Building date:1844
Original use:
Corner structures: Tooled
Mortar application and content: Grouted. The sides, both north and south, and back have pink colored mortar. On the south side of the back addition, the pink mortar is overlaid by elevated thin strips of white mortar, making an artistic configuration which is unique and has not been seen in any of the other over 500 structures in 9 counties.
Types and uses of stones:
Types and choice of windows:
Structures with similar masonry details:
Masons who worked on building:
Unique features: On the south side of the back addition, the pink mortar is overlaid by elevated thin strips of white mortar, making an artistic configuration which is unique and has not been seen in any of the other over 500 structures in 9 counties.
Map views courtesy Google Maps. Google Maps street level view is not available. Address is Google Earth confirmed; 42°39'10.48"N 77°59'57.19"W. Current owner of record, Hatch as of the 2019 Tax Roll.
Town of Castile and Wyoming County Maps
This one story house has a 2 story central section. Additions to Schmidt's description does not mention that the mortar in the front wall has been applied between stones after the wall was constructed, thus it has been grouted. The sides, both north and south, and back have pink colored mortar. On the south side of the back addition, the pink mortar is overlaid by elevated thin strips of white mortar, making an artistic configuration which is unique and has not been seen in any of the other over 500 structures in 9 counties. Roudabush Survey page 120
"The Cobblestone Houses of Upstate New York", compiled by Dorothy Wells Pease. Research done in collaboration with Hazed B. Jeffery, supplemented with material furnished by Carl F. Schmidt, 1941. Reference the sixth complete paragraph on page 13.
Taberlea Farm in Castile
One of the most imposing cobblestone mansions in western New York is the Taber house in the town of Castile. It always catches the eye of motorists they pass by. Occasionally some stranger will stop to admire the beautiful old home. Built in 1844, it is one of the landmarks of the region, having never been materially altered.
In a deed, dated February 12, 1832, and recorded five months later, Cyrus A. Whipple and wife conveyed for the consideration of $1,800 to Stephen D. Taber, 100 acres in Lot 33 of Elisha Johnson's subdivisiom of the Cottringer Tract. On June 17, 1836, an additional 23 acres from Lot 24 were annexed at a cost of $26.80 per acre. The total cost for the farm was $2, 411.40.
Stephen D. Taber's diary, during 1842-44, furnishes what he chose to to call "Cost of materials Building my house," and is recorded as he wrote it below:
For mason work $ 355.00 Joiner's work 412.00 Cut stone 191.00 Drawing same 65.00 Lime 100.00 Lumber, clear 150.00 Rough boards 25.00 Batters & Joice 30.00 Shingles 30.00 Paints, oils, glass, nails and trimming 160.00 Tending mason 80.00 Hired girls, boarding of Hands, etc. 260.00 Extra work mason 0.05 Extra work Joiner 0.09 Mistake of turning & sash $112.00 $1,974.14
The pillars and the rectangular cornerstones were drawn from LeRoy by ox-team while the old cobblestones were hauled up from the river. Nelson Simons said in a letter to Horace Taber, dated Nov. 30, 1856, "Stephen has put a lead pipe into your old well and takes the water out below the orchard. He got it started last Friday. It ran well and I think it will be a fine thing to the place."
The faithful well supplied the home for more than a century. In 1866, Mr. Taber constructed the adjacent pond which begin to fill with water on Nov. 24th. Visitors note with delight the white painted lattice work bridge which spans it. The house occupies a commanding position on the west side of the Middle Reservation Reed with a spectacular view of the Genesee Valley.
Its pillared facade dominates a structure whose native stones delightfully weathered and blended into pleasing mellow tones. The windows are of hand blown glass. There is a two and one-half story central portion flanked by two wings on either side as well as a third wing to the rear. While the interior retains most of the original room arrangements, it has been modernized with conveniences and is furnished with distinction.
The old home passed from Stephen D. Taber to his son, Harmon E. Taber, who died in 1907. Jennie P. Taber, wife of Harman, passed away in 1932. They had two daughters, Mrs. Gertrude T. Mignin and Mrs. Isabelle T. Crounse. Mrs. Crounse returned from Helena, Montana. The following year, Dr. C. F. and Mrs. Gertrude T. Mignin took up residence in the old house. Dr. Mignin became interested in Guernsey cattle. He established what in time became a famous herd of blooded stock. He and Mrs. Mignin have resided at "Taberleas" continuously while Mrs. Crounse has made it her home except for a years in Batavia, returning after her husband's death in 1932. The surrounding land and tenant house were sold to Richard Hotchkiss in 1947. The stone dwelling, pond and yard were surveyed and retained by the Mignin-Crounse group. May 2, 1949 article source not stated. Attribution not provided.
Taber House, Castile
This fine cobblestone house is at 4984 Middle Reservation Road, Town of Castile. It was built between 1842 and 1844 at a cost of $1,974.14 according to the diary of Stephen D. Taber. The two columns on the front are original. They came from a quarry in LeRoy, N.Y. The two roofs on each side of the front exposure are knee wall attics. There is a maids room on the back on the second floor that does not have access to the front room on the second floor. Windows are of hand-blown glass. Date stone is between second floor windows. The property remained with descendants of the original owners until 1947. For years this was the well-known Guernsey dairy farm, "Taberlea."
The Taber cobblestone house at Castile, shown in this pencil sketch by Carl F. Schmidt, represents a structural type which originated in this part of the state in 1844. Built of fieldstone from the vicinity, and of limestone hauled by ox-cart from LeRoy, it cost $1,974.14 according to the diary of Stephen D. Taber. In the past four years Carl F. Schmidt photographed, sketched and secured data on more than 250 of these houses.
Excerpt from a column, "Artists And Craftsmen" by Amy H. Croughton), Rochester Times-Union, Friday, September 19, 1941
Cobblestone Houses
For four years Carl F. Schmidt, Rochester architect and antiquarian, has made an intensive study of the type of house, generally known as "cobblestone," with he is convinced originated in this part of New York State in a section extending 50 miles east and west of Rochester and between Lake Ontario and the Finger Lakes.
Mr. Schmidt has made 50 pencil sketches of such houses, similar to that of the Taber House near Castile which is reproduced above, and 50 measured drawings of details of the houses; and has taken more than 200 black and white, and color photographs of which he has made slides. He has visited and recorded in this way more than 200 houses and, although it is difficult to secure historical and structural data on this type of house, he has such material on 150 of them.
The interest which the cobblestone scrounges surprised Mr. Schmidt when he first showed his collection of slides and sketches. Architects and historical societies might be expected to be interested, but some of the keenest audiences have been business men.
And invariably, after each talk and showing of the slides, Mr. Schmidt gets more "tips" on cobblestone houses to be found on lesser traveled roads with send him off in a new direction on his next weekend sketching trip.
Cover Span of 35 Years
The earliest cobblestone house of which Mr. Schmidt has knowledge was built in 1825, the latest in 1860. The Taber House, shown above, was started in 1842 and completed by 1844. It is of "squarish" fieldstone and the construction is quite similar to that in the Schanck House at the corner of Main E. and Culver in this city and to the Lockley House also in Rochester. It differs in material from cobblestone houses found near Lake Ontario which were built of round, "lake washed" stones.
Documents in possession of the Taber Family show that the whole cost of the house was $2,000. The gray limestone in the large blocks or "quoins," at the house corners, and in the window lintels, was hauled from LeRoy to Castile by ox-team. The fieldstone probably were collected nearby. Often children and women helped in tis work and in the "sizing" of the stones by passing them through a metal ring known as the "beetle ring," or a hole cut in a plank.
The limestone blocks cost $191, with an additional $65 for drawing. The time used in making the mortar joints which make a projecting V, horizontally, with a much lower V joint dividing the stones vertically, cost $100. The mason work cost $355 and there are items of $80 for a "tending mason" and $9 for a "marblesmith," titles no longer met with just as the construction of the cobblestone house is, itself, a lost art.
Originated About Here
In architectural detail the Taber House shows its relationship to the Greek Revival, of which it was a part. In material and structure, however, it, and other cobblestone houses, represent something peculiar to this section. Mr. Schmidt has found scattered houses of this type in New England and Canada, but in each case has found them of a later date and built by some person who had lived or visited in this part of the country and had varied away with him the idea of cobblestone architecture. Excerpt from a column, "Artists and Craftsmen" by Amy H. Croughton. Additional attribution not provided by Richard Palmer and Larry Warren, Councilman Town of Covington.
This fine cobblestone house is at 4984 Middle Reservation Road, Town of Castile. Built in 1844 at a cost of $3,000. I had a nice talk with the owners. They are really proud of their money pit. The two columns on the front are original, the came from the quarry in LeRoy, N.Y. The two roofs on each side of the front exposure are knee wall attics, there is a maids room on the back on the second floor that does not have access to the front room on the second floor. Larry Warren, Councilman Town of Covington.
"The Geological Origin of Cobblestone Architecture", by Gerda Peterich. Specific reference to this structure on page 18.
"Cobblestone Architecture in the Rochester Area", by Gerda Peterich, 1953. Reference Taber House and figure 47. Editor's Note: This digitized version of the original typescript manuscript is reformatted for digital display, edited for errors, and includes blue tinted highlighted links to improve access within the document, to the appropriate structure pages in the Cobblestone Info Base, or to external resources on the internet. This document is one of two known typescript drafts, likely a thesis or essay bound as a book and apparently never published. One is available in the Cobblestone Museum Resource Center, the other in the University of Rochester Art and Music Library. A companion or precursor typed paper of the same title exists, perhaps used for a talk and/or photographic display of cobblestone structures.
The Taber House Castile, NY., courtesy the Tom The Backroads Traveller blog.
- "Cobblestone Architecture", 1944, Carl Schmidt: Name reference, Taber House
- Page 21, Page 22, Page 52
- Three Types of Cobblestone Masonry, the Taber [- Hotchkiss] House, 1844, Castille, Page 76
- Three Types of Cobblestone Masonry, the Taber [- Hotchkiss] House, 1844, Castille, Page 77
- Three Types of Cobblestone Masonry, the Taber [- Hotchkiss] House, 1844, Castille, Page 76
- "Cobblestone Masonry", 1966, Carl Schmidt: Name reference, Taber - Hotchkiss House
- Pages 202 - 203
- Three Types of Cobblestone Masonry, the Taber - Hotchkiss House, 1844, Castille, Page 231
- Sections Thru Various Stone Courses, Page 255, Three Types of Cobblestone Masonry Page 263
- Three Types of Cobblestone Masonry, the Taber - Hotchkiss House, 1844, Castille, Page 231
- Front of the Taber-Hotchkiss House drawing, house askew to left of straight on view of whole house. Carl Schmidt Collection of Two-Dimensional Drawings, online access to view, New York Heritage digital collections.
- "Cobblestone Landmarks of New York State", 1978, by Olaf William Shelgren, Jr., Cary Lattin, and Robert W. Frasch, Photographs by Gerda Peterich: Name reference, Taber House
- Page 97
- "The Era of Cobblestone Architecture", unpublished manuscript 1972. To access the manuscript content about this structure, see 155. Wyoming County, Tabor-Hotchkiss House.
 Cas-1 Hotchkiss 1.jpg ¹ Pease Collection 1940-41 |  Cas-1 Hotchkiss 2.jpg ¹ Photograph by Cary Lattin 1969 |  GP Wyoming Castile Cas-1 1-1 N.jpg ² August 1969 |  Wyo_2_1.jpg |
 Wyo_2_2.jpg |  Wyo_2_3.jpg |  Wyo_2_4.jpg |  Wyo_2_5.jpg |
 Wyo_2_6.jpg |  Wyo_2_7.jpg |  Wyo_2_8.jpg |  Wyo_2_9.jpg |
 Cas-1 Hotchkiss 3.jpg ¹ |  Cas-1 4984 Middle Reservation Rd 1.jpg ³ |  Cas-1 4984 Middle Reservation Rd 2.jpg ³ |  Cas-1 4984 Middle Reservation Rd 3.jpg ³ |
 IMG_3515.jpg 4 |  IMG_3514.jpg 4 |  DSC_1675.jpg 5 |  4984 Middle Reservation Road 2.jpg 5 |
 4984 Middle Reservation Road 3.jpg 5 Detail of front of house showing date stone. |
¹ Image courtesy Cobblestone Museum.
² Photography courtesy Gerda Peterich. Cobblestone Museum.
³ Photography courtesy Martin and Sheila Wolfish.
4 Photography courtesy Richard Palmer.
5 Photography courtesy Larry Warren, Councilman Town of Covington.
