This is one of several homes in this area that were built during the Depression, making extensive use of salvaged materials. It is set far back from the road, in the western corner of the
310 Forest Home Drive lot. The description in the 1991 Building-Inventory Form is: "This is a two-story, rectangular structure, with clapboard siding and a hip roof. There is a projecting, three-sided bay window on the front facade. At the rear of the site, along Fall Creek, are the remains of a mill race which once provided water power to one of the many mills on the Creek during the 1800s."
Originally built as a one-story garage in 1931, the roof was raised and a second story with windows was added later that same year. An enclosed exterior staircase was attached for access to this upper story apartment. At some later date, the building was extended to the southwest, adding a bedroom upstairs, more storage space downstairs, and incorporating the staircase into the interior of the building. In 1985, all of the second floor windows were replaced with new double hung and casement windows, and new clapboard siding was installed.
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 that included the land on which 308 and 310 both stand, with 310 being 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, it 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].
308 Forest Home Drive is included in
Forest Home Historic District with USN 10906.000184. 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.