Building date: About 1840, 1836 per Cobblestone Museum
Original use:
Corner structures:
Mortar application and content: Vertical heavy
Types and uses of stones:
Types and choice of windows: Lintels brick, width vertical
Structures with similar masonry details:
Masons who worked on building:
Unique features:
Map views courtesy Google Maps. Address is Google Earth confirmed; 43°17'13.65"N 78°11'26.89"W. Current owner of record, Cobblestone Society as of the 2019 Tax Roll.
Town of Gaines and Orleans County Maps
"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. Reference the fifth paragraph on page 6.
No written records survive regarding the Ward House; however it is believed to have been constructed around 1840 by local mason, John Simmons, under the direction of John Proctor. What is known is that the property remained under Proctor's ownership until 1861 and was likely intended to serve as a parsonage for the church.
The house was constructed in the Federal style with a hipped roof; the raised basement level gives the impression of a split-levelesque bottom floor. The original house was an 18' x 24' structure built of fieldstones set in the Gaines Pattern; the quoins were cut from local sandstone. An extension was added to the north side of the house in the late 19th century, sided with vertical tongue and groove, and the porch supported with a fluted Colonial Revival column. The front door is in the Italianate style with cut glass windows, but is not original to the house.
Following John Proctor's ownership, the house was sold to Benjamin and Mary Ann Woodburn Dwinnell. Mary Ann was the aunt of New York Tribune well-known editor and abolitionist Horace Greeley, who held the mortgage until 1863. The home functioned as a private residence until 1975, when the property was purchased by the museum from Mrs. Inez Martyn Ward. Booklet, Cobblestone Society and Museum, Albion Christmas Tours of Homes 12/01/2018.
3/13/1926 Deed for the land upon which stood the Ward House, from Dennis Yeager to Hattie L. Murray.
"Home Is A Rock Pile" by Chuck Lyons. "Upstate, Cobblestone Country", a unique form of architecture rose from the rock piles of the Rochester region. People, Places, Pleasures supplement, Sunday Democrat and Chronicle, November 27, 1988. Use this link to view the printable Cobblestone Country.
"Cobblestone Buildings of Orleans County, N. Y.", A Local History, pages 38 and 39, by Delia Robinson, Edited by Evelyn Lyman and William Nestle. Jointly published by The Cobblestone Society and The Orleans County Historical Association, December 1996.
Historic Childs: "Ward House gives chance to step back in time". Orleans Hub, posted 3 October 2020 at 9:20 am.
School Field Trips: 4th grade students from the Fred W. Hill Elementary School in Brockport visit the Cobblestone Museum.
The Cobblestone Society & Museum Tours:
Mrs. Ines Ward's House 1st Cobblestone Tour 06/10/1961, 16th Annual 06/05/1976, Tour of Cobblestone Homes 09/28/2019, Tour of Historic Cobblestone Homes 10/17/2009, Tour of Historic Cobblestone Homes 09/14/2013, Tour of Cobblestone Homes 09/30/2017, Tour of Cobblestone Homes 09/15/2018
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National Register of Historic Places Registration
- "Cobblestone Architecture", 1944, Carl Schmidt: Name reference, "In Childs, N. Y....number of houses with four inch high brick header courses"
- Page 28
- Editor's Note: Four locations are Gai-20, Gai-21, Gai-24, Gai-26
- Editor's Note: Four locations are Gai-20, Gai-21, Gai-24, Gai-26
- "Cobblestone Masonry", 1966, Carl Schmidt: Name reference, Ward House
- Page 130
- "Cobblestone Landmarks of New York State", 1978, by Olaf William Shelgren, Jr., Cary Lattin, and Robert W. Frasch, Photographs by Gerda Peterich: Name reference, Proctor House
- Page 57
- "The Era of Cobblestone Architecture", unpublished manuscript 1972. To access the manuscript content about this structure, see 93. Orleans County, Proctor-Ward.
 Gai-26 Ward House 2.jpg ¹ circa 1941 |  GP Orleans Gaines Gai-26 1-1 N.jpg ² April 1957 |  GP Orleans Gaines Gai-21 4-1 N.jpg ² Contradiction of dates. Editor's Note: c. 1952 date stated on Peterich negative envelope; however, c. "1960 before restoration of church tower" notation on print from negative is logical based on landscape growth. |  Gai-26 Ward House 3.jpg ¹ |
 Gai_26_1.jpg |  Gai_26_2.jpg |  Gai_26_3.jpg |  Gai_26_4.jpg |
 Gai_26_5.jpg |  Gai-26 Ward House 5.jpg ¹ |  Gai-26 Ward House 4.jpg ¹ |  Gai-26 Ward House 1.jpg ¹ August 1997 |
 Gai-26 14393 Ridge Rd 1.jpg ³ |  Gai-26 14393 Ridge Rd 2.jpg ³ |  14393 Ridge Road, Gaines, Orleans Cty.jpg 4 |
¹ Image courtesy Cobblestone Museum.
² Photography courtesy Gerda Peterich. Cobblestone Museum.
³ Photography courtesy Martin and Sheila Wolfish.
4 Photography courtesy Richard Palmer.
