HomeMy WebLinkAboutContinuation Sheet - 47-49 E. Main, Trumansburg.pdfN.Y. Historic Resource Inventory Form - Continuation Sheet
Address: 47-49 East Main Street
Village/Hamlet: Trumansburg
Narrative Description of Property
Units 47 and 49 (E. Main Street) are part of a larger block that is one of three
major brick blocks in the commercial Italianate style along Main Street constructed ca.
1864. It is situated on the north side of Main Street, and is divided into five commercial
units with individual storefronts. (#47 and #49 are currently combined into a single unit.)
Particularly noteworthy, the block's entire southern facade along Main Street has a cast
iron storefront manufactured by "Cheney, Rochester" (NY). The two-story block has
round -arch windows with corbelled brick hood molds with key stones and stone sills on
the second floor of the south and eastern facades. (This is the same style that appears on
9-19 E. Main Street.) The fully -occupied first floor is used for commercial purposes,
while the second floor contains apartments. The rear (north) fagade is a hodgepodge of a
variety of building materials, reflecting a less public (and therefore chaotic) use,
functioning in utility and access points for the commercial and residential units.
A fire ca. 1955-1960 destroyed the roof and cornice of the two western units, #47
and 49, and a gable roof replaced the historically flat roof. The undisturbed eastern
portions retain their round -arch corbelling and flat roof, both characteristic of the style.
The fire reduced the height of the brick fagade along Main Street, and, thus, the
eaves of the gabled roof is below that of the original eaves to the east. The roof is clad
with metal roof. The seven second -floor windows (three for #47, four for #49) have been
replaced with vinyl sash in a 1/1 light configuration. Some rectangular fixed single -light
windows are centered into the window arch for infill; others have custom replacement
windows. The only historical integrity retained at the storefront level is the cast iron and
its accompanying division of spaces. Since the 1977 survey, the storefronts has been
filled in with 1/1 vinyl windows and plywood/composite wood panels. A green awning
covers the space historically delineated by transom windows.
In the 1977 historical survey, the researchers found that "According to retire[d]
Village Historian Lydia Sears, the height of this section of Main Street was raised several
times by infill so that former cellar windows of the block are obscured and inoperative."
Compiled by Katelin Olson, August 15, 2014
N.Y. Historic Resource Inventory Form - Continuation Sheet
Address: 47-49 East Main Street
Village/Hamlet: Trumansburg
Narrative Description of Significance
Trumansburg has an unfortunate history of massive fires, and buildings that
stretched the length of the north side of Main Street from Union Street to the Presbyterian
Church were consumed in a monstrous conflagration on February 22, 1864. In The
History of Trumansburg (1890), local historians record the fire in the following way:
There was no fire apparatus of any description in the town ... it became apparent
that the town must go not with out standing the almost superhuman efforts of the
people to check the conflagration. Lines of men, women, and even children were
formed, buckets of water were passed, and the advancing flames persistently
fought at every step until delicate women would fall to the ground from sheer
exhaustion....Main Street from the bridge to the Presbyterian Church and Elm
Street to the corner of Whig were filled with the house hold goods and
merchandise of all descriptions ... Thee scene at daylight beggards description.
One half the town in ruins, scores of homeless people searching the saved
property for their belongings. (As quoted by L. Sears, 53).
The Trumansburg New York Incorporation Centennial (1972) notes that many of
the buildings devoured in the fire were of wood and the majority of owners chose not to
rebuild, instead selling the lots. The new owners overwhelmingly constructed their new
buildings out of brick, historically an urban guard against fire, and adopted more uniform
designs and greater set -backs. The block at 47-55 East Main Street reflects this new
building style.
The larger block (#47-55) is a good local example of the commercial Italianate style and
is most notable for its complete cast iron front. Cheney iron fronts are found in many
central New York communities including Seneca Falls, Lyons, Clyde, Rochester, and
others.
The 1887 Sanborn Insurance Map indicates that #47 was then in use as a drug
store and photography studio, while #49 was a dry goods store. By the December 1893
Sanborn survey, #47 was selling "trunks and carpets," while #49 continued to sell dry
goods.
Near the end of the 19th century, #47 contained a dry goods store and a boots and
shoes store (presumably on the first floor), as well as a 2nd floor photography studio. #49
was in use as a general store. (1898 Sanborn Insurance Map.) The dry goodsiboots and
shoes continued to occupy the #47 and the #49 housed a general store as of the 1905
Sanborn survey.
As of the December 1910 Sanborn assessment, surveyors left the #47 space
empty, with the dry goods/boots and shoes in #49. #47 is no longer separately marked on
this survey map, which may indicate that this was the period when #47 and #49 were
Compiled by Katelin Olson, August 15, 2014 2
N.Y. Historic Resource Inventory Form - Continuation Sheet
Address: 47-49 East Main Street
Village/Hamlet: Trumansburg
Narrative Description of Significance (continued)
joined for collective use. This trend continues in the last survey, September 1929. At this
point, #49 is simply listed as a store.
Starting in the 1930, Units 47 and 49 restaurant and grocery store owned by
Emma and Syrene Foote. After a mid-century fire that destroyed the roof, they closed
their business and the block was sold to Karle Baldwin. He opened a furniture and
hardware store in March 1952, extending it into the adjoining Units 49 and 51. (Note:
This information comes from Lydia Sear's A History of Trumansburg. It seems to
contradicts the stone tablet on the exterior of the building that says that Karle Baldwin's
furniture and hardware store was in the building from 1937-1963. Perhaps the restaurant
and grocery was in #47 and the furniture store was in only #49 until after the fire, when it
expanded into #47).
In March 1962, Charles and Aileen Marranca moved the T'burg Card and Gift
Shop from the south side of Main Street (precise location unknown) to #47. A 1977 photo
shows a projecting sign saying "T -burg Card -Gift," but the unit was vacant by then.
In 1963 or 1964, Robert A. Moog purchased the building and began
manufacturing an electrical musical instrument called the theremin, a type of electronic
musical synthesizer, in Unit 49. He met Herb Deutsch at a New York State School
Music Conference in Rochester, NY in November 1963. The following year, Moog
invited Deutsch to Trumansburg and the two began collaborating on a new type of
synthesizer. The Moog Company pioneered the commercially produced modular voltage -
controlled analog synthesizers. It's based on the preceding technology accessible through
the transistor radio. The first synthesizer is produced in 1964, and in 1965 composers
gathered that summer for workshops and a concert in the factory on August 28. Moog
stayed in Trumansburg until 1971 when he sold the business, which moved to
Williamsville. The last Minimood shipped from Trumansburg bore the serial number
1210.
After Moog left Unit 49, it became an auto parts store, eventually becoming
NAPA Auto Parts Store, which moved to its current location on the northeast corner of
Main Street and Union Street in 1977. Later that year, both #47 and #49 became
Compiled by Katelin Olson, August 15, 2014 3
N.Y. Historic Resource Inventory Form - Continuation Sheet
Address: 47-49 East Main Street
Village/Hamlet: Trumansburg
Narrative Description of Significance (continued)
"Creations. #47 eventually became a video rental store and ca. 2000, Units 47 and 49
became the current Little Venice Restaurant.
Partial History of Ownership of #47 Date Acquired Book Page
Karle Baldwin c. 1952
R.A. Moog 1963/1964
Thomas Jackson (of 415 Elm Street, Ithaca) ? (owner in 1977)
Alfred A. Bona ?
Loyd W. Stedge Jr. 1993 695 170
William Seamon 2000 885 318
(current owner)
2007 51452 7001
Karle Baldwin
c. 1952
R.A. Moog
1963/1964
Thomas Jackson (of 415 Elm Street, Ithaca)
? (owner in 1977)
Michael A. Sandritter
? (sold property to Mackenzie)
Margaret Mackenzie
December 15, 1993 715 220
(current owner)
August 14, 1998 827 203
Compiled by Katelin Olson, August 15, 2014 4
N.Y. Historic Resource Inventory Form - Continuation Sheet
Address: 47-49 East Main Street
Village/Hamlet: Trumansburg
Figure 1: Main (south) facade
Compiled by Katelin Olson, August 15, 2014 5
N.Y. Historic Resource Inventory Form - Continuation Sheet
Address: 47-49 East Main Street
Village/Hamlet: Trumansburg
Figure 2: Main (south) facade, 1971. Moog Archives.
http://www.moogmusic.com/legacy/ra-moog-co-trumansburg-factory
Compiled by Katelin Olson, August 15, 2014 6
N.Y. Historic Resource Inventory Form - Continuation Sheet
Address: 47-49 East Main Street
Village/Hamlet: Trumansburg
A OWERT OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC
AND 19USIQUE CONCRETE
AUGUST 28, 1965 4 PM
The R. A. 140OG M.
TRUMANSBURG, N. Y.
1. mkrwaret Fairlie Sculpture -Bird Collage
2. FrAnk-lin Morris Concrete Piece
Study
3. T. nnnald Robb Passaraglia and Gigue
4. Kathryn Ferry Apprnach, Statement, Bpd Retreat
5. Tnhn Myhill This Is It
INTERMISSION
Z. Robert Ceely coition
2. Arthur Hunkins Variations on a Concrete Theme
3. Richard Robinson FILited Columns
4. Herbert Deutsch A Little Night Music- 1965
Figure 3: Concert program, 1965. Moog Archives.
http://www.moogarchives.com/concert.htm
Compiled by Katelin Olson, August 15, 2014 7
N.Y. Historic Resource Inventory Form - Continuation Sheet
Address: 47-49 East Main Street
Village/Hamlet: Trumansburg
Sources
Goldstein, Carol and Tania Werbizky. "47-55 E. Main Street," NY
Building Structure Inventory Form, Division for Historic Preservation. Albany,
NY, Spring 1977.
Martin, Carolyn A. Trumansburg, New York Incorporation Centennial." Trumansburg,
NY: The Trumansburg Centennial Association Incorporated, 1972.
Moog Archives. (n.d.) "Chronology 1953-1993."
http://www.moogarchives.com/chrono.htm (accessed July 29, 2014).
Sears, Lydia. A History of Trumansburg, New York, 1792-1967. Location unknown: I -T
Publishing Corp, 1978.
Tompkins County. "Property Description Report For: 47 Main St E, Municipality of
V. Trumansburg." Image Mate Online. Accessed July 29, 2014.
Tompkins County. "Property Description Report For: 49 Main St E, Municipality of
V. Trumansburg." Image Mate Online. Accessed July 29, 2014.
Compiled by Katelin Olson, August 15, 2014 8