This house design by Sears Roebuck was known as the Wilmore or the Jewel. It appeared in catalogs from 1933 until 1939, and originally cost from $1,191 to $1,414. The catalog description was as follows: "A five-room bungalow-type house design, probably the most popular of all American homes. Harmonious gables, batten shutters, circle-head door and attractive grouping of windows show English influence, but the interior is typically modern American. The vestibule opens into a large, pleasant living room, with windows on two sides and good wall space. Details and features: Five rooms and one bath. Front terrace; batten shutters; arched front door. Arched opening between living and dining rooms."
The original design was for a single-story English-type cottage. However, a second story was added which eliminated most of the attic and created a shed-roofed dormer on the rear. Later alterations included the replacement of original kitchen casement windows with fixed sash in 1968, the replacement of an original circular window in the east dormer with a one-over-one double hung sash in 1972, alteration of upstairs windows and the roofline in 1982, and moving of the cellar entrance from the west to the south side of the house in 1983.
The interior of the front door was decorated with an "Art Deco" painting by the original owner of the house, Ernest A. Sundell.
The property on which 310 Forest Home Drive stands was sold by W. T. Stevens to E. A. Sundell in 1931. The property was continuously owned and occupied by the Sundell family until 2011.
The Sundells, father (Ernest A.) and son (Carl H.) acquired and sold neighboring pieces of land at several points, with a major acquisition in 1931 from W. T. Stevens that included the land on which 308 and 310 both stand. 310 was built circa 1932 and used as the main family residence until Carl died in 2006. By 2011, when Carl's son, John sold the property as executor, the property also included newer structures, now numbered 312 and 314 and the land with four structures was sold as a single property. In 2023, the property continued as a single lot on the Tompkins County tax assessment map for Forest Home [Map 66 in
https://www.tompkinscountyny.gov/files2/assessment/TaxMaps/2023/Ithaca.pdf].
310 Forest Home Drive is included in
Forest Home Historic District with USN 10906.000185. To access the Building-Structure Inventory Form (sometimes referred to as the "Blue Form"), and from which many of the details above come, including the estimated year built, follow these
Lookup Instructions.