Significance
"The sophistication of this house is shown by the thought given to the hierarchy of spaces ranging from formal spaces at the front of the house to the service spaces located in the rear wing. On both the interior and exterior the more detailed ornamentation is displayed in the formal areas. Another design feature of the house is the banking of large rooms along the south side allowing the most important rooms of hte house to benefit from southern exposure and the view of the south lawn. The large floor-to-ceiling windows, veranda and sun parlor were attempts at connecting the living space of the house out into the surrounding landscape. The zinc dolphin and figure fountain was located in the south lawn within view of both the veranda and the double parlor.
"Retaining a high degree of integrity of design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling and association, the residence reflects both Lord and Hawley's aspirations for a prestigious and elegant but also natural and rural setting in which to live. It also represents the wealth and properity brough to Pittsford by the founders of the area's first suburban estates. While farm complexes are rapidly disappearing in Pittsford and throughout western New York, Pittsford Farm is unique because it has retained its historic outbuildings and pastoral setting. Pittsford Farms is one of Pittsford's most important landmarks for its picturesque landscaping and architectural design as well as its important role in the history of Pittford and Monroe County." (
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The House
When then nomination form describes the house, it usually refers to its condition after 1860. The house was built in 1814 (a year beforee the Hopkins Farm, also in Pittsford, also NRHP listed (
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It is a gabled, two-and-one-half-story main block, surrounded on three sides by the flat-roofed, one-story north wing and wrap-around veranda (west and south elevations). The framing includes sections of both heavy timbe and ballon construction.
This needs some explaining. It was built by Samuel Hidreth, who ran a stagecoach line from a headquarters and stables on the opposite side of North Main Street from his home. After Hildreth died, in 1824, ownership passed to the H.C. and G.K. Wood, a railroad agent who tore down the stables to make way for the New York Central Depot in 1838.
Jarvis Lord purchased the property in 1863, near the peak of his political career and the conversion of the house to an Italianate design and the Romantic movement landscaping were the result of Lord's renovations. He came to Monroe County from Ballston Spa, NY, working as a farm hand for Peter Hopkins of Henrietta. He married the farmer's daugher, worked the Cogswell farm in 1842 and bought a year later. After establishing himself as a farmer, he branched out into politics and other business affairs.
"During the 1840s when the State planned a widening of the Erie Canal, Lord took the Pittsford contract from the village line to the Great Embankment and rerouted the canal to pass through his own property. Lord became firmly established in the canal contracting business.
"Shorthly after 1860 Lord bought an interest in the Farmer's and Mechanic's Bank in Rochester, which he sold in 1867. Soon after this he became president of the Bank of Monroe until political scandal forced him to resign this position". (
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Lord was elected town supervisor, and in 1858 he was elected to the NY State Assembly. Lord introduced a bill for the incorporation of Fairport, which was passed in 1867. He also served three consecutive terms as State Senator from 1869 to 1874. He became known as a man who "loved his friends and... hated his enemies and took pains to give them both substantial evidence of his feelings toward them". In 1875 Lord's son George was implicated in scandals involving the company's public work contracts. The scandal ended Lord's political career, but he was never charged with any crime (his son served a brief jail term).
The modifications Lord made were extensive. The load bearing post and beam walls were removed to create more open formal rooms on the first floor, so the second floor is "hung from a large, 12-ing by 20-inch beam to compensate". The center entrance opens to a wide entrance hall, an open stair spacious double parlors featuring floor-to-ceiling windows opening to the porch, and an elaborate Carrara marble fireblace. The landscaping Lord installed is now mature and park-like. Along the Main Street frontage of the property is a stone retaining wasll with cut Medina sandstone cap. Along the top of the wall is a Gothic Revival cast iron fence.
Lord added a dairy and dairy related structures to the property in the 1870s.
After 1860
Frank Hawley bought the farm from Lord's widow in 1887. He started his career in Rochester as a law clerk and then as a reporter for a daily newspaper, working his way up to executive ranks. He also experimented with electricity, organized and became vice president of the Cataract Electric Corportation, distributing electricity from Niagara Falls.
As regards the property, Hawley was the first to install indoor plumbing, electricity, and telephone service. He acquired the adjacent White Farm, naming the combined parcels Pittsford Farms, and he employed scientific methods of farming, and agressively publicized such. Articles about the farm were widely published both locally and nationally.
He quickly gained a reputation for his flamboyant style and apparently limitless financial resources. Hawley was overheard telling out-of-town guests that he owned all the neighboring farms, which aroused the suspicion of those who actually owned them. Eventually, allegations were made of fraudulent misuse of borrowed funds, and eventually it was determined that Hawley had overvalued the stock in several of his businesses when putting them up a collateral for $100,000 worth of loans. The New York State Supreme Court appointed receivers to settle his financial affairs.
In 1898, Hawley, supposedly traveling in Mexico, mysteriously disappeared and was never heard from again, but title to the Pittsfor Farms quietly transfered to his wife's uncle. It was Estelle who managed the farm and made it a profitable dairy. The property was sold in 1946 to Theodore Zornow and it is held by his descendants today (sons-in-law Charles Corby then Roger Powers). The dairy is unusual in that it still sells vat-pasteurized milk in returnable glass bottles.