202 S Geneva St Ithaca

Street Address History:
Earlier street address 18 S Geneva St.
The city renumbered its streets in 1899 using the hundred block system (see Crandall 1899 City Engineering Map).

Source of Building Data: 1910 Sanborn Fire Insurance Atlas;
Multi-Family Construction: ; 
Roof of Main Structure: Shingle; 
Additional Sections: ; 
Outbuildings: ; 
Porches: Porch 1, wraparound front and left side (E, S), 1 story, non-combustible roof / Porch 2, right side (N), 1 story, non-combustible roof; 
Other: ;

Source: Henry St. John Local Historic District Nomination, Sara Johnson and Kristin Olson, Historic Ithaca, Inc., 2012.
Description: 
202 South Geneva Street is located on a small lot at the southwest corner of South Geneva and West Green streets, one block south of the commercial row of South Cayuga Street. It is a two-story house of frame construction built ca. 1853 in the Greek Revival style, with numerous subsequent additions.
The house is roughly rectangular in plan, with a gable front on the east façade and a cross gable at the east corner of the north façade. A single-story porch enclosed with a wall composed of 1/1 sash and an overhead garage door runs across the east façade. A shed-roofed two-story addition, two shallow one-story bays, and two cross gables project from the south façade. A two-story addition projects from the west façade.
All of the gable ends have cornice returns and walls are clad in clapboard with wood corner boards. Windows are generally 1/1, with the notable exception of an oval stained glass window near the north corner of the east façade and a tripartite stained glass window with a classical surround near the east corner of the north façade.
A paved driveway extends from the street to the overhead door n the east façade.
Significance: 
Contributing. Architecturally significant. Historically significant.
202 South Geneva Street is architecturally significant as an example of a Greek Revival style residence. It retains many original and late 1800s exterior details despite the additions to the south and east façades. These include wood clapboards, window frames, cornice and returns, an oval stained glass window, and a stained glass window with classical surround. The addition of the enclosed porch and garage door impact its architectural integrity, but the house retains a higher level of integrity on the north façade.
202 South Geneva Street is historically significant for its association with the Mack family, who owned multiple properties in the district from the 1830s through the 1880s, and its association with Benjamin Ferris, who was the fifteenth village president.
Horace Mack Sr. was the twentieth village president and had 115 West Green Street built ca. 1837. He was married to Benjamin Ferris’ sister. Their son, Horace Mack, was a real estate agent, accountant, Cornell University Clerk, and assistant in the land office of Cornell University. The younger Horace Mack lived at 207-290 West Green Street, two lots west, and owned that property from 1858-86. He also owned 205 West Green Street, immediately west, during part of 1863.
Mack purchased the 202 South Geneva Street lot in 1851, subdividing it with the sale of the southern section (206 South Geneva Street) to Philip Case in 1853. It is possible that Mack had a house constructed on the lot between 1852 and 1864.
Martin Delano owned the property from 1864-1866. Delano also owned and resided at 205 West Green Street, from 1863 to 1867. Delano was a partner in the firm of Winton, Delano & Co., wholesale grocers with a business on Cayuga Street, and served as county clerk in 1861. Delano sold the property to another prosperous grocer, John Crozier, who had a store nearby on South Cayuga Street. Crozier sold the property to Benjamin Ferris, who resided first in a brick house on West Green Street in the group of houses known as “Presidential Row,” then later on Ferris Place. From 1886-1899, Robert Reed, partner in Reed & McCrea butcher shop, owned the property. The partners also owned 208 South Geneva Street during that time.
Alterations: 
The house may have been built as a two-story, front-gabled Greek Revival-style residence, rectangular in plan, with the gable oriented east-west and the primary façade along South Geneva Street. Sanborn maps from 1888 through 1961 reveal a general sequence of additions. The 1888 map shows a two-story rectangular house with a one-story addition on the west corner of the south façade and a porch wrapping around the south, east, and north façades. Between 1898 and 1904, the one-story addition was increased to two stories and a small two-story addition was constructed at the east corner of the north façade, the location of the classical stained glass window. Between 1910 and 1919, a one-story addition was made on the west corner of the south façade. Between 1919 and 1929, a two-story addition was constructed on the west façade and a section at the southeast corner was enclosed. Other alterations have resulted in the currentconfiguration, including the complete enclosure of the east porch between 1954 and 1987 and the installation of a garage door on this addition.
Sources: 
Burns, Thomas W. Initial Ithacans. Ithaca, NY: Press of the Ithaca Journal, 1904. 
Ithaca directories, 1864-1981. Historic Ithaca, Inc., Ithaca, NY. 
Levine, Jeffrey. Building-Structure Inventory Form for 206 South Geneva Street, Ithaca, NY: 1987. 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.