225 S Geneva St Ithaca

Street Address History:
Earlier street address 43 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: 
225 South Geneva Street is located on a narrow lot on the east side of the street, immediately south of the McGraw House assisted living facility. It is a two-story house of frame construction, built ca. 1845 in the Greek Revival style. The main section of the house is oriented east-west and roughly rectangular in plan, with a two-story and a one-story addition on the east side and a one-story enclosed porch at the southwest corner.
The roof is front-gabled and features a wide cornice with returns on the west and frieze windows on the south. Walls are clad in aluminum siding. The foundation is stone, with parged masonry under the southwest porch addition. The evenly spaced windows are 1/1 replacements, but the casings are original, with Greek Revival-style eared corners. The entrance is located in the south bay of the three-bay west façade. It is slightly recessed, with an eared surround, and a top light and sidelights flanking the door. A small gable pediment portico covers the entryway.
On the south façade, a one-story shed-roofed enclosed porch projects to the south in the space between the west section and a two-story cross gable addition to the east. A group of three 1/1 windows lines the west façade of the porch and five 1/1 windows lies the south façade of the porch. The cross gable addition is two bays deep, with a bay window on the second story. A shed-roofed, one-story addition projects from the east façade of the cross gable addition.
A paved driveway runs along the south side of the house to the southeast corner of the property.
Significance: 
Contributing. Architecturally significant. 
225 South Geneva Street is architecturally significant as a good example of a modest Greek Revival style residence. Though aluminum siding has been added and windows have been replaced, the house has an overall good level of integrity and retains many of its original exterior features, including frieze windows, eared window casings, cornice trim, and door surround.
The house is located on Lot 25 of the lots laid out south of Green Street by Simeon DeWitt. It is not known when the house was constructed on the lot. It was constructed prior to 1851, either during the property’s ownership by the McChain family (owners from 1828-39), Oristus H. Gregory (owner from 1839-47), Leander Millspaugh (owner from1847-49), or James M. Heggie (owner from 1849-1853).
Heggie, who operated a saddlery and a coach business, sold the house to Andrew Giltner in 1853. Giltner, a clerk, owned and resided in the house from 1853-66. William S. Snyder owned the property from 1871-1906. He was a teamster and worked in a lumberyard, possibly that of George Small, who also resided in the house during Snyder’s ownership. Small owned and operated a lumber yard on South Tioga Street near Green Street. In 1906, after a brief period of ownership by the Ithaca Realty Company, Ella Earl purchased the property. Earl, whose family also owned 231 South Geneva Street from 1870 to 1923, owned the property from1906 to 1914.
Alterations: 
The only significant addition to the house after its depiction on the 1888 Sanborn company map is the enclosure of the southwest corner porch, which occurred between 1954 and 1975.
Sources: 
Bevans, John. 1851 Map of Ithaca, Tompkins Co., N.Y. New York: John Bevans, 1851. The History Center In Tompkins County, Ithaca, NY. 
Ithaca directories, 1864-1981. Historic Ithaca, Inc., Ithaca, NY. 
Photograph of 225 South Geneva Street, July 1975. 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.