Using These Self-Guided Walking Tours of Downtown Rochester

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This walking tour is the second in a series of self-guided leisurely strolls down Rochester’s historic and fashionable East Avenue, whose buildings are listed in the State and National Registers of Historic Places. The first tour took you from Alexander Street to Arnold Park with a side trip down Prince Street. This one-mile loop starts and ends at Arnold Park. After you complete the tour, we recommend that you continue strolling south on Arnold Park to Park Avenue where you can enjoy an eclectic collection of large and small residences and an outstanding mix of one-a-kind boutiques and restaurants.

Start your tour on the corner of East Avenue and Arnold Park in front of the newly built stone monuments. These recently rebuilt monuments form an entryway to the street and are designated City Landmarks. Located at both ends of Arnold Park, the monuments were originally constructed with gates in the 1860s, when the street was a private road. Since that time, the cast iron gates were removed and the street was opened up to public through-traffic. The monuments were given to the city in the 1890s. Damaged by vehicular strikes and deterioration, the monuments were recently re-built. Using historically accurate drawings; postcards; and photographs, Bero Architecture PC designed new concrete monuments that are nearly identical to the originals. Bero also has made some improvements to the design of the monuments to protect them from vehicles and snowplows.

This tour will take you east on East Avenue (away from downtown) and continue to the corner of East Avenue and Barrington Street. Then you will cross East Avenue and return west to your starting point at Arnold Park. On this route, you will become familiar with a number of mid- and late-19th century houses on both sides of the avenue.

Walk east on East Avenue to the corner of Goodman Street South. Cross Goodman Street and continue east on East Avenue.

On your right, is the campus of the Rochester Museum and Science Center at 657-663 East Avenue. Built in the 1940s on a site donated by the Bausch family, the museum originally was located on the west side of the city in Edgerton Park. The museum campus includes Bausch Hall, the Strasenburgh Planetarium, Eisenhart Auditorium, two formal gardens and the Cunningham House.

At the driveway into the campus, turn right and walk south along the sidewalk past Bausch Hall. At the main entrance to the museum, look to your right, across the driveway and you will see a large, beige stucco building, the Cunningham House. Originally built in the 1880s as a Queen Anne style residence, it once featured multiple gables, tall chimneys and decorative porches. Its current English Regency appearance with smooth stucco walls and roof-top balustrades is the result of a massive, early 20th century remodeling, at which time the north wing was also added to house Mrs. Cunningham’s art studio. The Cunninghams were affiliated with the James Cunningham, Son and Company, a prominent manufacturer of luxury carriages and automobiles. A private residence until the 1970s, this building now houses the museum’s administrative offices.

From the Museum Entrance, turn left and continue to walk east along the sidewalk. You will pass the lovely herb garden and Kearns rose garden, which features a delightful sculpture of a family of bears.

Cross the driveway, turn left, and continue on the sidewalk past the Strasenburgh Planetarium. Rochester architects Waasdorp, Northrup and Kaelber designed this modern landmark in 1968. With its concrete construction, dynamic form, and careful placement on the site, it adds to the rich diversity of architecture found in the East Avenue neighborhood.

Return to East Avenue, turn right and continue east towards Oxford Street.

Next door to the planetarium at the corner of East Avenue and Oxford Street is 693 East Avenue, the Strong-Todd House, built in 1902 for Colonel Henry A. Strong, then president of Eastman Kodak Company and designed by Rochester architect J. Foster Warner and New York City architect Otis O. Crandall.

Built in 1902, this is one of the avenue’s most lavish mansions. A building of eclectic design, it most closely reflects the Chateauesque style, which was popular among wealthy industrialists between 1890 and 1910. The solid masonry structure features elaborate and expensive Renaissance-inspired stone detailing around the doorways and windows.

When Libanus Todd, a local businessman, purchased the house he also purchased the lot next door, enlarging the property to the corner. After Todd died in 1933, his widow left the property to the Catholic Diocese of Rochester and in 1948 the Order of the Cenacle was established in the mansion to offer sanctuary from the outside world for women and, later, for men who looked for spiritual healing. The long east wing was built in 1950 with a chapel and bedrooms for retreat participants. In 1996, the house was sold to local businessmen and is now offices.

Cross Oxford Street and pause immediately in front of #737 on the corner of East Avenue and Oxford Street.

737 East Avenue, built in 1883 and designed in the Queen Anne style by Harvey Ellis, one of our most imaginative architects. He was also an important figure in the American Arts and Crafts movement and created a number of distinctive designs for Gustave Stickley’s furniture company. The house originally was the home of Alexander Lamberton, the first head of the Rochester Park system. This unusual residence recalls the imaginative designs of English architect R. Norman Shaw with its trio of two-story bay windows on the façade and striking three-story stairwell window on the Oxford Street elevation. A rooming house for much of the mid-20th century, this monumental residence was one of the first East Avenue properties to be sensitively rehabilitated as apartments after the area became a City Preservation District in 1969.

757 East Avenue at the corner of Vick Park A was built in 1883 for businessman Henry M. Ellsworth of Ellsworth and Grant, Railroad and Building contractors. It is designed in the Italian Renaissance Revival style with a wealth of Queen Anne details. Now apartments, the former carriage house (to the rear) is one of the largest in the neighborhood. This two-story building originally featured stables on the first floor (marked by the small, square windows) and storage space for carriages and sleighs on the second floor.

You have now reached two of Rochester’s most interesting streets: Vick Park A and Vick Park B, both named for James Vick, who developed a nursery business here in the mid-l9th century. This was the era during which horticulture was one of the city’s most important industries, resulting in the nickname of “The Flower City.” In 1855, a racetrack for horses was built at the south end of these the Vick Park streets. A remnant of that racetrack remains today: the curve in Park Avenue, which is located between Vick Park A and Vick Park B (a walk south, to the end of Vick Park A, will allow you to see this interesting piece of local history).

Cross Vick Park A and continue on East Avenue

Between Vick Park A and B are two delightful houses:

779 East Avenue Built for George Raines, a lawyer and politician in c. 1880. The distinctive porch that straddles the driveway is known as a “porte cochere,” or coach porch. It was designed to protect visitors from inclement weather as they alighted from their carriages (and, later, automobiles) on their way into the house.

789 East Avenue Built in 1855 in Eastlake style, the house’s first known occupant was Joseph Hall, a manufacturer of threshing machines. In 1865 he sold the house to James Vick whose prominent seed nursery was located here along East Avenue. The Vick family occupied the house until Vick’s death in 1891. The streets Vick Park A and B are named after him.

Cross Vick Park B

Located on a large, tree-shaded site between Vick Park B and Westminster Road is St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at #841 East Avenue. Built in 1897, it was designed by the noted New York architectural firm of Heins and LaFarge and is a Gothic Revival style masterpiece. Originally located downtown on St. Paul Street, the congregation acquired this property when the sale of James Vick’s nursery made this property available for development.

Constructed of Amherst stone, the church has a bell tower topped by minarets and gargoyles. This late Gothic Revival style building accommodates 820 worshipers and features one of the largest pipe organs in the city. The adjacent Parish House, which faces Vick Park B, was constructed in 1923 to provide additional classroom and meeting space.

Cross Westminster Road

875 East Avenue Designed by Rochester architect Leon Stern c. 1900. The original owner was Abraham J. Katz, treasurer of Stein-Bloch Clothing Company. Although symmetrical in plan, the house recalls the Queen Anne style in the use of masonry on the first floor, fish-scale shingles on the second, and decorative barge boards on the porch and third-floor gables. This residence has recently been converted from apartments back to a single-family home.

901 East Avenue Built in 1891 for banker and real estate speculator, Henry E. Brewster at the corner of East Avenue and Barrington Street. It was remodeled in the 1920s. In 1920, Joseph Alling of Alling and Cory Paper Company purchased the house and initiated major changes in the design. The tower was squared off, the dormers removed, the chimneys extended, and the Stick-style exterior woodwork was replaced with thick cedar beams of varying curvatures.

Cross Barrington Street and stop to admire the house on the corner.

935 East Avenue Episcopal Diocesan House. Designed by noted Ithaca architect William H. Miller, this house was built in 1915. It was a wedding present from Rufus Sibley to his daughter Elizabeth when she married Kingman Robbins, treasurer of Associated Mortgage Investment. Mr. Sibley lived across the street (see #930). Mr. Robbins died in 1923. Five years later, Elizabeth married Edwin Stebbins, who became president of Rochester Savings Bank. The Stebbinses lived in the house until their deaths in 1954. The house was left to relatives who in turn donated it to the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester. The diocese has adapted the interior while retaining much of the original appearance.

After viewing the Episcopal Diocesan House, cross East Avenue. Immediately after crossing the street, look slightly to right for a great view of #930.

930 East Avenue This distinctive Colonial Revival residence was designed by Leon Stern in 1930 for Charles F. Hutchinson, an early associate of George Eastman. Stern designed the present house around an elegant ballroom, which was retained from Rufus Sibley’s l870 mansion that previously stood on this site. When the Sibley mansion was demolished, its mahogany-paneled, beamed-ceiling ballroom became the centerpiece of the new house. At a time when many East Avenue mansions were being converted into apartments, the Hutchinsons gave their house to the University of Rochester in 1951. In 1975, the University of Rochester gave the house to the International Museum of Photography located next door at the George Eastman House. Subsequently, the Industrial Management Council acquired the property in 1985. In August 2004, the Greater Rochester Association of Realtors moved into the building.

We will now head west on East Avenue, back toward Arnold Park, where the tour began.

900 East Avenue A National Historic Landmark, this mansion was built for George Eastman in 1905 by McKim, Meade and White of New York, in collaboration with local architect J. Foster Warner. The Georgian Revival residence features an imposing portico with Corinthian columns and extensive gardens designed by Alling DeForrest. In 1919, the rear portion of the house was moved back in order to enlarge the Music Room. After Eastman’s death in 1932, the mansion served for 10 years as the University of Rochester’s president’s home. In 1949, the house, closed for several years, then reopened as a museum. The house is part of an enlarged museum, which includes the restored mansion, the International Museum of Photography and Film, and the Dryden Theatre, built in 1950.

Brick Piers. Close to the sidewalk, just before you reach #840 East Avenue, you will see two, tall, rectangular piers constructed of cream-colored brick and a low retaining wall. These Neo-Classical entrance gates are the only remaining structures from the two, large late-19th century houses that were once located on this site, but were eventually demolished for the expansion of George Eastman’s property.

840 East Avenue Among the successful businessmen constructing homes on East Avenue in the late 19th century was Charles H. Angel, president of the American Chemical Manufacturing and Mining Company. He erected this house in 1887 and occupied it until 1918. Although the architect is unknown, it was very likely that it was architect-designed. An interesting example of the Shingle style, which was popular between 1880 and 1900, the residence is clad primarily with wood shingles and is highlighted with textured Medina sandstone. The front bay window and decorative third story half-timbering are influences of the Queen Anne style.

Cross Portsmouth Terrace and continue west on East Avenue

800 East Avenue Designed by Ithaca architect William Miller, it was built in 1887 for Dr. John W. Whitbeck. This 12-room, English Tudor residence is an excellent example of the fashionable, beautiful, and comfortable buildings that were Miller’s trademark. The house has had only three owners during its nearly 120-year history.

788 East Avenue Originally built about 1870, this house was dramatically remodeled with stucco cladding and decorative windows in the early 20th century by architect Herbert Stern for owner, Dr. Edward Mulligan, George Eastman’s physician.

Cross Merriman Street and continue west on East Avenue

740 East Avenue, 1895. Designed by Leon Stern for half-brother Morley A. Stern, president of Michaels-Stern Company, this house was occupied by him until 1919 when he sold it to Irving E. Booth, president of Booth Bros. Company. The house is a Tudor Revival style, popular from 1890 to 1940. For much of the mid/late 20th century it housed the offices of Rochester’s largest architectural firm, Northrup, Kaelber and Kopf (Miller, Meyer, Unger).

Cross Oxford Street

706 East Avenue One of the oldest houses in this section of East Avenue, this Queen Anne residence was built in 1885 for David Cory, a partner in the Alling and Cory Paper Company. From 1912-1923, the house was the home of Thomas B. Dunn (developer of Sen Sen Gum) and his family. Dunn served as New York State senator and Rochester congressman. In 1952, the house was bought by the St. Peter and St. Paul Albanian Orthodox Church, which used it as a place of worship until 1984, when two developers renovated the building for offices. It now houses the Career Development Services.

666 East Avenue This Gothic Revival cottage was erected in 1849 by Charles Bissell and reflects the rural character of the avenue during this era. The house is built of Medina sandstone salvaged from the original canal aqueduct across the Genesee River. Bissell also was the builder of the second Erie Canal aqueduct over the Genesee River, now the Broad Street Bridge. One of the few Gothic Revival properties in the neighborhood, it was designed by Rochester architect Andrew J. Warner and was inspired by A. J. Downing’s “Country Houses” book. Bissell, who ran a nursery on the property, is remembered today as the homeowner who planted chestnut trees on East Avenue for one mile from downtown out to his home here at #666. Bissell also advocated changing the street’s name from East Main Street to East Avenue, by nailing signs all up and down the street with the words East Avenue. Eventually, he had his way and the street’s name was changed.

Cross Upton Park and Goodman Street. Continue to Strathallan Park.

566 East Avenue Now the “Century Club,” this residence was designed by Leon Stern in 1900 for businessman Albert Vogt, president of Vogt Manufacturing and Coach Lace Company. It replaced an earlier house on this site that was demolished. Rochester’s oldest social and service club for women has occupied the building since 1913.

Cross East Avenue to return to Arnold Park.