Circa 1990, this was described as a rectangular two-story house with an open gable. It features clapboard siding on the first story and cedar shingles on the second story. Most windows in the house are one-over-one double hung sash. This is one of a group of houses built in this section of Forest Home Drive by Eugene Preswick, an instructor of chemistry at Cornell University who began building houses in Forest Home at the beginning of the 20th century. Preswick is listed in city directories between 1913-14 and 1921 as a farmer, and later a yardman. Architecturally, this house is representative of vernacular residential construction at the turn of the century.
The house was acquired in 1920 by Hugh D. Mitchell and his wife Alice, who had emigrated from the UK around 1906. Hugh was a mason and plasterer who worked for Cornell. They lived here until they died, Hugh in 1952 and Alice in 1959.
Included in
Forest Home Historic District with USN 10906.000067. To access the Building-Structure Inventory Form (sometimes referred to as the "Blue Form"), from which many of the details above are drawn, including the estimated date built, follow these
Lookup Instructions.
Other sources:
* Ithaca Directories from
https://www.tcpl.org/archives?field_ar_categories_target_id_op=or&field_ar_categories_target_id=149* Tompkins County Clerk online database of property records at
https://countyfusion3.kofiletech.us/countyweb/login.do?countyname=Tompkins -- BF046212-001 DEED. Transfer from Cora May Raleigh to Hugh D Mitchell and Alice Mitchell, dated July 1, 1920, recorded July 2, 1920