A Survey of Scottholm Syracuse, New York
A Survey of Scottholm Syracuse, New York
SCOTTHOLM
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK
Cor nel l Un iv er sit y
H i s tor ic P re ser v at ion Pl a n n i ng P ro g ra m
For t he Cit y of Sy rac u se
Dear Residents:
We members of the Cornell Historic Preservation Planning Program are excited to share with you the cultural resource survey we have been conducting of the Scottholm Tract. Over the
past three months, students enrolled in the CRP5610 Preservation Planning Workshop have been researching a section of your
neighborhood; you may have seen us walking around, taking
pictures, measuring sidewalks and the distance between trees, or
talking to you about the history of Scottholm. This survey is a
joint effort between the City of Syracuse and Cornells Historic
Preservation Planning Program, conducted so that the city can
have a better understanding of its historic resources in order to
enhance future planning in the area.We have created this booklet
for you to see what we have been doing, and some of what we
found. Thank you for the warm welcome you have extended to
us over the course of the semester, and for allowing us to survey
your neighborhood.
Students
Katherine Coffield
Mahyar Hadighi
Katherine Kaliszewski
Christiana Limniatis
Gregory Prichard
Jessica Stevenson
Faculty
Jeffrey Chusid
Jessica Follman
Meghan Hayes
Donald Johnson
William Marzella
Jonathon Rusch
Ryann Wolf
Katelyn Wright
A History Of
SCOTTHOLM
From the opening of the Erie Canal to the beginning
of the Great Depression, Syracuse experienced a century of
nearly unabated progress and prosperity. At the beginning of the
twentieth century, the city enjoyed a vibrant downtown, a booming
population, and a healthy mix of industrial and commercial pursuits.
During this period, Syracuse bristled with urban improvements:
paved roads, the electric streetcar, improved infrastructure, and City
Beautiful-inspired public amenities. Between 1900 and 1930, the
population of Syracuse doubled, surpassing 200,000 citizens. As
the city grew, inner-city residential eras were redeveloped to suit
commercial needs, and residential expansion was stretched to the
outskirts of the city, and in some cases, beyond. As the city grew
in population, therefore, it also grew in physical size; its outlying
areas enjoying the amenities of suburban life as well as convenient,
streetcar access to the central city. Spurred on by this convenient
transportation and unregulated real estate investment, early middleclass suburbs sprouted up east of the city, especially in the vicinity
of the Syracuse University campus. While many suburbs conformed
to the prevailing street grid, some chose to emphasize irregular,
park-like settings. These included Berkeley Park, Strathmore By
the Park, and Sedgwick Farm, whose designs were integrated
with curvilinear street patterns, generous vegetation, and access to
recreational amenities. Although it appeared late in this first flush of
picturesque suburban development, Scottholm was no exception to
these rules.
Scottholm, located two miles east of the center of
downtown Syracuse, falls within a region first surveyed under
the 1794 Central New York Military Tract, under the name of
Manlius, in lots forty nine and sixty. The Military Tract program
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A Survey of Scottholm
A Survey of Scottholm
A Survey of Scottholm
suburb, evidenced by the fact that all had private driveways, and
a great majority had detached garage structures. This disjunction
is most likely caused by the fact that, despite Scottholm being laid
out as early as 1914, the majority of its homes were constructed
between 1922 and 1929, when the automobile was becoming
popular. Streetcar use in Syracuse gradually declined until 1941,
when service was discontinued.
Scottholms development slowed during the Great
Depression and appears to have completely stalled at the outbreak
of World War II; no new homes were constructed within the
neighborhood between 1940 and 1945. In 1946, the East Genesee
Extension Corporation submitted its final map of the subdivision.
At the time, Scottholm was a well-established suburb within the
city limits, but the surrounding region still offered large, open tracts
with easy city access along East Genesee Street. More importantly,
Scottholm itself offered many undeveloped sites.
Most of these open sites within Scottholm in the postwar
period were on the southern parts of the developmentalong
Scottholm Terrace and across Meadowbrook Drivebut could
also be found scattered around its central areas. The residences
constructed in this later period chose to adopt styles distinct
from the central, older portion of the neighborhood. Instead of
the eclectic and revivalist styles that dominate the older areas, the
new houses were increasingly modern or vernacular adaptations.
Additionally, many were ranch or split-level designs with attached
garages or carports. By the late 1940s, popular magazine surveys
indicated that families enjoyed the single-story, open spaces of
ranch houses. The style had developed in California in the 1930s,
but would become a symbol of the postwar building boom that
occurred across the suburban United States. Ranches had a number
of features that were associated with modern architecture: horizontal
massing, open plans, picture windows, sliding glass doors, broad
chimneys, exposed timber beams, deep eaves, exterior terraces,
and patios. They could also feature distilled elements of traditional,
Syracuse, New York
Various advertisements and articles. The Syracuse Herald and The Syracuse PostStandard. 1915-1922.
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A Survey of Scottholm
11
HARVA RD
22 4
26 01
3
10
26 27
3
11
1925 - 1929
1930-1934
CH
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0
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GE
9
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4
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7
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27
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113
7
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63
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379
367
365
IN
13
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LA
12
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12 0
124
120
118
116
114
GENESEE PARK
118
116
114
112
110
10 8
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102
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288
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115
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111
10 9
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40 0
FERRIS
10 2
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6
ER
BR
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City of Syracuse
Onondaga County,
New York
Year Built
1915 - 1924
1935 - 1940
Outside Period of Sig.
FELLOWS
20
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Historic Resources
Survey
OR
SH
RD
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AN
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CR
AW
F
S
SA LT
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Year Built
Scottholm Tract
Legend
CUMBERLAND
Already
Surveyed
NR Listed
Locally
Protected Site
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A Survey of Scottholm
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A Survey of Scottholm
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House Spotlight:
Early Italianates
2686 Genesee Street
Originally owned by the Scott Family, this late 19th century Italianate
farmhouse is one of the only remaining buildings from Scott Farms.
According to a 1916 newspaper, the Scotts used this home as an inn
for travelers on the Genesee Turnpike. After the farmland was sold to
Amon Sanderson in 1914, the house was sold to and rehabilitated by E.A.
OHara in 1915. His father, Edward H. OHara was a well-known publisher of the Old Syracuse Herald. E.A. OHara followed his fathers footsteps into journalism and eventually came to be president and publisher
of the the Herald-Journal. It was he who modernized the house, installing
electricity and building the entry porch (below is a 1916 Syracuse Herald
account of these modernizations). The home stayed within the OHara
family until 1969.
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A Survey of Scottholm
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House Spotlight:
Neighborhood Connections
The Markson Brothers Company in Scottholm
A notable business in Syracuse, the Markson Brothers company specialized in the sale of furniture and other home goods. Started by four Polish
immigrant brothers in 1905, Markson Brothers had stores in downtown
Syracuse, Utica, Auburn, Oswego, and Rome. Several members of the
next generation of Marksons continued to operate the business for years
to come. Interestingly, several members of the Markson family decided to
settle in Scottholm during its first years of development.
202 & 208 Scottholm Boulevard
These two houses, while not similar in style, have a Markson family connection. In 1929, Max Franklin and his wife, Esther Markson Franklin,
moved into the home at 202 Scottholm Boulevard. The next year, Esthers
sister, Kate Markson Liberman, and her husband, Arthur, moved into 208
Scottholm. Both Esther and Kate were daughters of Abraham Markson,
the oldest of the original Markson brothers. Max Franklin was president of
Franklin Co. Furniture, which was at one time the largest furniture chain
in New York State. His marriage to Ester Markson is an interesting case of
two furniture company families coming together!
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A Survey of Scottholm
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House Spotlight:
House Spotlight:
Colonial Revival
Spanish Eclectic
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A Survey of Scottholm
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House Spotlight:
House Spotlight:
Tudor Revival
Modern
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A Survey of Scottholm
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