226 S Geneva St Ithaca

Street Address History:
Earlier street address 44 S Geneva St.
The city renumbered its streets in 1899 using the hundred block system (see Crandall City Engineering Map, 1899).

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

Source: Henry St. John Local Historic District Nomination, Sara Johnson and Kristin Olson, Historic Ithaca, Inc., 2012.
Description: 
226 South Geneva Street is located on a small lot on the west side of South Geneva Street, slightly north of West Clinton Street. The two-story house of frame construction was built ca. 1845 in the Greek Revival style. It is rectangular in plan with a series of additions on the west façade that are flush with the north façade. Walls are clad in clapboard with wood corner boards and a narrow cornice. Windows have narrow, unornamented casings. The coursed rubble foundation is slightly raised and contains evenly spaced 6-light windows.
The three-bay east, primary, façade has evenly spaced 6/6 windows and a pair of individual entrance doors in the northernmost bay. A small shed-roofed porch covers both doors. The porch has turned posts with curved brackets, a spindlework frieze, and a simple balustrade composed of rectangular balusters.
The series of additions is visible along the north façade. West of the gable section, there is a two-story, shed-roofed wing, followed by a one-and-a-half-story addition with a flat or very low-pitched roof. A double-deck, shed-roofed porch projects from the last addition. Each addition steps down from the previous, but all continue the same line of the north façade.
A narrow sidewalk runs along the north façade and a gravel driveway separates the house from its neighbor to the north.
Significance: 
Contributing. Architecturally significant.
226 South Geneva Street is architecturally significant as an example of a modest side gable Greek Revival style residence. The house retains many of its original exterior features, including windows, clapboards, and simple cornice.
226 South Geneva Street is located in the northeast section of Lot 30 of the lots laid out south of Green Street by Simeon DeWitt. The house was built prior to 1851 on a lot that originally extended west to South Albany Street.
Alexander King owned the property prior to 1865, when he sold it to Lawrence Herson. King was a partner in A. King & Sons, who were grain and lumber dealers as well as being active in the real estate business in the 1850s and 60s. The King family also owned 210 South Albany Street and 301 West Green Street. The Herson family owned the property until 1923 and the west section of the lot along South Albany Street was subdivided in 1924.
Alterations: 
The house with its west wing and a one-story addition appear on the 1888 Sanborn company map. Between 1888 and 1893, a small porch was constructed near the center of the north façade. The porch is not shown on the 1904 map, but it does appear on the 1910 map along with a porch at the north corner of the east façade. Between 1898 and 1904, the one-story addition was extended to two stories. Between 1919 and 1929, the north porch was removed and a one-story porch was added to the west façade. The existing double-deck porch on the west façade may have been added after 1961.
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. 
Levine, Jeffrey. Building-Structure Inventory Form for 226 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.