228 S Geneva St Ithaca

Street Address History:
Earlier street address 46 S Geneva St.
The city renumbered its streets in 1899 using the hundred block system (see Crandall City Engineering Map, 1893, revised 1902).

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

Source: Henry St. John Local Historic District Nomination, Sara Johnson and Kristin Olson, Historic Ithaca, Inc., 2012.
Description: 
228 South Geneva Street is located on a narrow, deep lot on the west side of the street, slightly north of West Clinton Street. It is a two-story house of frame construction, built ca. 1832 in the Greek Revival style. It is rectangular in plan, with a one-and-a-half-story wing to the west and a bay window on the north façade.
The house has a low-pitched front-gabled roof with a narrow cornice and returns on the east façade. A brick interior chimney with a corbelled top projects near the west gable end. Walls are clad in clapboard with wood corner boards. Windows are primarily 1/1, with narrow, unornamented casings. An end-gable window is covered by a pair of closed wood shutters. The three-bay primary (east) façade has windows in the south and center bays of both stories. An entryway with a pair of glazed double Italianate-style doors is in the north bay of the first story and a single Queen Anne-style stained glass window is in the north bay of the second story. A full-width, shed-roofed, one-story porch extends across the east façade. It has turned posts with brackets and a spindlework frieze and balustrade.
On the north façade, a one-story bay window projects near the west corner of the main section of the house, filling the narrow space between 228 and 226 South Geneva Street. On the south façade, windows are located near the east and west corners of the main section of the house. The east first-story window has a diamond-light upper sash. The windows on the west addition are irregularly sized and arranged.
A paved driveway along the south façade is part of 232 South Geneva Street.
Significance: 
Contributing. Architecturally significant. Historically significant.
228 South Geneva Street is architecturally significant as a good example of a modest early Greek Revival style residence. It has a high level of integrity and retains both original exterior features and Italianate and Queen Anne-style features added near the end of the nineteenth century. 228 South Geneva Street is historically significant for its association with Jacob McCormick, fourteenth village president and prominent businessman. The house is on the southeast corner of Lot 30 of the lots laid out south of Green Street by Simeon DeWitt. McCormick purchased the lot from William Lessley in 1827.
McCormick owned oil, grist and plaster mills, large farms, a foundry, and a hardware store. He was born in Big Flats, New York in 1783 and served in the War of 1812. McCormick owned the Ithaca Hotel and the stage route from Owego to New York City. He also built the brick Greek Revival style home that still stands at 408 East State Street. He served a number of local offices: postmaster for several years, village trustee 1836-40, and fourteenth village president in 1840. As president of the village, he had flagstone sidewalks and stone curbing installed on State Street and established the first fire limit. McCormick died in 1855.
John Watkins owned the property from 1863-1890. Watkins was a carpenter and carriage maker, a partner in the carriage firm of Cronk, Watkins & Co., located on West State Street. His partner William Cronk lived across the street at 231 South Geneva Street.
The west half of the lot, which originally extended to Albany Street, was sold to the owners of 233 South Albany Street in 1958, reducing the lot to 33’ x 100’. The current owners of 228 South Geneva Street purchased a 25’ section back in 200, increasing the depth of the lot to 125’.
Alterations: 
The east porch and north bay window were constructed between 1893 and 1898. Between 1904 and 1919, small porches were added to the west façade and on north façade at the intersections of the east and west sections of the house.
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 228 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.