Perkins House (East Ave Historic District) - Rochester, NY
Posted by: 
sagefemme
N 43° 09.272 W 077° 35.463
18T E 289333 N 4781234
Perkins Mansion, 494 East Ave, Rochester, NY 14607 is one of the many mansions within the East Avenue Historic District that have become the home of civic organizations. In this case: the American Association of University Women.
Waymark Code: WMDBER
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 12/19/2011
Views: 1
This is once a private home, but is now a membership club with a beautiful library and meeting space (including kitchen) for additional rental fees.
The Perkins House is not specifically mentioned in the NRHP nomination form, although the house next door (474 East Ave, Perkins-Powers House) is. Even without specific mention, casual observation tells us that it is part of the East Avenue Historic District. The addresses in the NRHP nomination form confirm what our intuition tells us: East Ave, north: #400 to #1490, excluding #520-550, #600, #610, #630, #729, #750, #820, #962, #1000, #1100, #1400.
This excerpt from the historic significance statement tells us why this, and other East Avenue mansions, were listed:
"Significance
"Cited as one of the greatest catalogues of nineteenth and early twentieth century urban residential architecture in New York State, Rochester's mile-and-a-half long East Avenue Historic District is lined with an extraordinarily consistent array of elegant buildings. Unlike Buffalo's Delaware Avenue and Syracuse's James Street which have lost their rhythm and integrity as a result of mid-twentieth century commercial intrusions, the East Avenue Historic District still retains much of its original character as the "grand boulevard" of Rochester, despite the adaption of many of its original residences to clubs, museums and offices. The side streets surrounding East Avenue reflect the grandeur of the Avenue on a smaller scale, as evident in the reduction in building size, architectural pretension and street width." (
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