For lovers of old houses, the 1880 Queen Anne-style house at 310 West State Street, dubbed “The Tibbetts-Rumsey House”, is being renovated into a co-op for young professionals, with $500,000 of help from the state’s RESTORE NY grant fund. The plan is to restore the house into an eight-bedroom co-op style living space, with a new modular six-bedroom co-op unit in the rear of the property. The two co-ops are separate.
The money generated by the new carriage house/rear co-op helps to pay for the expensive renovations needed for the existing home, which was in a poor condition due to previous ownership (the Salvation Army). It’s not as architecturally unique as the carriage house that was condemned and torn down several years prior to this project, but it does reuse a couple of design elements. The previous had an irregular shape, brick finish and mansard roof; the replacement will have a rectangular footprint with Hardie Board (fiber cement) siding and a gable roof, similar to barns from the late 1800s time period it is taking its cues from. The project also comes with new landscaping, fencing and eventually, 36 solar panels on the new build’s roof.
The 3,800 SF residence was designed by local architect Alvah B. Wood and built by contractor John Snaith (of Snaith House) in 1880. Wood, a Cornell classmate of the more famous architect William Henry Miller, designed a number of prominent local structures, including the old Ithaca town hall at 126 East Seneca Street (built 1881, demo’d 2003, now the site of Tompkins Financial’s brand new HQ), the Immaculate Conception Church (1896) and the railroad/bus depot at 701 West State Street (1898). Union Army Captain J. Warren Tibbetts and his family were the first residents of the home. It was sold to the Rumsey family in 1885, and they owned it until 1966. The developers are Dr. David Halpert and his wife Teresa Halpert Deschanes. Prior to this project, failed renovation plans included a rental property and a drug addiction treatment facility (long term plans had included the potential for a “safe injection” facility, but the purchase deal fell through and the Halperts swooped in shortly thereafter).
310 W. State St.
Bugbee’s Place: Why live alone for when you could come home to friendly faces for $? If you are willing to share you bathroom with one other person, you could live in a high-style 1880 gem, gut-renovated from 2017-2019. All new plumbing, electricity, insulation, storm windows, sprinklers, heating/AC. Fossil-fuel free, ductless mini-splits, refinished floors and walls; all new kitchen and bathrooms.
Alvah Bugbee Wood was a prominent architect who designed churches, railroad stations, schools, and factories. (See his photo in Ithaca City Hall, as a member of the very first Common Council.) Early in his career, before he was sought out for commercial jobs, AB designed a few large wooden houses for wealthy Ithacans. This is one of the few remaining, and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Eight bedrooms (ranging in size from medium to huge; plenty of room for queen beds, desks, dressers, bookcases, nightstands; large closets or multiple armoires. Giant Victorian windows with custom interior storms and velvet blackout curtains. Your own individually-controlled almost-silent ductless AC/heating unit. Share your bathroom with one other (individual medicine cabinets; 38″ shower; plenty of linen space. Plenty of storage in the attic.
Common areas include living room with original fireplace, communal-sized dining room, multi-room Victorian kitchen suite (walk-in pantry, butler’s pantry, separate scullery with dishwasher and two sinks; butcher-block chopping station). Gourmet appliances include induction range with 5-cu-ft self-cleaning convection oven, 50 cu ft of refrigerator space, etc. Laundry room with Electrolux front loaders. Original and vintage hardware, deco tiles, and retro color palette throughout.
Fenced-in private yard for your doggies, with patio and raised-bed planters so you can grow stuff. Share the yard with another co-op in the new cottage at the back of the lot. Limited parking.
OLD
Ithacating in Cornell Heights 