As I’ve written before, I love a house tour – who
doesn’t like peeking into other people’s houses and imagining how they live,
and wondering either what possessed them to hang some particular piece of art, or coveting a
particular chandelier or faucet. The Corn Hill Holiday Tour of Homes wasn’t
really on my radar until my friend Colleen emailed to say her house was
included, so we had to go!
 |
| "spite" house |
A very large group gathered at the Immaculate Conception
Church for instructions for the 30th annual tour and partitioning
into groups of 20 to visit the six homes. Charlie and I were joined
by Colleen’s parents, uncles, and in-laws. We had two guides – one a longtime
Corn Hill resident, and one who had just returned to Rochester to take care of
her aging parents. They kept us engaged on our walks between stops with
neighborhood history and lore (mostly fact, but perhaps some fiction?). For
example, I finally learned the story of the odd “bubble house” I admired every
time I went to the Corn Hill Festival (I teased Charlie that if I’d
seen that house before we built ours, I would have tried to cajole our
architect into including one of those windows somewhere). Apparently, a couple had lived across the street, and the wife, who worked in the property records
office, kicked her architect husband out after she discovered, only through
recording the deed, that he had purchased that piece of property. He
then erected the bubble house out of spite, so that his wife would have to look
out at it!
We also learned that the two small adjacent homes were
actually built in Caledonia and floated down the river to their current
location. Our first official stop was The Hayden House, an 1850 Italianate home
on South Fitzhugh Street, which has been carved up into seven apartments. The
owner of #2 gave us the history of the house and invited us all to climb the
narrow spiral staircase to his cozy third-floor cupola for a lovely view of
Rochester.
Our second stop was The Pagan House, on Troup Street,
built in 1983 but designed to blend into the neighborhood. Like most of the
homes on the tour, there were various levels to be navigated – up two steps
here, down two there – and a compactness that didn’t make the house family or
age-in-place friendly. But the angled alcove in this home provided the perfect
place for a beautiful, large Christmas
tree!
 |
| Ely House - DAR HQ |
Next up was our “refreshment stop” at the 1837 Hervey
Ely House, a Greek Revival mansion that currently serves as the headquarters of
the Irondequoit Chapter of the DAR. What an impressive home it must have been,
back in the day when Corn Hill was the place to live, and the streets bustled
with activity (before George Eastman arrived and moved mansion living to East
Avenue). The house is available for party rental, and our male guide reminisced
about being married in one of the rooms, and having his reception in another.
 |
| Colleen & Bill's house |
Finally, the house we were waiting for – Colleen and
Bill’s! The Sabey House, built in 1837, had the distinction of being not just
the oldest private home on the tour, but also of having an unusual number of
female owners in its past. Colleen shared her enthusiasm for the house and
neighborhood, and pointed out her family’s personal touches, from the recently
painted exterior (bright blue, with a pink door), reclaimed light fixtures in
the kitchen, and a beautiful wood bed crafted by her talented father.
 |
| a beautiful home not on the tour |
The final two homes seemed unexceptional, although we
were treated to a fascinating explanation of the rich history of the
neighborhood by the owner of a Mark IV Townhome. Back in the 1830s, East Avenue
was a wild and dangerous place, and Corn Hill was where prominent doctors and
lawyers lived in mansions, and craftsmen and artisans lived in the smaller
homes (like Colleen’s) on Greenwood. It was also a racially diverse area, with
an influx of blacks fleeing southern slavery. Frederick Douglas Avenue was the
old Plymouth Avenue, a thriving, busy street with shops and stores at ground
level and apartments above. After World War II, people moved to the suburbs,
and if I heard correctly, several hundred homes were demolished to make way for
490. A 1964 fire was responsible for the loss of more homes. The Corn Hill Neighbors Association, which runs the tours, also coordinates the Arts
Festival, and raises funds for area beautification projects. Kudos to them for
keeping Corn Hill beautiful and relevant!
A very large group gathered at the Immaculate Conception
Church for instructions for the 30th annual tour and partitioning
into groups of 20 to visit the six homes. Charlie and I were joined
by Colleen’s parents, uncles, and in-laws. We had two guides – one a longtime
Corn Hill resident, and one who had just returned to Rochester to take care of
her aging parents. They kept us engaged on our walks between stops with
neighborhood history and lore (mostly fact, but perhaps some fiction?). For
example, I finally learned the story of the odd “bubble house” I admired every
time I went to the Corn Hill Festival (I teased Charlie that if I’d
seen that house before we built ours, I would have tried to cajole our
architect into including one of those windows somewhere). Apparently, a couple had lived across the street, and the wife, who worked in the property records
office, kicked her architect husband out after she discovered, only through
recording the deed, that he had purchased that piece of property. He
then erected the bubble house out of spite, so that his wife would have to look
out at it! 
We also learned that the two small adjacent homes were
actually built in Caledonia and floated down the river to their current
location. Our first official stop was The Hayden House, an 1850 Italianate home
on South Fitzhugh Street, which has been carved up into seven apartments. The
owner of #2 gave us the history of the house and invited us all to climb the
narrow spiral staircase to his cozy third-floor cupola for a lovely view of
Rochester.
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