212 S Albany St Ithaca

Source: Henry St. John Local Historic District Nomination, Sara Johnson and Kristin Olson, Historic Ithaca, Inc., 2012.
Description:
212 South Albany Street is located on a small shallow lot on the west side of the street slightly south of West Green Street. With the exception of the small front yard and paved driveway on the north, the house occupies almost all of its building lot. It is a two-and-a-half-story wood frame house constructed ca. 1883 in the Queen Anne style with elaborate Eastlake-style ornamentation. The house has a cross gabled roof and a tall hipped roof tower in the void between the gable front and the north cross gable. Triangular gabled dormers break through the east and north sides of the tower’s roof, capping window that extend through the cornice of the tower. The second story slightly overhangs the first, supported by decorative brackets on the east façade and allowing for a cutaway bay on the north façade. A cross-gabled porch covers the entrance in the north corner of the east façade. The house sits on a roughly course stone foundation, raised above street level. Windows are generally 1/1 wood sash. Roofs are clad with modern shingles designed to mimic slate roofing tiles.
The walls have a variety of wood cladding and feature corner boards and string-courses separating surface treatments. The main sections of the first and second stories are clapboard. A wide band of flush diagonal boards runs between the first and second stories and the second story and upper half story. The east gable end is also clad in diagonal boards. The tower’s top half story is clad in fishscale shingles.
Decorative wood trim is abundant. The primary east and north gables and the gable dormers have vergeboards with a simple floral motif. The dormers also have carved trussed gables and curving brackets decorate the tower’s cornice. The windows on the east and north sides of the tower sit above wood panels with a carved leaf pattern. Narrow windows on the second story of the tower are capped with small sloping roofs supported by curved brackets with an inset quatrefoil design. At the north façade of the cross gable, decorative brackets fill the gable below a faux truss and the gable wall surface flares out over the second story. The first story cutaway bay features fan motif brackets.
The east façade features two spindlework balconies. One runs below the gable under a small window and the other sits under a group of three windows on the first story. The lower balcony is supported by fan motif brackets. The ornate entry porch has seven turned wood posts, decorative trussed front gable and low balustrade with turned balusters.
A small, single-bay, hipped roof automobile garage is located at the northwest corner of the property. It is clad in shiplap siding and has original triple garage doors.
Significance:
Contributing. Architecturally significant. Historically significant.
Garage contributing and architecturally significant.
The house is architecturally significant an excellent example of Queen Anne style house with Eastlake style detailing. It retains almost all of its original features including a variety of surface treatments, intricate wood trim, turned porch posts, and original exterior door hardware. Decorative motifs included in the wood trim include birds, flowers, leaves and vine patterns. The house retains a high level of architectural integrity.
The small early automobile garage in the northwest corner of the property, built between 1919 and 1929, is also contributing, retaining its original exterior details and a high level of integrity. The house is historically significant for its association with businessman Ira C. Rockwell, who may have constructed the house as either a speculative property or a house purpose-built for the rental market. A number of houses in the district were built as rental properties. Rockwell operated a Seneca Street lumberyard and owned neighboring 210 South Albany from 1870-88, where he lived from approximately 1870-84.
The house is located on the south part of lot 32 and a portion of lot 33 of the lots laid out by Simeon DeWitt south of Green Street. Evidence suggests that Rockwell constructed 212 South Albany Street on the south section of his larger lot in 1883 or 1884. It is possible that Rockwell, like other Ithaca businessmen, built 212 as a rental property, a practice common in the Henry St. John district.
In 1886 Rockwell boarded at 305 West Green Street, the home of Herman Estabrook located immediately northwest of 210 South Albany. In 1888, Rockwell sold 210 South Albany to Estabrook’s son William B. Estabrook, a stenographer who also lived at 305 West Green Street. The property conveyed to Estabrook included 210 and 212 South Albany Street and the deed noted that the sale included the contents of 212 South Albany.
William B. Estabrook owned 212 South Albany from 1888-1901, when it was subdivided from 210 South Albany and sold to Ida L. Merrill for $3,500. Merrill and her husband Jason P. Merrill owned and resided in the property until 1909. Jason Merrill was a city assessor and a partner in Merrill & McWhorter, insurance agents. In 1909, Charles Westervelt purchased the house. Westervelt was the president and manager of Forest City Printing Company, located at 122-126 South Tioga Street. Westervelt sold the house to Forest City Printing in 1916.
Sources:
Bardin, A.G. 1872 Map of the Corporation of Ithaca, Tompkins Co., N.Y. Philadelphia: T.C. VanArsdale & Co., 1872. The History Center In Tompkins County, Ithaca, NY.
Beers, F.W. Map of City of Ithaca N.Y. New York: F.W. Beers, 1889. The History Center In Tompkins County, Ithaca, 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
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.

Source of Building Data: 1910 Sanborn Fire Insurance Atlas;
Multi-Family Construction: ; 
Roof of Main Structure: Non-combustible; 
Additional Sections: Section 1, front right inset (NE), 3 stories, non-combustible roof; 
Porches: Porch 1, front of Section 1, 1 story, non-combustible roof; 
Outbuildings: ; 
Other: ;