, an elevator, a four-car garage and eight fireplaces.

It stands as a reminder of the great fortunes created by the automotive industry in the early 20th century, when Packard family members left their Ohio homes to summer on the Chautauqua shore.

More Detroit-made Packards than Buffalo-born Pierce- Arrows and Thomas Flyers were on the streets of nearby Jamestown in those days, Steve Rinaldo, a Jamestown native, recalled in July 2008, during Buffalo’s centennial celebration of the Great Race, the 1908 New York-to-Paris contest won by a Thomas Flyer.

Members of the Packard clan were easy to spot riding around in their brand back then, and Rinaldo, who spent his career in the automotive industry, said his father seemed to spend most of his time working on Packard vehicles.

tbuckham@buffnews.com and rmccarthy@buffnews.com