Tour of Homes

37 High Street

The definition of “home” varies from person to person.  It might be spiritual or physical, temporary or long term.  This year’s theme for the Geneva Historical Society’s Tour of Homes is What is Home.  The homes and properties on the tour are each unique but they all share one thing in common – to someone they are home.

21 Jay Street

On Saturday, June 14 from 10 am to 4 pm the following homes and properties will be on view:

715 South Main Street

• Lochland School, 1065 Lochland Road
• Laurel Carney and David Cameron, 21 Jay Street
• Carr McGuire House, 775 South Main Street
• Jennifer Morris and James Spates, 715 South Main Street 

5726 East Lake Road

• Mark and Mary Gearan, 690 South Main Street
• Mary Lou Presutti, 511 South Main Street, Apt. 3
• The Rose Petal Inn, 41-43 North Main Street
• Marolyn Caldwell and Steven Mull, 37 High Street

5726 East Lake Road

• First United Methodist Church, 340 Main Street
• Rose Hill Mansion, 3373 Route 96A
• Theresa and Tony Fulgieri, 5726 East Lake Road

The Tour of Homes will offer a little bit for everyone:

511 South Main Street Apt. 3

• Architecture -  Federal ( 775 South Main), Greek Revival (690 South Main, 511 South Main and 3373 Route 96A), Eastlake Victorian (37 High), Colonial Revival (715 South Main), and  Neo-Roman (340 Main)
• Art Collections – 715 and 690 South Main
• Local Author – John Allen’s second book The Spirit of Wallace Paine takes place at 775 South Main.  Throughout the day he will be available to discuss the book and sign copies. 

  

  690 South Main Street

• Geneva and World War II Connections – 775 South Main, 511 South Main, and 5726 East Lake
• Views of Seneca Lake – 715 South Main, 511 South Main, 3373 Route 96A, and 5726 East Lake
• Music – juke box (21 Jay), player piano (37 High), and organ (340 Main Street).  At 4 pm there will be a 30-minute organ recital at the First United Methodist Church.

340 Main Street

• Stained glass windows  - 37 High and 340 Main Street
• Hobart and William Smith Colleges Connections – 1065 Lockland, 775 South Main, 715 South Main, and 690 South Main.
• This and that – sit in the same rooms that Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony did while visiting Geneva (1065 Lockland),  see a 3 hole outhouse (37 High)Mull), find a brick with a cat’s paw print (41-43 North Main Street), and view the second oldest house in Geneva (1065 Lockland Road). Weather permitting, there will be a few classic cars on display at 3373 Route 96A. 

1065 Lochland Road

Tickets for the Tour of Homes are $20 and are available in advance at Pedulla’s Liquor Store, Stomping Grounds, the Geneva and Canandaigua Chambers of Commerce, Rose Hill Mansion, Long’s Books, and the Geneva Historical Society. On the day of the tour, tickets will be sold at the Geneva Historical Society and at the door of each house on the tour. Ticket holders will also be eligible to win a gift basket from Harry & David. Geneva Historical Society members can purchase discounted tickets only in advance of the tour at the Geneva Historical Society office. For further information, call the Historical Society office at 315-789-5151.

775 South Main Street

The 2014 Tour of Homes is generously supported by Coldwell Banker Finger Lakes, Red Jacket Orchards and Billsboro Winery.

3373 Route 96A

Lift Up Thine Eyes: The Upper Floors of Downtown Geneva

By John Marks, Curator of Collections

Do you walk around downtown? If so, do you look at the upper floors of the buildings? (I say “walk” because this is a dangerous exercise when driving – trust me, I’ve tried it.)

As you look at the tops of downtown Geneva buildings, two terms to know are cornice and window hood. Cornices are the decorative bits directly underneath the edge of the roof. Window hoods, sometimes called drip hoods, are anything over a window to direct rain away from the top of the window.  

Some of downtown’s upper floors are ornate:

Originally built in the late 1890s for the Baker & Stark clothing store, this is now the Geneva Bicycle Center.

Some have been hidden for decades:

Metal facades were all the rage after World War II. Traditional downtown architecture was old, and business owners wanted to look modern and space-age. They used solid metal panels, or sometimes perforated screens that allowed light into the windows they were hiding. As tastes change, the metal has been taken down. You can see the difference between the Franklin Furniture façade, and the original brickwork that was revealed around 2008.

Some have been changed:

As you can see, these three stores on Seneca Street (J.W. Smith’s, Home Dairy, and Keilty Dry Goods) originally had one roof line and identical windows. The middle building had a new façade by 1929, but the window openings are still in the same configuration and the higher cornice is false. The late Merrill Roenke told me that his father was concerned about the heavy cast iron window hoods falling off J.W. Smith’s so they removed them; he didn’t say what happened to the cornice. In the third photo you can see that the current owners have put back window hoods, but not in the original style.

And finally, some have been lost:

With our photo archives, I have the luxury of looking at buildings that are gone. This building was at 525 Exchange Street, next to the Seneca Hotel. (Some may remember when Peck’s clothing store was there.)

Does any of this matter? It’s all personal opinion and taste. I feel differently walking into a 19^th century brick building with decorative cornices and window hoods than I do entering a concrete block store with large single-pane windows. Preserving and investing in downtown buildings is all about betting that enough people will feel the same way to come to those stores and spend money.

Geneva House Architecture

By John Marks, Curator of Collections 

Geneva has great residential architecture. If you think I’m going to say, “because of South Main Street,” you’re wrong. A city’s housing stock is much more than a single street.

Variety

With few exceptions, we have one house of every architectural style of the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Think I’m making this up? We have an octagon house from the 1850s; only 173 were built in our state and most are not in the fine condition of this one on North Street.

We have a Mediterranean-influenced house and Spanish eclectic style on North Main Street, fairly close to each other. The houses may have reflected the owners’ heritage, or perhaps they saw images in a builder’s pattern book and said, “I’ll take that one.”

Most Genevans know of the “Frank Lloyd Wright house” on Washington Street. In spite of weeks of research, its owners have not found the architect who designed it. While not by Wright, it is a good example of Prairie Style architecture.

There is even an International Style house on Lochland Road. Now, it is mostly hidden by trees and shrubs; that is good or bad, depending on your feeling about this minimalist style.

Timeline

If you know architectural styles and when they were popular, you can tell when a street was developed. In the case of Washington Street, there is a fairly clear timeline going east to west.

Original Structures

While some buildings have been altered, for better or worse, most houses in Geneva still stand where they were built. Few old houses were destroyed to build a more modern style on the same spot; rebuilding after a fire is an exception. North Main Street is exceptional for its lack of infill (new buildings on a street of much older architecture) and its variety of styles, from Federal to Shingle to the eclectic styles shown earlier.

Geneva’s houses may reflect the wealth of the original owners and changing architectural styles. They also hint at the stories of families who chose how their house would look, for reasons lost to time.

Geneva's Armory: Form and Function

By John Marks, Curator of Collections and Exhibits

We walk by buildings every day without questioning their appearance, whether or not we know architectural styles. Sometimes we stop seeing buildings altogether. The Armory comes to mind because I recently spent several months on a committee to plan a Veterans Day event there. Anyone over the age of three years old will look at the Armory and say/ think, “Castle!” Why?

Built in 1892, the Armory initially looked like many other public buildings of its time: red brick, rough stone foundation, and lots of arched doorways and windows. The tower was a little unusual but not unheard of.

Original armory and High Street School

New York armories were all designed the same. There was an administration building in front, and an attached drill shed behind it. (The drill hall looked like, but should never be called, a gymnasium.) The Geneva armory drill shed is visible in back and to the left.

Geneva’s National Guard unit, the 34^th Separate Company (later Company B), quickly outgrew its building. The state legislature authorized an expansion which was completed in 1906.

1906 Armory – current size, but the right-hand tower still has conical roof

The castle or fortress appearance, adopted earlier in other towns and cities, was no accident. The 1890s and 1900s were times of immigration, labor unrest, and concern about Socialists and Communists trying to organize new immigrants and workers. State militias were activated to protect citizens however the government saw fit, by preventing violence or breaking strikes. Armories were built in the center of towns and cities to reassure citizens, and remind agitators, that the militia was on the job.

The Geneva armory, like others, was built to function defensively if necessary. Look at the south (left-hand) tower. The base rises in toward the building while the top windows of the tower jut out. If attackers attempted to scale the foundation, defenders in the tower had a clean shot at them. Likewise, the casellations (pattern on top of the tower) and narrow windows provided protection for soldiers shooting down at the street. Larger armories had iron gates that locked in front of the main doors for extra protection against mobs.

Armory with final alterations

Sometime after 1906 the top of the north tower was altered to match the south tower, and a porch was built over the main entrance. The last addition to the building was the garage to the north, sometime after World War II.

Being in town and city centers, older armories were often built on small lots with little room for expansion. Changes in military vehicles and equipment required more storage space; by the 1960s, many urban armories were abandoned for new buildings on the outskirts of town. Some found new uses, many were demolished. Geneva is fortunate to still have this building on Main Street.

Pierce and Bickford

By Kerry Lippincott, Executive Director

There are many subjects that I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about, but architecture is not one of them.  Like art, I like what I like.  However, while working for the Chemung County Historical Society in Elmira I couldn't help but learn a thing or two about the architectural firm of Pierce and Bickford. The firm built a variety of structures in and around Elmira, including Elmira City Hall, F.M. Howell and Co. building, Hedding Methodist Church and several private homes.  To my surprise, I've discovered that Pierce and Bickford have a connection to Geneva.  In the early 1890s, they built and designed the YMCA building (76-86 Castle Street) and the Smith Opera House.

YMCA Building

Born in Dundee, Joesph H. Pierce (1855-1932) came to Elimira to study under the architect Eugene B. Gregory.  Within a year Pierce was working for William H. Hayes (the first graduate of Cornell's architecture program).  Between 1883 and 1890, Pierce had a partnership with engineer Otis Dockstader.  Though the firm of Pierce and Dockstader constructed a variety of buildings, they specialized in residential homes and churches.  In 1890 Hiriam H. Bickford (1863-1928) joined the firm as a draftsman.  Little is actually known about Bickford.  Born in Vermont, Bickford worked for several firms in the Northeast before coming to Elmira.

In 1891 Piece and Bickford formed their own firm.  Based out of Elmira, they would design and construct schools, churches, private homes, apartment houses, commerical buildings, hospitals, public buildings and other structures in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  In all Pierce and Bickford built several hundred buildings and designed the renovations of many more.   A number of Pierce and Bickford's buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places.  These include Dundee Methodist Church, First Baptist Church in Painted Post, Elmira Heights Village Hall, Fire Station No. 4 in Elmira, and the Clifton Springs Sanitarium (the Spa Apartments).

After Bickford's death in 1928 his son Robert (who had served as a draftsman at the firm for several years) became Pierce's partner.

For more information about Pierce and Bickford, read Architects of Standing: Pierce & Bickford Elmira, NY, 1890-1932 by Roger G. Reed.

Smith Opera House