2008 Inside Downtown Tour information and guide coming soon!
2007
Tour Guide and Map are below
Building Descriptions by Richard Reisem
Photographs by Andy Olenick
STATION 55, 55 Railroad Street
Property Owner: Costanza Enterprises Inc.
 Look at the second floor of this remarkable historic brick building. It is a continuous row of large uniformly sized windows. There are 206 of them; each one is 10 feet, 6 inches tall. Three additional windows in the complex are as large as freight entrances. Such an abundance of light, especially on the north side of the building, would be exactly what artists covet. At least that was the thinking of Costanza Enterprises when they purchased the 1880s structure with a brilliant idea to create artists’ studios inside.
Although the exterior supporting walls of Station 55 are brick, the interior construction is wood post and beam. The columns and floors are sturdy enough to take the enormous weights that were necessary in all of those warehouses that were built next to railroad tracks. This warehouse, built in the 1880s, once stored printing paper. Chris Costanza of CEI said that on the second story, the floors are 20 inches thick. On top of the wood, the second-story floors have been coated with a layer of stained concrete and polyurethane to create a very smooth, impenetrable surface for the artistic endeavors that will occur on top of them. And there may be unusual artistic endeavors. For instance, Costanza anticipated the installation of such tools as kilns by providing high-amperage electrical outlets in the studios.
The typical studio is 850 square feet with 14-foot, 2-inch ceilings. Each studio includes a bathroom and a fundamental kitchen. These artists’ units can be used for permanent residence, if desired. Phones are equipped with video images of visitors wishing to enter the building. All those 206 fenestrations have been replaced with modern thermal windows to reduce noise (the trains pass just feet away) and conserve heat or air conditioning. Larger apartments are available at Station 55 for permanent residents.
The studios are the full depth of the building, except for a hallway that runs along one or the other side of the building. Since the studio walls hide the light coming from the hallway windows, special screens, called light shelves, reflect that light through clerestory windows above the studio walls. In this way, each studio receives light from both sides.
Since the artists are likely to want to display their art to visitors walking the hallway, viewing windows are cut into the wall of each studio. Curtains can cover these windows for privacy.
VILLAGE GATE, 274 North Goodman Street
Property Owner: Stern Properties
In 1900, the printing company that ultimately became known as Stecher-Traung-Schmidt Lithographic Company moved into a brand-new building at 274 North Goodman Street. The company was a major supplier of labels and folding cartons for canned, frozen, and dry foods, beverages, drugs, cosmetics, toys, hardware, and more. They were one of the nation’s largest producers of can labels. Stecher-Traung was the world’s largest lithographic printing plant. In 1971, the company moved out of Rochester, leaving more than 300,000 square feet of floor space that became Village Gate in 1981. It is a lively blend of retail shops, offices, restaurants, art galleries, theater, and apartments. It is the loft apartments and one commercial enterprise that are on tour today. They are located in three separate buildings.
 302 North Goodman, Apartment No. 305 is on the third floor. It is a one-bedroom loft apartment with 600 square feet of space and 15-foot-high ceilings. Huge windows face south. Originally, this building housed Stecher-Traung offices, so the fine hardwood floors just required refinishing.
302 North Goodman, Apartment No. 302 is an expansive space with 1,176 square feet. Four large windows face north.
 320 North Goodman, Auragen Communications is on the second floor and occupies 8,335 square feet of the building. According to David Thiel, chief executive officer of Auragen, the company employs 31 Web site designers, software engineers, and administrative staff. In this open, bright, attractive space, the company creates brand-focused Web sites for a diversified clientele. The company has been in business 12 years, moving to this sleek contemporary setting four months ago.
 277 North Goodman, Arts & Cultural Council. The headquarters of the Arts & Cultural Council for Greater Rochester is located on the first floor of the building, and is graciously serving as this year’s tour headquarters. The organization’s mission is “to develop, promote and strengthen the cultural industry for the benefit of the people of the Rochester region.” Fittingly, the Arts Council’s space in this renovated industrial building includes a gallery, which is currently exhibiting works of the Rochester Print Club.
277 North Goodman, Apartment No. 402. This is one of 31 loft apartments in this building, developed by Stern Properties, across the street from Village Gate. It has 958 square feet with one bedroom. The counter between the kitchen and living areas was created by a former tenant, who was a student in RIT’s School for American Crafts.
277 North Goodman, Apartment No. 407. At 1,333 square feet of living space, this is one of the largest apartments on the tour. Like the other loft apartments in Village Gate, it has one bedroom. The expansive living area has a handsome parquet floor. Susie Fame, facilities and project coordinator for Stern Properties, said, “As of September 1, we are at 100 percent occupancy in our loft units.”
VINCENT PLACE, 664 University Avenue
Property Owners: Kramer Justice LLC, Pamela Merritt Kramer & Raymond Justice
To appreciate the transformation that has occurred at 664 University Avenue, corner of Atlantic and University avenues, you need to know how the building was used before. It housed Wilco (since 1966) a company that imported and distributed European auto parts for sports cars. That operation utilized the building mainly as warehouse space with a 2,000 sq ft modern first-floor office. In 2004, the building was renovated to become Vincent Place. The building now contains six luxury apartments and a retail space–a New York City style boutique–Urban Essentialz.
Partners Pam Kramer and Ray Justice planned the renovation with the assistance of architect Dan Habza. Pamela was the interior designer for the project and also owns and operates both Urban Essentialz and Starry Nites Cafe. Even though all of the apartments are one bedroom with a master bath, each apartment also has a powder room conveniently located to the living area, so that visitors would not need to invade the private bathroom. She also created an abundance of storage space, which many contemporary apartments fail to provide. The elegant look of the apartments is enhanced by Brazilian cherry floors, granite countertops, and top-of-the-line appliances. Other pleasurable decorative decisions that the apartment dwellers enjoy are electric fireplaces, crown molding, recessed lighting, and decorator colors (not that ubiquitous white). A further touch is laundry facilities that are included in each apartment’s walk-in closet off the bedroom.
On the tour are three apartments: two on the second floor and one on the first. A highlight is the unit of co-owner Pamela Kramer and her husband Paul, the largest apartment in the building at 1,200 square feet. Theirs and other units on the tour showcase interesting artwork and clever ways to expand the feel of relatively compact living spaces.
FLATIRON BUILDING, 696-712 University Avenue
Property Owner: Turrets LLC, Paul Kramer
 Atlantic Avenue meets University Avenue at an oblique angle that creates a pie-shaped lot between the two streets. In this lot with a triangular tip, the Turrets Building was erected in 1886. At its narrow point, the four-story building measures just 9 feet wide. It broadens out, of course, to become 90 feet at its square end. The structure is actually two abutting buildings; the second one at the east end was constructed in 1888. Although slightly different in style and details, the two brick structures become a massive cohesive presence on this significant site.
Businessman Paul Kramer bought the Flatiron Building in 1981. Today, through his enormous efforts, it is the centerpiece of a residential and commercial rebirth of this section of Rochester that has come to be called the Neighborhood of the Arts, as it is surrounded by cultural institutions and artists’ studios.
“When I bought the building in 1981,” Kramer said, “it had been severely neglected for more than 40 years. The upper floors had not been occupied since the sixties. The plans for the neighborhood then were to tear down the building and surrounding houses and build a light industrial park.” Today, Starry Nites Café, Edibles Restaurant, two antique shops, and other retail and commercial establishments occupy the first floor, and there are 18 uniquely designed apartments on the upper three floors. “They are all occupied,” Kramer said.
For this tour, there are three apartments open to tour goers. Two of the apartments are in the 1888 building and one in the 1886 building, which contains a room located at the narrow tip of the building.
Apartment No. 4 is located in the original ballroom on the second floor of the 1888 building. (There are now 6 units occupying that ballroom space.) This 1,300-square-foot apartment has two floors. The upper floor contains two bedrooms and a bathroom with duplicate facilities. It is reached by a circular stairway with a curved-glass balustrade. The lower floor is open space for living, dining, and kitchen. The ceiling in the living area is 20 feet high and the windows are 16 feet high. The floor is original ballroom maple.
Apartment No. 7, also in the 1888 building, is a 1,000-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bath apartment with 20-foot ceilings and 16-foot windows in the living/dining area and one of the bedrooms. A second bedroom and bath are on a mezzanine level.
Apartment No. 35, in the 1886 building, has 1,100 square feet and a new hardwood floor. The main area serves as living room, dining area, and kitchen. There is one bedroom, 1 1/2 baths, and a cozy room in the 9-foot-wide tip of the building, which is set up with a table and chairs in front of an expansive window.
31 PORTSMOUTH TERRACE
Property Owners: Lynn Allinger and Gary Stam
 Louis E. Kirstein, who built up a wholesale business in optical goods here in Rochester and later headed Filene’s department store in Boston, built 31 Portsmouth Terrace for his family in 1905. The house is an eclectic American Foursquare structure clad with yellow roman brick on the first floor and wood shingles on the second floor. The original front porch had Federal style details, but it was enclosed by a previous owner.
The house is now divided into four apartments. The owner’s apartment, which occupies the entire first floor, is open for the tour. Lynn Allinger is the proprietor of Craft Company No. 6, situated next door on University Avenue. The decoration and contents of the house reflect the deep interest in fine American crafts that Allinger shares with her husband, Gary Stam.
There is so much of interest to view in this house that our description here can only note a few highlights. In the entrance hall, the large armoire covered with tin ceiling––which was salvaged from the Palace Theater in Olean, New York––was made by Urban Artifacts, a Wisconsin company that uses vintage materials for furniture and accessories.
To the left of the entry hall is a sitting room and bedroom with furniture and accessories that came from the Double D Ranch in Yokum, Texas. Gary Stam made the twig railing around the spiral stairs that lead to a closet. In a corner of the living room opposite the fireplace, there is a large painted cabinet made by Sticks™ of Des Moines, Iowa. It opens up to create a compact office.
In the bright dining room with an unusual beamed ceiling, the dining table was covered in recycled tin ceiling by Urban Artifacts. They also created the buffet on the side wall and the mirror at the end of the room. The dining chairs are from J.Marshall Design, which also made most of the living room furniture.
The kitchen cabinetry was all rearranged and embellished with crown molding by Gary Stam. The retro stove was found at a Park Avenue garage sale.
A charming walled-in garden and patio separate the house from Craft Company No. 6. Lynn Allinger is offering a 20% discount to tourgoers on all purchases made on the days of the tour. Just show your ticket.
20 PORTSMOUTH TERRACE
Property Owners: Chris and Amanda Costanza
 Thomas W. Finucane, who built the Colonial Revival style house at 20 Portsmouth Terrace in 1894, was one of the leading building contractors in western New York. He was also a banker, an owner of gold and silver mines, the founder and president of a telephone company, the head of a large real estate firm, and a political and religious leader in the community. When George Eastman decided to build a four-story manufacturing/office building on State Street, he turned to Thomas Finucane to design and build it.
Finucane had very particular ideas about how his own house should look. He did not want the exterior to appear ostentatious, thereby advertising his enormous wealth and lofty position in the community. So, 20 Portsmouth Terrace has a modest appearance on its exterior with a façade of wood shingles and a porch supported by clusters of slender columns and with just a bit of decoration in the gable. Another touch that might suggest the owner’s true wealth is the Palladian window in the third-floor gable. And it should also be noted that the house has considerable bulk, in fact, 8,000 square feet of living space.
But the “WOW!” factor occurs just inside the front door in the opulent entrance hallway. If you can divert your eyes for a moment from the incredible staircase, look at the dramatic ceiling. It is by Rochester’s famous plaster sculptor, Thillman Fabry, who created the ceilings in the George Eastman House, the Eastman Theatre, and other notable structures.
Now, you should really study the staircase. It was hand-carved in Belgium and incorporates design motifs typical of a 17th-century English country house. Because Finucane was an avid sailor, there are several sea motifs in this staircase that travels in three directions with two landings before reaching the second floor. The carved panels in the balustrade include depictions of dolphins and grapes. Dolphins represent hospitality because they would greet sailors at sea. Grapes, of course, suggest wine and conviviality. English Tudor roses are carved into the newel posts. In the long horizontal panels below the balustrade are carved bundled tobacco leaves, which symbolize good fortune. Above the niche on the stair landing, there is a representation of the god of the sea, Neptune. Stained-glass windows show family crests and hobbies, among other motifs.
Today, the house has been converted into seven apartments. One of them, on the main floor, is open for this tour. This apartment incorporates three major rooms of the original house: library, parlor, and the dining room. The library is now a bedroom; the second parlor is the kitchen/dining area, and the original dining room is now the living room. A highly decorative Victorian chandelier is unique in that it provides both electric and gas light. The globes are electrified, and the upper candles are gas lights. The wall sconces are also a combination of gas and electric lighting. The large leaded-glass-fronted cabinet to the left of the fireplace in the living room looks like a separate piece of furniture with legs. But it is an original built-in feature of the room.
When you exit off the porch, there is a 16 by 32-foot covered patio that is supported by classical columns. Allegedly, it was built without nails. Across the lawn is the original carriage house, which was sold to the George Eastman House for their use.
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