HomeMy WebLinkAboutContinuation Sheet - 63-67 E. Main, Trumansburg.pdfN.Y. Historic Resource Inventory Form - Continuation Sheet
Address: 63-67 East Main Street
Village/Hamlet: Trumansburg
Narrative Description of Property
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The two-story brick structure is an excellent local example of the Italianate style.
The multifamily residence is located on the north side of Main Street, just west of Elm
Street. The First Presbyterian Church is located to the east and the Masonic Temple
(formerly Trembly/Cornell House) is immediately to the west.
The building is notable for its ornate brick cornice, wooden porch on the main
(south) facade of the western addition and its front (south) porch, a later addition.
According to the Spring 1977 survey, the interior features heavy eared molding
surrounding the doors and windows of the first story.
The main block of the house has a low-pitched hipped roof and the massing of
almost a perfect square. The brick is configured in a Flemish common bond. In addition
to the porch that wraps around the south and eastern facades, there are four additions
visible from Google satellite maps. A small addition on the west side provides access to a
rear apartment, while the other additions are off the rear (north) fagade of the residence.
The ornate cornice has two bands of corbelling: the top bottom features dentils,
with the band below is an arcade of round arches. Severe, rectangular stone lentils and
stone sills articulate the horizontality of the structure. The windows on the visible facades
vary between original double -hung wood sash with 6/6 light configuration and
replacement sash with 1/1 lights. The majority of the windows retained their rectangular
wooden louvered shutters.
As the structure was designed to be a duplex, the first floor of the main (south)
fagade contains two main entrances. The western door surround appears to be intact,
while the eastern one has been altered. The western door has twelve fixed lights with
paneling below. Horizontal transom and side lights surround the doorway.
Compiled by Katelin Olson, August 15, 2014
N.Y. Historic Resource Inventory Form - Continuation Sheet
Address: 63-67 East Main Street
Village/Hamlet: Trumansburg
Narrative Description of Property (continued)
The pair of wooden doors with rounded -arch lights on the south facade of the
western addition also appear to be original. The continuity between the aesthetics of the
main house and the western addition suggest that it was constructed soon after the
completion of the main block. Two brick chimneys are on the western end of the roof.
The remaining additions, including the flat -roofed two story addition on the east fagade,
were added near the end of the 19th century.
The substantial two-fagade porch is supported by large wooden posts with
exaggerated linear capitals and a circular motif. Dentils runs along the eaves of the metal -
clad porch roof
Narrative Description of Significance
The lot upon which the structure sits is composed over half a dozen separate
parcels acquired by various owners throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. The structure
was constructed as a duplex, and spent many years with separate owners. They were
separated after construction, and remained apart until 1948.
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. 63-67 East Main Street appears to confirm this
phenomenon.
The "yellow frame house" located on or near the current parcel was the destroyed
in the fire. Prior research suggests that the current building was constructed between 1864
Compiled by Katelin Olson, August 15, 2014 2
N.Y. Historic Resource Inventory Form - Continuation Sheet
Address: 63-67 East Main Street
Village/Hamlet: Trumansburg
Narrative Description of Significance
and 1866 for the Quigley family (David C. and Ashen H.) and was intended to serve as a
two-family home for the father and son.
The 1866 New Topological Map of Tompkins County indicates a structure was
owned or occupied by "A.H. and D.C. Quigley," and the accompanying directory lists
them as having an "emporium of home-made clothing." The 1868 lists the two men as
merchant tailors located on Main Street. Ashen also sold "flagging" from the Cayuga
Lake Quarry in association with E.P. Asher.
Prior to the construction of the house, the Quigley family assembled a number of
properties that combined to form the present lot. (This was likely due to consolidation in
the aftermath of the 1864 fire.) (More information on the order of parcel assembly can be
found in the Building Structure Inventory Form for 63-65 E. Main, created in Spring
1977.)
Partial History of Ownership of Building Date Acquired Book Page
John T. Feller
Gordon Whitaker 2/24/1995 750 138
(current owner) 8/5/2004 45872 3001
Compiled by Katelin Olson, August 15, 2014 3
N.Y. Historic Resource Inventory Form - Continuation Sheet
Address: 63-67 East Main Street
Village/Hamlet: Trumansburg
Figure 1: Main (south) facade
Compiled by Katelin Olson, August 15, 2014 4
N.Y. Historic Resource Inventory Form - Continuation Sheet
Address: 63-67 East Main Street
Village/Hamlet: Trumansburg
Sources
Celebration of the Bicentennial of the United States of America in the Town of Ulysses
and the Village of Trumansburg. Publisher unknown: 1976.
Digital Sanborn Maps 1867-1970. Ann Arbor, Mich.: ProQuest UMI, 2001.
Goldstein, Carol and Tania Werbizky. "63-65 E Main Street," NY
Building Structure Inventory Form, Division for Historic Preservation. Albany,
NY, Spring 1977.
Interviews with parishioners at Church of the Epiphany. May and June 2014.
Martin, Carolyn A. Trumansburg, New York Incorporation Centennial." Trumansburg,
NY: The Trumansburg Centennial Association Incorporated, 1972.
Sears, Lydia. A History of Trumansburg, New York, 1792-1967. Location unknown: I -T
Publishing Corp, 1978.
Tompkins County. "Property Description Report For: 63-67 Elm Street, Municipality of
V. Trumansburg." Image Mate Online. Accessed July 29, 2014.
Compiled by Katelin Olson, August 15, 2014 6