HomeMy WebLinkAbout579 Perry city Rd.pdfBUILDING -STRUCTURE INVENTORY FORM
DIVISION FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION
NEW YORK STATE PARKS AND RECREATION
ALBANY, NEW YORK (518) 474-0474
YOUR NAME:
Jane Schwerdtfeger
FOR OFFICE USE ONLY
UNIQUE SITE NO.
QUAD
SERIES
NEG. NO.
DATE: December 30, 1983
YOUR ADDRESS: 35 Goldwin Smith, Chi TELEPHONE: ( 607) 273-4497
ORGANIZATION (if any): niversity
IDENTIFICATION
1. BUILDING NAME(S):
2. COUNTY:`1'om.nking TOWN/CITY: Myssps VILLAGE:
3. STREET LOCATION: 579 P rry Ci ty 'Road
4. OWNERSHIP: a. ublic ❑ h private 91 chard
5. PRESENT OWNER: Egand Jean_ TrPn-- ADDRESS:79 Perry City___R
6. USE: Original: Present: residpnne
7. ACCESSIBILITY TO PUBLIC: Exterior visible from public road: Yes El No ❑
Interior accessible: Explain no, primate Goma
DESCRIPTION
8. BUILDING a. clapboard IN b. stone EFOUq 14n d. board and batten ❑
MATERIAL: e. cobblestone ❑ f. shingles ❑ g. stucco ❑ other: metal roof
9. STRUCTURAL a. wood frame with interlocking joints
SYSTEM: b. wood frame with light members ❑
(if knovn) c. masonry load bearing walls ❑
d. metal (explain)
e. other
10. CONDITION: a• excellent ❑ b. good KI c. fair ❑ d. deteriorated ❑
11. INTEGRITY: a. original site b. moved ❑ if so,when?
c. list major alterations and dates (if known):
circa 1930-- Owen and Mabel Carmen remodelled the
first floor and installed a kitchen and a bathroom. The
original kitchen was what ii & the dining room. Some
12. PHOTO. I
\ 4ilK,dtff aV ! COLLEG.6.■ i ROA
_ rn ■ bpacttg � .��
14. THREATS TO BUILDING: a. none known E3
d. developers ❑
f. other:
b. zoning ❑ c. roads ❑
e. deterioration ❑
15. RELATED OUTBUILDINGS AND PROPERTY:
a. barn IN b. carriage house ❑ c. garage ❑
d. privy ❑ e. shed ® f. greenhouse ❑
g. shop ❑ h. gardens ❑
i. landscape features:
j. other: three stone or cement harness posts in front
16. SURROUNDINGS OF THE BUILDING (check more than one if necessary): hous0 rid
a. open land ® b. woodland ❑
c. scattered buildings ❑
d. densely built-up ❑ ' e. commercial ❑
f. industrial ❑ 'g. residential KI
h. other:
17. INTERRELATIONSHIP OF BUILDING AND SURROUNDINGS:
(Indicate if building or structure is in an historic district)
The Trenchard's home is about 4-5 miles west on Perry City
Road from New York State Route 96. Across a field and about
one hundred feet to the west is a Victorian farmhouse, while
there are fields to the east and north. It is placed about 12 feet
18. OTHER NOTABLE FEATURES OF BUILDING AND SITE (including interior features if known): from the
road.
This is a very well preserved 12 story Greek Revival house
which is generally rectangular. The house has thin corner
boards. The south gable end of the facade has three.bays on
both the upper and 'lower levels. All five windows are shuttered,
double -hung, and have six over six lights. The door is on the
SIGNIFICANCE
19. DATE OF INITIAL CONSTRUCTION: circa • 1854- . This house appears on
the 1866 map of Jacksonville under -the owner's name, Lets (Letts).
ARCHITECT:
BUILDER:
20. HISTORICAL AND ARCHITECTURAL IMPORTANCE: Only three families have
owned this house, including the Trenchards. The house is
believed to have been built by the Letts family in the mid -
nineteenth century. In 1881, Julia Letts married Frank Carmen,
who was a member of a prominent Quaker family in the area. Yx.
Carmen lived there until 1941, when he died. Owen Carmen,
Frank Carmen's son, and his new wife Mabel moved in at this
time. Mabel Carmen died in the late 1970s and the house was
sold with all its furnishings to the Trenchards in 1979. Many
furnishingsssuch as the beds with tris -crossed rope to support
the mattresses, are from the early nineteenth century. A
framed box with a glass front holds a delicate flower wreath
21. SOURCES:
Conversation and tour of the
Trenchard, December 1983
2.2. THEME: A Farm Journal article
of their home and
New Topographical Atlas of To
Actual Survevs Especially
Stone and Stewart, Publish
house with owners, Doug and Jean
circa 1959 devoted to the history
its past owners.
nkins Countv. New York, From
ers,
So
Trenchard page 2
11. Alterations: remodelling may have also occurred after
December 7, 1941, since one of the interior walls was
insulated with newspapers announcing the attack on
Pearl Harbor.
Since 1979 when he and Mirs. Trenchard bought the house,
he has made routine repairs such as fixing leaky cielings.
In 1983 he began adding onto the rear of the house,
consciously working to maintain the home's architectural
integrity. The addition extends about eight feet back and
will house a new bathroom on the west side and a small
dining room on the east. The addition appears to be in
keeping with the rest of the house.
18. Notable Features: east end of the gable and is accen-
tuated by two fluted pilasters supporting an entabulature.
The shutters on the door hide its flanking sidelights; a
transom is over the entabulature. The heavy frieze band
dies not return on any of the gable ends.
The adjoining gable projecting east has a one-story porch
with a low-pitched roof and entabulature supported by three
fluted columns. The fourth on the west and is a pilaster
matching the others. A panelled centrally --placed door is
flanked by two large shuttered, double -hung six over six
paned windows. Above the porch are two frieze band windows
whose decorative wooden grilles were hand carved after the
dilapidated originals by Mr. Trenchard.
A flush gable brick chimney is located on the east gable end.
The east gable has two windows each on the upper and lower
levels which match those on the facade. On the north end
of the east side is a 12 story section with a low over-
hanging porch roof. Its pediment -like gable is supported
by one square column. Two frieze windows are over the porch
and illuminate the "hired man's" room. Underneath the
porch are two windows on either end matching those on the
facade, and an entrance in between. On the north end of
the east wall is a woodshed which is attached to the house.
.This section has double doors but no windows.
The -west side of the house has two large shuttered windows
on the first floor matching the others and two frieze
windows above. The north end of the house which is not
part of the woodshed is where the Trenchard's addition is
being constructed. A small board and batten shed and a
barn are to the northeast of the house.
Trenchard page 3
18. Continued:
The interior of the house is in excellent condition.
The original kitchen, located on the east side, has a
large brick fireplace and baking ovens set into the brick
beside it. A small circular stairway leads up to the bedrooms
on the west end of the house. One of these bedrooms has its
orizinal nickel stove with "1847 Utica NY" on the front.
The basement has a long slate slab table which the Carmens
in the nineteenth century used to keep their milk cool.
In the basement, Pir. Trenchard found that the stone walls
are of a double construction and have rock rubble in the
airspace between them for insulation.
20. Historical/Architectural Importance: painstakingly
made from bird feathers. Most of the furnishings were
tagged by Mable Carmen; one chest of drawers indicates
the man who made it and that the 'armens received it in
1847.
The furnishings which belong with the house eloquently de-
scribe what the inhabitant's lives were like. For example,
the "hired man's" room is above the kitchen and a small
trap door in his room covered the chimney pipe from the
fireplace. Mr. Trenchard noticed a pulley set into the
beam above the trap door, and an eye in both the trap door
and the wall above the man's bed. By pulling a rope
attached to the trap door, the hired man could open the door
to heat his room without climbing from bed. This well--
preserved home is rich in its architectural integrity and
in the history of its owners.