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HomeMy WebLinkAboutVOCH historian Marcham lighting fixtures BOT Proposal.pdfTo: the Cayuga Heights Mayor and Board of Trustees From: Beatrice Szekely, Village Historian, January 12, 2015 A Proposal to Repair and Restore Two Light Fixtures Expenditure of up to $2,000 for cleaning, polishing and reassembling two light fixtures, as well as hanging them in their original locations suspended from the ceiling of the courtroom in Marcham Hall, the Village of Cayuga Heights municipal building at 836 Hanshaw Road, is requested in time for the June 2015 Cayuga Heights Centennial Celebration. Please see the attached proposal for work to be done by Michael Montgomery of Vintage Lighting in Aurora, New York. He has been recommended with uniformly excellent references by Ithaca historic preservationist Victoria Romanoff; Dave Brong of Pleasant Valley Electric; Monica Pittman, who does all the interior design and renovation work for Pleasant Rolland in Aurora; Doug Adams, owner of a historically significant building in Auburn; and Andrew Roblee, facilities manager at the Seward House Museum. Provenance of the fixtures Dorothy Cornell, an unmarried granddaughter of Ezra Cornell, built Marcham Hall, which she named Stonecroft, between 1926 and 1928. She had the two fixtures, which are excellent examples of the art deco “upside wedding cake” style of chandelier that was very popular in the 1920s and 30s, installed in what she called her “studio,” the present-day courtroom. Sometime after she sold the building around 1937 they were taken down, likely in 1963, which was six years before the village moved in, judging from the newspaper they were wrapped in. Fortunately, a careful wrapping job was done; all the parts were left intact just waiting to be found a year ago. Like the land the house stands on, the fixtures were a gift to Miss Cornell from her sister and brother-in-law, Eunice Cornell Taylor and Charles Taylor, who lived next door in the Warren Real Estate building at 830 Hanshaw Road. The Taylors apparently brought them back to Ithaca from the Hotel Martinique in New York City where Charles Taylor had been proprietor. Very similar fixtures may be found in photos of public rooms in the Martinique, which was a notable example of Beaux Arts architecture designed by the architect of the Waldorf Astoria. Without knowing that there was, in fact, a pair, Carol Sisler makes note of the Taylors’ gift of “a large chandelier” from the Martinique in her local history Enterprising Families, Ithaca, New York, Their Houses and Businesses. A Description As described by Michael Montgomery the pair is a significant example of the upside wedding cake chandelier. They are made of solid brass with brass chains and canopies that fasten to the ceiling above. The round swag pattern on the body of the fixtures is quite unusual for its floral decoration. The four circles underneath have tiny openings where the glass prisms found nearby in the attic are meant to be fastened, sending off light from the five bulbs inside. The bulb sockets that were called “fat boys” were standard until the 1940s but with rewiring will accept present-day light bulbs. It is Montgomery’s opinion that this will furnish a great deal of light to the entire room, sufficient for use by the village court and meetings, undoubtedly so if joined by the lighting panels on the side walls as proposed by Brent Cross to replace the current track lighting. The chandeliers are a particularly fine example of their kind, most of which had neither such ornate design nor quality of workmanship. Michael Montgomery, who in twenty-five years has been in only “half a dozen homes with this quality of fixtures,” thinks they would be offered at an auction house in New York City for between $8,000 and $10,000 apiece. Why the village should spend the money? I know from my experience in your shoes full well that this is the first question you need to ask, and the simple answer is to affirm the role played by Marcham Hall in the history of the village and its relationship to Cornell. Cayuga Heights is the quintessential American university suburb, to give you a taste of the opening paragraph in the brief history I’m writing. That Dorothy Cornell, was a granddaughter of the founder Ezra symbolizes the close connection that the village has enjoyed with Cornell ever since it was founded in 1915. The coincidence that 2015 is the university’s sesquicentennial as well as our centennial presents the perfect opportunity to commemorate the intimate town and gown relationship that has sustained the village throughout its first century and will certainly in the next. Of note, our centennial events will be included in the publicity for Cornell’s sesquicentennial celebration this spring. Significantly, the Historic Ithaca house tour on the day of the Cayuga Heights Centennial Celebration, June 13, will begin and end at Marcham Hall. “For the first time,” as village preservationist Carole Schiffman has noted, “Marcham Hall is being considered as an historic structure of incredible integrity with a great story.” Frederick Marcham has been suitably honored by renaming the building for him, and we have a roadside marker outside crediting Jared Newman and Charles Blood as the first village land developers. Now it is Dorothy Cornell’s turn. Photos she took of her house, two copied here by preservationist Randi Kepecs, will be displayed in the rooms open for the tour to show how she furnished them. As the photos prove, the chandeliers are a splendid piece of village heritage. In the words of Historic Ithaca director Alphonse Pieper they are certainly deserving of a “relatively small, one-time investment for long-term preservation.”