305 W Green St Ithaca

Street Address History:
Earlier street address 41 W Green St.
The city renumbered its streets in 1899 using the hundred block system (see Crandall City Engineering Map, 1899).

Source of Building Data: 1910 Sanborn Fire Insurance Atlas;
Multi-Family Construction: ; 
Roof of Main Structure: Non-combustible; 
Additional Sections: ; 
Porches: Porch 1, wraparound front and left side (NE), 1 story, non-combustible roof; 
Outbuildings: Stable 1, 2 stories, non-combustible roof with Section 1, 1 story, shingle roof (#305 1/2 W Green St); 
Other: ;

Source: Henry St. John Local Historic District Nomination, Sara Johnson and Kristen Olson, Historic Ithaca, Inc., 2012.
Description: 
305 West Green Street is located on a narrow, deep lot mid-block on the south side of West 
Green Street between South Albany and Fayette Street, the center of three houses on this short 
block. This property is one of a series of houses along West Green Street that mark the transition 
from Ithaca’s commercial core to the primarily residential neighborhood of the Henry St. John 
district south of Green Street.
The two-and-a-half story, cross-gabled house was constructed ca. 1864 in the Stick style. The 
prominent front gable has a decorative truss and carved vergeboards. Wood corner boards and 
stringcourses separate the first and second stories. Walls are clad primarily in clapboard but have 
a wide band of flush horizontal and diagonal boards on the gable end above the second story. 
Windows are 1/1, and appear in pairs and singly. A deep, one-story porch with decorative 
supports and low baluster extends across the north façade and wraps around the east façade, 
terminating where the cross-gable wall projects.
The east and west gable ends have the same decorative truss and vergeboards as the front gable. 
On the east façade, the paired second story window has a decorative trussed balcony; its low 
wood baluster has a quatrefoil pattern and its floor is supported by scrolled brackets. A small 
trussed roof over the windows is supported by decorative brackets. The west façade is in close 
proximity to 309 West Green Street.
A large paved driveway and parking lot is located between the house and 309 West Green Street. 
At the south end of the parking lot, a one-story L-plan commercial building runs east to west 
with its north to south section located directly south of the house. This is currently the Ithaca 
Plastics company. These buildings were constructed between 1919 and 1929, incorporating a 
two-story wood frame barn that was located in the southwest corner of the deep lot. The barn 
was built prior to 1888 and is partially visible from Fayette Street.
Significance: 
Contributing. Architecturally significant. Historically significant. 
Commercial structures contributing and architecturally significant.
305 West Green Street is architecturally significant as a modest and possibly early example of 
the Stick style in the Henry St. John district. Its cross-gable plan, decorative trussed eaves, wide 
band of contrasting diagonal and vertical flush boards, clapboard cladding, decorative balcony, 
and stringcourses are representative of the Stick style. The fenestration pattern remains unaltered 
though original windows have been replaced with 1/1 sash. The house retains a high level of 
integrity.
The commercial buildings on the southern part of the lot are architecturally significant as 
examples of early automobile-centered commercial structures. Their form and massing is 
consistent with their original form. The original concrete block or tile walls and parapet are now 
clad in T1-11 style siding, but the back of the original parapet is visible from Fayette Street. 
305 West Green Street is historically significant for its association with the Whiton and 
Estabrook families. The house is on lot 33 of the lots laid out by Simeon DeWitt south of Green 
Street. Unlike its neighbors on the east and west, the lot was not subdivided into multiple 
building lots.
The date of construction of the house is uncertain. A structure appears on the site of the house on 
the 1851 map of Ithaca, but 1851 is early for a Stick style residence. It is likely that this house 
replaced an earlier structure. The first available record of the occupation of the house dates to 
1864 by Mrs. Luther Whiton, the mother of John L. Whiton. The Whiton family also owned the 
lot immediately west and a house on the northwest corner of Green and Albany streets. 
John L. Whiton (1816-1886) established a bakery business in 1835 at the corner of Corn and 
State Streets. In 1861, he moved to the Titus Block on State Street and expanded the business to 
include the manufacture of crackers and confectionary. Whiton was a charter trustee of the Ithaca 
Savings Bank and served on the board of trustees form 1868 to 1886. He was supervisor of the 
town of Ithaca in 1862 and a commissioner of the Ithaca & Athens railroad. After being chosen 
for the position of Commissioner of Schools in 1821, he served on the Board of Education until 
his death in 1886. In 1881,Whiton bought the Andrus mansion on South Aurora Street (212 
South Aurora Street) at auction after the failure of the Andrus, McChain & Co. printing firm.
In 1885, the Whiton family sold 305 West Green Street to Herman L. Estabrook. Herman 
Estabrook moved to Ithaca in 1884 from Schuyler County where he was a farmer and the agent 
of the Newfield lands belonging to the Connecticut School fund. In the 1900 United States 
census, he identified himself as a “capitalist”. His son William B. Estabrook, a court 
stenographer, also lived in the house. William B. Estabrook owned two nearby rental properties: 
210 South Albany Street from 1888-1908 and 212 South Albany Street from1888-1901. William 
B. Estabrook sold 305 West Green Street to Maude and Cameron Goff in 1919.
During the Goff’s ownership of the property, additional buildings were constructed on the 
property. A two-story barn was located in the far southwest corner of the property at least as 
early as 1888, when it was shown on the Sanborn company map. Between 1919 and 1929, a onestory, 
seven-stall automobile garage was built south of the house along the west boundary of the 
property and two-story square concrete block or tile building was constructed adjacent to the 
south side of garage, covering the entire south section of the lot. The existing barn in the 
southwest corner was combined with these buildings. The commercial buildings were rented to 
the United States Postal Service for use as a garage. This use is indicated on the 1929 Sanborn 
map and in a lease between the Goffs and the United States government covering the period of 
1941-1951.28
Alterations: 
The plan of the house remains almost the same as that shown on the 1888-1910 Sanborn 
company maps. The 1919 map shows a small one-story porch addition on the south of the house. 
This did not change through the 1961 edition of the map. The south façade is not visible from the 
street.
Sources: 
1900 United States Federal Census, Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York. 
Donofrio, Gregory. Building-Structure Inventory Form for 212 South Aurora Street, Ithaca, NY: 1997. Historic Ithaca, Ithaca, Inc., NY. 
Ithaca directories, 1864-1981. Historic Ithaca, Inc., Ithaca, NY. 
Sanborn Map Company. Ithaca, NY fire insurance maps, 1888-1961.The History Center In Tompkins County, Ithaca, NY. 
Snodderly, Daniel R. “The Whiton House”. Historic Ithaca Newsletter Spring 1979. Historic Ithaca, Ithaca, Inc., NY. 
Tompkins County Department of Assessment. Tompkins County tax assessment photographs, 1954. Historic Ithaca, Inc., Ithaca, NY. 
Tompkins County, NY. Deeds and survey maps, 1850-2010. Office of the Tompkins County Clerk, Ithaca, NY.
28 1929 Sanborn company map of Ithaca, NY, sheet 23; Lease of September 9, 1941 between Cameron and Maude 
Goff and the United States Government. Deed book 262, page 456. Office of the Tompkins County Clerk.