A fixer-upper for $3.4 million?

This 8,208-square-foot Chestnut Hill mansion is unlike most high-end properties you'll see in this toney neighborhood.

First of all, the 1904-built home at 152 Suffolk Road was designed in Spanish Mission style, rare for this area, complete with a stucco exterior, red terra cotta tile roof and a pagoda-style entry.

The original 26-acre estate was built for prominent shoe tycoon Clement S. Houghton, and included a large carriage house and a 10-acre garden. The city of Newton acquired the garden in 1968 and turned it into a city park. Other lots were sold off. The main house, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, sits on just 1.61 acres now.

For the past 43 years, the main house has been owned by architect Branko Brankovic and his artist wife Angela Vinkler-Petrovic, founders of the well-known Baak jewelry and fine arts gallery in Harvard Square.

"I envision the buyer as someone who's socially prominent in the community and loves to entertain," said Brankovic, who once worked for the storied Architects Collaborative in Cambridge.

The interior of the home has great architectural detail. The main entry hall is lined with oak paneling, has elegant window seat cushions and arts-and-craft style brick floors. There's a sweeping central staircase with an original carved metal chandelier hanging over it. The large dining and living rooms have magnificent fireplaces with carved woodwork and beamed ceilings. There's a study lined with bookcases, a sunroom off the dining room and an outdoor terrace off the living room.

On the market for $3.4 million, the house undoubtedly has great bones, but as a disclaimer in the listing sheet states: "The home is in need of major renovations."

So is this the Boston area's priciest fixer-upper?

"It does need a lot of work," admitted co-listing broker Marjorie Gold of William Raveis Real Estate. "But what we're offering here is a piece of history in a great location."

Not that there haven't been updates. Over the years, Brankovic added a first-floor kitchen (the original is in the basement with its vintage stove), updated the bathrooms and even replaced the tar paper and flashing under the terra cotta roof tiles.

He created and redid the master bedroom suite, but the purple bathroom fixtures here and elsewhere on the second floor are outdated.

There's a great original linen closet with walls of glass cabinets, beautiful hardwood floors and original doors and moldings on the second floor, which has six bedrooms.

There's a warren of rooms on the third floor, which once housed the Houghtons' 11 servants. And there's lots more storage in the huge basement.

Potential buyers should bring their own architects. Giving this grand house the makeover it needs will be a major undertaking.