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