Ithaca College President's House

2 Fountain Place, built in 1891-1892
This home was built as a residence for Ithaca Organ Company owner and lawyer George R. Williams. It was one of the first houses in Ithaca to be wired for electricity. Ithaca College purchased the house in 1938 to be used as the official residence for the college's president. In 2017, Ithaca College announced it would discontinue using it as a presidential residence.

This house is an excellent example of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture. The style bears some similarities to the Queen Anne style as you can see here in the cross-gabled roof, the dominant front-facing gables, the octagonal turret, and the building’s asymmetry. What distinguishes the style is the use of rusticated stonework, rounded arches over the doors and windows, the steeply pitched roof, and the building’s overall massiveness. The house is faced in grey sandstone. Notable features include the egg-and-dart string course and the arched windows in the prominent front-facing gables and the leaded stained-glass panels in the windows at the first story.

LISTEN HERE