Building date:
Original use: Smokehouse
Corner structures: Fairly uniform in size, but are not square cut.
Mortar application and content: Mortar is not embellished.
Types and uses of stones: The stones are fairly large and of various colors. Stones are laid four rows to the quoin.
Types and choice of windows:
Structures with similar masonry details:
Masons who worked on building:
Unique features:
Map views courtesy Google Maps. Address is Google Earth confirmed; 43°01'27.72"N 77°58'21.48"W. Current owner of record, MacPherson as of date (YMD) 190323.
Town of LeRoy and Genesee County Maps
A small smokehouse is located behind 8029 Rt. 19, north of LeRoy. The door is located on the west side. Quoins are fairly uniform in size, but are not square cut. Stones are laid four rows to the quoin and the mortar is not embellished. The stones are fairly large and of various colors. Roudabush Survey page 51.
Note that the Richard Palmer blog states that the address is Rt. 219 which should be Rt. 19, or Lake Street Road.
A black-and white photo (c. 1987) of the cobblestone smokehouse is featured on page 203, along with the following text describing the Federal-style, limestone-block house on that site. Cynthia Howk email 4/6/2021:
"Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth MacPherson, 8029 Lake Road, Town of LeRoy. Silas Fordham purchased the parcel of land on which this house was built from the banking house of LeRoy, Bayard and McEvers, the owners of the Triangle Tract, for two hundred seventy dollars and ninety-two cents. When he died in 1824, his oldest son, Francis, inherited the land and built this three bay by two bay residence in 1833, according to the date carved on the stringer of the cellar stairs. In 1836, he sold the property to Jonathan Wright for six thousand two hundred and sixty dollars. His daughter Cynthia Amada, became the first wife of Alexander MacPherson. Mr. Wright sold the land to his son-in-law in 1853. The home has remained in the MacPherson family ever since. Constructed of coursed ashlar limestone blocks, the stone was quarried from a site below nearby Buttermilk Falls. Smooth limestone is used for the watertable, the arch over the entrance and the window lintels and sills. The entrance is embellished with sidelights, a fluted wooden fan over the single leaf door and a fluted masonry key stone. The use of tripartite window form for all façade windows is unusual. Overall, the residence exhibits fine masonry craftsmanship."
"At the rear of the property is a gabled cobblestone smokehouse. There are four courses of round and elongated cobbles to the limestone quoins. The flush vertical plank door with original strap iron hinges is intact."
Excerpt from the "The Architectural Heritage of Genesee County, NY by The Landmark Society of Genesee County, page 203, published in 1988. Project coordinator: Catherine Roth; Preservation Consultant: Tania Werbizky.
¹ Photography courtesy Martin and Sheila Wolfish.
² Photography courtesy Richard Palmer.
