"...The house is a two-and-a-half-story wood frame house built ca. 1884 in the Queen Anne Style. ...
The lot is a combination of western parts of lots 27 and 28 of the lots laid out south of Green Street by Simeon DeWitt. These lots originally ran from South Geneva Street to South Albany, with a the house on each lot fronting South Geneva Street and barns or carriage houses located at the rear of the lots along South Albany Street. Houses were built on the Geneva Street sides of the lots prior to 1851; these are now 216 and 220 South Geneva Street.
Charles M. Titus purchased lot 28, the southern lot, in 1871. He had already owned the property a few years earlier, then conveyed it to Charles E. Hardy in 1868. It was not unusual for properties in the Henry St. John district to change owners frequently, and many of the property transfers were among major landowners and business associates such as Titus and Hardy. Titus sold the lot to Oristus Gregory in 1872. Gregory purchased the lot to the north in 1881 and combined the two before selling the western half of the combined lots to Thomas G. Miller in 1884 for $5,500. It is possible that Gregory constructed the house prior to selling the property to Miller because the construction of speculative houses was common in the neighborhood.
Thomas G. Miller was a partner in Enz & Miller, a wholesale paper and stationary business founded in 1878. Prior to forming their own firm, the men worked for the Andrus & McChain printing company. Miller later formed T.G. Miller & Sons paper company, a business that operated through the 1990s. The Miller family retained ownership of 219 South Albany Street until 1987....
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.
Burleigh, L. R. Birdseye View of Ithaca, N.Y.,1882. 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."
Henry St. John Local Historic District Nomination, Sara Johnson and Kristin Olson, Historic Ithaca, Inc., 2012.