10 The Byway Ithaca

This residence was originally built as a one-and-a-half story Greek Revival worker's cottage. The earliest listed owner is Jacob Price in 1850, either a mill worker or owner. The house appears on the map of Free Hollow in the 1866 Atlas of Tompkins County, labeled "W. J. Slocum."  William Slocum was the grandfather of local historian Albert Force. Sometime within the last third of the nineteenth century, a Stick style porch, since demolished, was built onto the main facade. Following the purchase of the house by Andrew and Sarah Lamoureux in 1906, the structure underwent several major enlargements and adaptation to colonial style. The roof was raised providing a full second story. A two-story wing was added to the rear of the house, while a one-story greenhouse was attached to its southern side. The house was also subdivided to provide space for a rental apartment.

The structure underwent a second series of major renovations following its purchase, in 1930, by Professor and Mrs. Forrest Wright. In 1931, the greenhouse wing was removed and a chimney installed in its place. The main facade was significantly altered in 1936. Under the supervision of the Ithaca architectural firm of Hewitt & Metzger, window openings were altered and the doorway centered in order to present a symmetrical bay arrangement, in keeping with the Colonial Revival style. A new doorway with sidelights and full entablature was installed and shutters added to the windows; the Stick style porch was removed. During this same period, the interior was modernized and spaces rearranged. An interior staircase, taken from a local theater, was added. Renovation work was also carried out on the rear facade. An original window was removed and converted to French doors. A screened porch was removed and replaced by a wooden arcade and a flagstone patio was installed.

The first floor of the 1906 wing, which had served as a three room rental apartment under Lamoureux and Wright ownership, was reunited with the main portion of the house by Davis and Marian Cutting, who owned the house from 1955 until Marian's death in 2016.

Included in Forest Home Historic District with USN 10906.000046. To access the Building-Structure Inventory form (sometimes referred to as the "Blue Form"), from which most of the details above are drawn, follow these Lookup Instructions.