BANGOR – A majestic house looms atop a hill on High Street near the intersection of Hammond and Ohio, one of the last remnants of a time when the city’s downtown was synonymous with high society.

The former Col. Oliver Frost House, more than 7,000 square feet of exquisite Tudor and Queen Anne-style architecture, was once among the city’s finest architectural assets.

Lately, though, it has been reduced to a rundown apartment building.

The house sits under blue tarp and scaffolding, but under that layer is a link to Bangor’s past, and the property owner, Dan Sykes, has every intention of preserving that link.

“This city has a great history of architecture,” Dan Sykes said recently. “My wife and I run a Web-based business, so we can live anywhere, but we chose Bangor.”

Sykes, president of Anastasia International, an Internet dating service, and Elk River Development Co., a local building company, purchased the building about two years ago with the intent of restoring it.

He and his wife have always had a penchant for old, historic buildings and saw nothing but promise in the former Frost House.

“There are a lot of old houses that have potential, but this one really needed the most attention,” he said. “It was not that far from being torn down.”

The large home at 40 High St., built in 1847 by architect Benjamin S. Deane, was remade in 1892 into a Queen Anne-style dwelling by Boston architect Arthur H. Vinal. Unlike many downtown buildings, it survived the Great Fire of 1911, but over the years, it has been largely neglected.

When Sykes bought the home in 2003 from Bangor property owner Bill Masters, it was near condemnation. Masters had owned the building since 1975, renting out 11 apartment units.

Those apartments were low-end at best, Sykes opined, certainly a far cry from the when the building was a private home for wealthy businessmen.

Sykes said he got a good deal on the property – about $230,000 – but with the renovations, the building’s value could grow exponentially. Sykes did not predict what the total project will cost, but he said he’s not worried about setting a spending limit.

He also didn’t have a timeline for completion, but said sometime next year seems reasonable.

“This is a sort of long-term, strategic investment,” he said. “As a straight investment, this isn’t really a great move, but as far as long-term equity, who knows.”

Sykes plans to use the first floor to house the offices of Anastasia International, a Russian-American Internet dating service.

The second and third floors will be renovated into six apartments, it is hoped on the higher end than previous units in the building.

The city recently granted Sykes’ request for a zone change at 40 High St. so he could have a business and residences in the same building.

“They were looking to use the building a combination of residential and commercial space,” City Planner David Gould said. “The zone change was consistent with the comprehensive plan, with what the city is trying to do in terms of downtown revitalization.”

The exterior of the house, with its stately brown siding and unique sloped roof, certainly stands out, but what sold the Sykeses on the former Frost House was the interior.

“This building has some of the finest woodwork I’ve seen, and we’re working hard to preserve that aesthetic,” Sykes said.

The interior is adorned with ornate moldings, hand-carved staircases and doorways, stained-glass windows and other accoutrements that today’s architecture often overlooks.

Sykes feels Bangor has more to offer, architecturally.

“I’ve traveled all over, and this city really has some of the best architecture in the state,” he said.