Bates Block

F.S. Howe, Dentist, 1 and 11 Bates Block, over 18 N Aurora St 

Alfred B. Dale, Architect, 7 Bates Block 

William H. Allen, Barber, 3 Bates Block 

Gray & Wood (Allen B. Gray & A.B. Wood) Insurance, Real Estate, Architecture, and Surveying, 4 Bates Block 

Henry H. Philes, Second-Hand Books, 5 bates Block (2d floor) 

Mrs. E. Plummer, Tailoress, 13 Bates Block 

Mrs. Kittie Taylor, Sewing Machine Agent, 15 and 16 Bates Block (3rd fl) 

White & Kirkendall (D. White & J.S. Kirkendall) Physicians and Surgeons, Bates Block over 20 N Aurora St

Norton & Conklin Publishers, Ithaca, NY

118-124 North Aurora St. and 215-217 East Seneca St. Historic name: Bates Block

"Prominent three-story, thirteen-bay, ten-bay deep, painted brick Italianate commercial building located on the comer of East Seneca Street; North Aurora Street facade retains continuous cast iron storefront arcade with piers, brackets, and architrave decorated with classical floral and acanthus motifs; one two-bay display window storefront (remodeled late twentieth century) faces Seneca Street; upper stories retain segmentally arched windows, soldiered brick window hoods with corbel stops, continuous stone sills, and mostly historic two-over- one sash or one-over-one sash; continuous corbelled brick cornice capped by stamped metal cornice molding. Built 1872. Architect: A.B. Dale Historical note: Built for Rufus Bates for his grocery; cast iron facade was manufactured locally by Treman, Valentine, and Green; in 1979, the building was restored after a fire in the upper stories."

National Register of Historic Places Registration Form for Ithaca Downtown District, December 18, 2004

"Ithaca’s first store opened on this site in 1804. The Bates Block, thought to be designed by Alfred B. Dale, was erected in 1872, a year after Ithaca’s worst fire destroyed dozens of downtown buildings. Grocer Rufus Bates, like other merchants after the fire, used materials less flammable than wood, choosing instead brick and a new, reputedly fireproof material – the cast-iron storefront. In iron storefronts slender posts replaced the massive columns once needed to support heavy brick buildings, leaving more space for display windows. The Bates Block is in the Italianate style. Note the elaborate hood moldings above the windows and the wide overhanging eaves. The name of Ithaca’s leading foundry, Treman, Valentine and King, is stamped on the base of the second column from the corner." 

Historic Ithaca, DeWitt Park Historic District and Downtown Ithaca: An Architectural Walking Tour, 24. http://www.historicithaca.org