209 S Geneva St Ithaca

Street Address History:
Earlier street address 25 S Geneva St.
The city renumbered its streets in 1899 using the hundred block system (see Crandall City Engineering Map, 1899).

Source: Henry St. John Local Historic District Nomination, Sara Johnson and Kristin Olson, Historic Ithaca, Inc., 2012.
Description: 
209-211 South Geneva Street is located on a wide lot on the east side of the street, one lot south of West Green Street. Ithaca’s commercial neighborhood begins across West Green Street to the south. It is a two-and-a-half-story house of frame construction originally built ca. 1845 in the Greek Revival style but radically expanded and remodeled in 1885 in the Stick style.
The house is roughly rectangular in plan and front-gabled, with high gable dormer behind the front gable, a lower cross gable on the north, and two cross gables on the south. Walls are clad in asbestos siding with wood corner boards and stringcourses. The roof is clad in slate. Windows are primarily 4/1 and appear singly and in pairs with simple casings. The foundation is stone and an interior brick chimney projects from the center of the roof.
All gables are decoratively trussed with open stickwork and incised Eastlake-style vergeboards. On the south façade, the western cross gable projection extends down to the top of the first story, with decorative brackets bracing the corners below the overhang. The east cross gable projection is two stories and has a decorative corner cutaway bay in the southwest corner.
A one-story, shed roofed porch covers the west, primary, façade. The main entrance on the west façade has a Greek Revival-style door surround with eared moldings, though the sidelights now contain stained glass. The first story windows under the full-width porch also have eared moldings, with 6/1 sash.
A small, shed-roofed second story balcony is above the south corner of the porch and a shedroofed portico covers a secondary recessed entrance on the north side of the west façade. All porches have decorative porch posts with curved brackets and balustrades featuring repeating cutouts. 
A paved driveway runs along the south side of the house to a one-and-a-half-story, side-gabled carriage house at the southeast corner of the property. The carriage house features three triangular gable dormers on the west façade and the roof is clad in original embossed metal shingles. Another paved driveway covers the northwest section of the lot, terminating at a fence near the center of the house.
Significance: 
Contributing. Architecturally significant. Historically significant. 
Carriage house contributing and architecturally significant.
209-211 South Geneva Street is architecturally significant as an excellent example of a Stick style residence. Though the central section of the house was constructed ca. 1845 in the Greek Revival style, the 1885 expansion of the house left only the door surround as evidence of its original style of construction. It has a high level of integrity, retaining the form and massing, exterior finishes, and porches from the 1885 expansion. The carriage house is architecturally significant as an example of a late nineteenth century carriage house and retains a high level of architectural integrity.
The house is historically significant for its association with the Newman family, who were related by marriage to the Treman family. The Treman family owned many properties in the neighborhood during its early period of development. When Levi Newman, a boat builder, purchased the property in from Leonard Treman in 1864, he was already living in the house on the lot that had been constructed prior to 1851. In January 1885, Mary J. Newman sold the property to Isaac Newman, who had been married to Cornelia Ann Treman. Isaac and Cornelia Newman’s son Jared Newman boarded with Levi and Mary Newman in the 1870s while he was a Cornell student. Jared Newman was later one of the developers of Cayuga Heights and mayor of Ithaca.
Isaac Newman was a town assessor and supervisor, and a railroad bonding commissioner. After his purchase of the property, he hired a contractor and builder named Sherman to expand the existing house, which was completed at the end of October 1885. The house was later conveyed to Jared Newman, who sold the property in 1897.
James G. Pritchard owned the property from 1915-1928. Pritchard was the owner of J.G. Pritchard & Son, an automobile dealership located at 227 South Cayuga Street and moved to a newly built house at 223 South Albany Street after the sale of this house.
Alterations: 
In 1885 the house was radically expanded and remodeled in the Stick style. A one-story addition and porch were added to the east façade of the house between 1898 and 1904. Between 1904 and 1910, a two-story porch was added in the northeast corner and a full-width porch was constructed on the east façade after 1910. It does not appear that the house has had any substantial additions since 1929.
Sources: 
Atlas of Tompkins County, New York. (Philadelphia: Stone & Stewart, 1866). 
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. 
Bevans, John. 1851 Map of Ithaca, Tompkins Co., N.Y. New York: John Bevans, 1851. The History Center In Tompkins County, Ithaca, NY. 
Ithaca Daily Journal, October 29, 1885. 
Ithaca directories, 1864-1981. Historic Ithaca, Inc., Ithaca, NY. 
Map of Tompkins County, N.Y., 1853. Philadelphia: Horace & Charles T. Smith, 1853. The History Center In Tompkins County, Ithaca, NY. 
Sanborn Map Company. Ithaca, NY fire insurance maps, 1888-1961.The History Center In Tompkins County, Ithaca, NY. 
Sisler, Carol U. Enterprising Families, Ithaca, New York: Their Houses and Businesses. Ithaca, NY: Enterprise Publishing, 1986. 
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.