The Covert-Brodie-Pollok House is located on a 14.95-acre site on the east side of North Greece Road in the southwest quadrant of the town. The designation area incorporates the main house (1832), an attached garage at the rear of the house (the early 1940s), a contributing well, a non-contributing shed, and a non-contributing storage barn. A 14-acre expanse of lawn surrounds the house on the north, east, and south. The property is historically significant for its long association with the Covert and Brodie families. The Coverts were early 19th-century settlers/farmers in the North Greece area and the builders of this house. The Brodie family and its descendants, also farmers, have owned the property since 1914. The Covert-Brodie-Pollok House is architecturally significant as an outstanding example of an early-19th-century, Greek Revival cobblestone farmhouse retaining a high degree of integrity of design, materials, and craftsmanship. Cobblestone architecture is unique to the Central and Western New York areas of the country. It developed in the late 1820s when settlers who were clearing land and preparing fields for planting collected cobblestones as building materials. It is one of four existing cobblestone buildings in the town of Greece.

The 1858 county map indicates that the home belonged to J. B. Covert, that is Joshua Covert, and

The 1872 map shows William R. Covert as the owner.

The home’s ownership passed through several other owners between 1892 and 1914, including Elmer Burlington, George Harris who maintained a 125-acre stock farm surrounding it, George Emerson who lost the house betting on a horse race, and Louis Zagata.

The cobblestones for 978 North Greece Road were meticulously chosen: only a few are round, and the majority are oblong in style ranging from 1.5 inches to 3 and 4.5 inches long. They are primarily brown, yellow, or gray with very few rose-colored stones. The builder emphasized the horizontal in the rows and the quoins which are the masonry blocks at the corner of the walls. The cobblestones cover just the façade of the walls which are 18 inches thick.

The front façade features a wide frieze band (1) with four windows with decorative iron grilles (2), cornice returns (3), windows with limestone lintels and sills (4), and a front entrance with a gable-roof porch and Doric columns (5).

The house at one time included a living room, dining room, bedrooms, a borning room (where mothers gave birth), a kitchen, and off the kitchen a keeping room. A keeping room was usually the warmest room in the house being next to the kitchen and its heat source whether a fireplace or a stove. While the cook prepared the meal, others would sit in the keeping room, close enough to talk to the people preparing a meal, but at the same time, out of the cook’s way. The Keeping room also served as a borning room where there wasn’t a separate room for that purpose and was also frequently used as the last resting place for the dying. Recently, having a keeping room became a trend in new homes being built.

In 1914, Walter and Katheryn Brodowszynski (whose name is horribly misspelled on this map) purchased the property. They changed their last name to Brodie in the 1920s.

After Walter’s death in 1946, Katheryn sold the house to their eldest daughter Helen (who went by the name of Kay), and her first husband, Robert Zielinski. Kay acquired sole ownership of the house in 1959.

Kay Brodie lived in this house all her life, and with her second husband William Pollock, was its loving caretaker. Many of the changes to the interior, including installing plumbing and mechanical upgrades and combining rooms, Kay did herself. It was always her desire to get the home listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

That dream was realized in 1995; in October 1998 it became the first in the Town of Greece to be designated a landmark. According to the Landmark Society of Western New York, “The Covert-Brodie-Pollok House is architecturally significant as an outstanding example of an early-19th-century, Greek Revival cobblestone farmhouse retaining a high degree of integrity of design, materials, and craftsmanship.”

Margot and Ralph Gram owned the house for a brief interlude, the years 1946 and 1947 approximately. She was an interesting woman. As a vaudeville performer, she toured all over Europe collecting antiques. She transitioned to being a cabaret singer before becoming the first female radio announcer in New York City. Her husband, Ralph, was the voice of the Hearst-Metrotone newsreels that once were part of every movie showing. They came to this area, taking radio jobs with WHEC. She was the first person to sing George Gershwin’s Swanee; when she was working at a music store, the legendary composer came in and handed her the sheet music and asked her to sing it for him.

That old cobblestone house was the perfect venue for setting up an antique business. Although she didn’t live in Greece very long, Margot became a staple appraiser of antiques for many of the Greece churches when they hosted antique shows, including Our Mother of Sorrows, Aldersgate Methodist, and Bethany Presbyterian. This, of course, was considerably before the time of eBay.

Margot also raised toy Manchester terriers.

The cobblestone house on Mill Road was home to the Hartman and Foos families for decades. It too was built between 1830 and 1852. From at least 1852 until the early 1900s, members of the Hartman family resided here. The Foos family occupied it from at least 1930 until 2016.

But on that August 11th day of 2016 at 15:23, it would be its last day as a cobblestone house.

On August 11, 2016, this historic home caught fire. According to an account written by Gene Preston of the North Greece Fire Department,

“Firefighters worked in 94-degree temperature August 11 to save the pre-civil war house. Said a neighbor: “In no time the road and lawns were covered with fire hoses as 7 engines, a rescue truck and an aerial ladder strategically positioned themselves on Mill Road.” The fire did significant damage to the structure. Firefighters had to deal with the fire and the extreme heat and humidity of the day. I took another walk through it before we firefighters left the scene nearly three hours after we were dispatched. Hopefully it can be restored, but it has some serious issues.”

Eugene Preston, North Greece Fire Department

Unfortunately, it could not be saved. The Foos rebuilt a house on that spot but it was not a cobblestone house. The new structure is a wood-built house