The Joseph Fleming House

The Joseph Fleming House ~ 981 Latta Road ~ Greece, New York

The Joseph Fleming House
981 Latta Road
Greece, New York

Town of Greece Designated Landmark: October 2012

The Joseph Fleming House is currently located on a ten-acre site on the south side of Latta Road in the northeast quadrant of the town. The designation area is just under one acre and includes the main house, a one-story, gable-roofed, wood-framed and sided shed or milk house, a two-story, aluminum-sided, post and beam carriage house, and a two-story, concrete block, three-bay garage. At least two barns were also located on the site. One was demolished in 1960; another in 2010. Originally, the site was part of a 300-acre parcel of land that was developed as a farm by Joseph Fleming, one of the town’s early pioneers. Fleming was born in King’s County, Ireland in 1812 and came to New York in 1837. A mason by trade, when he came to North America, he worked on several public works projects including the first Croton dam on the New York water works, the first suspension bridge over the Niagara River at the falls, and the enlargements of the Genesee Valley Canal and the Erie Canal. He also supervised the construction of Mother of Sorrows Roman Catholic Church, located on Latta Road at Paddy Hill, one mile to the west of his home.

The main house features a two-story high with a hipped roof in the center and is flanked on both sides by a one-and-a-half-story wing. Atop the roof is a widow’s walk with “a fanciful balustrade and pointed finals above each corner pedestal.” Did the residents climb to the roof to see Lake Ontario just 2 miles to the north? Joseph Fleming’s descendants resided here until 2008.

William A. Payne House

William A. Payne House ~ 505 Elmgrove Road ~ Greece, New York

Listed in the National Register of Historic Places: June 2012
Town of Greece Designated Landmark: October 2012

The William A. Payne House is located in the southwest quadrant of the town, south of the Erie Canal near the former hamlet of South Greece. The designation area is approximately 1.6 acres of land and includes the main house, which was constructed around 1905, and a carriage barn. Historically, the property is associated with the early nineteenth-century pioneers who settled in South Greece near the Erie Canal. The hamlet of South Greece, also known as Elm Grove or Henpeck, was located near the intersection of the Erie Canal and what was then known as South Greece Road (later renamed Elmgrove Road). William Payne made an impact on local and state commercial practices through his work as the Monroe County Sealer of Weights and Measures. He was one of the founders of the statewide association that worked to develop fair and uniform methods of weighing and measuring for merchants and consumers, and created education programs for fellow sealers. Payne was also a fire commissioner in the Town of Greece, and a member of the Greece-Ridge Fire Department.

The Rigney-Feeney House

web History Page Buildings1885_Latta_Road-Rigney-Feeney-House

The Rigney-Feeney House ~ 1885 Latta Road ~ Greece, New York

Town of Greece Designated Landmark: October 2000

The Rigney-Feeney House is located on a multi-acre site on the south side of Latta Road in the northeast quadrant of the town. The designation area incorporates approximately one-and-one-half acres of land and the main house (c. 1850s). Also located on the site are: a non-contributing frame garage (1958); two non-contributing sheds; an in-ground swimming pool (c. 1960), said to be one of the first in the town; and a stone-lined well. Originally, the site was part of a 250-to-300-acre parcel of land that was developed as a farm. The property is historically significant for its associations with one of Greece’s pioneer families, the Rigney family, and the early 19th-century Irish immigrants who settled in the Paddy Hill area. The house, with its large multi-acre site is a visual reminder of Greece’s agricultural heritage. In the early 1950s some of the property from the original farm was developed into the Picturesque Acres and North Point housing tracts and the Greece School District purchased about 35 acres of the property for Paddy Hill Elementary School.

The Covert-Brodie-Pollok House

The Covert-Brodie-Pollok House ~ 978 North Greece Road ~ Greece, New York

Listed in the National Register of Historic Places: 1995
First Town of Greece Designated Landmark: October 1998

Covert-Brodie-Pollok House 978 North Greece Road
Covert-Brodie-Pollok House 978 North Greece Road

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 area 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.

Designated Town Landmarks

web History Page Buildings 978_North_Greece_Road-Covert-Brodie-Pollok-House

The Covert-Brodie-Pollok House ~ 978 North Greece Road ~ Greece, New York

Listed in the National Register of Historic Places: 1995
First Town of Greece Designated Landmark: October 1998

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web History Page Buildings1885_Latta_Road-Rigney-Feeney-House

The Rigney-Feeney House ~ 1885 Latta Road ~ Greece, New York

Town of Greece Designated Landmark: October 2000
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web History page buildings 505_Elmgrove_Road-William-A-Payne-House-photo-by-GDiBella (1)

William A. Payne House ~ 505 Elmgrove Road ~ Greece, New York

Listed in the National Register of Historic Places: June 2012
Town of Greece Designated Landmark: October 2012

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web History page buildings 981_Latta_Road_Joseph-Fleming-House

The Joseph Fleming House ~ 981 Latta Road ~ Greece, New York

Town of Greece Designated Landmark: October 2012
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“A stone is a stone is a Cobblestone!”

Webster’s New World Dictionary (College Edition) has the following: Cob-blestone (kabI ston’) A rounded stone of a kind formerly much used for paving. 

First Christian Church then Greece Methodist Church Latta Road GHS
First Christian Church then Greece Methodist Church Latta Road GHS
School district 9 school also Greece Methodist Church mid1800s GHS
School district 9 school also served as Greece Methodist Church in the mid 1800s GHS

Well, that is fine, but mention Cobblestone to the average Western New York resident (especially those living in the northern counties) and your answer could well be; “Oh, those buildings from the 19th century faced with round stones all in rows”. The Town of Greece is fortunate to have four surviving Cobblestone buildings. All are private homes, but there once were several schools and at least one church that are now long gone from Greece. In western New York, they are concentrated along route 104 from Wayne County westward to Niagara County. Workers who mainly learned their trade working on the first Erie Canal, which opened in 1825, built most of these beautiful stone buildings. The sandy soil near the Ridge Road and northward to Lake Ontario yielded stones (formed by the Glaciers) of rounded or oblong shapes in the recently cleared farm fields. A special mix of slow-drying cement was used to set the stones. Patterns of stones and the way the stones were set varied for the 25-year period this type of construction was in vogue. Although Western New York has the largest concentration of Cobblestones, they can be found in Ohio, Michigan, and as far west as Wisconsin, plus the Provence of Ontario, Canada. 

Distribution of cobblestone structures in NYS
Distribution of cobblestone structures in NYS

Cobblestone buildings were costly to build so only the more prosperous could afford to have them built. The rising cost of labor and the further distance it was necessary to travel to acquire the proper stones eventually caused this unique type of construction to be obsolete. Variations of the Greek revival style were common during this period. The costly, but sturdy Cobblestone style and cheaper wood frame construction prevailed during the 1830s to 1850s. 

978 North Greece Road
978 North Greece Road
543 Mill Road
543 Mill Road
Davis-Bagley-Hazen home from Town Historian
Davis-Bagley-Hazen home from Town Historian

The four Greece buildings shown are all on the Historical Survey of 101 selected sites in the Town of Greece, completed by the Landmark Society in 1995. One, the Covert-Pollok house is also listed on the National Landmark site. 

4350 Ridge Rd W.-Westfall-Mercier house
4350 Ridge Rd W.-Westfall-Mercier house

Sadly, the Westfall-Mercier house at 4350 West Ridge Rd. may not be standing much longer. It has been offered to anyone willing to move it off the property as development is planned for that site. Thus far there have been no takers. It will more than likely end as a casualty of progress. That is what tragically happened to a Cobblestone at Parma Corners on Ridge Road West at Route 18. For more information about these four buildings or the other 97 sites, go online to the Historic site survey, by the Town of Greece.*

*a note on the town’s historical site does contain errors and mistakes in the content on their site.

For more interesting details about Cobblestone buildings and their construction go to The Cobblestone Society website at www.cobblestonemuseum.org. The Cobblestone Society complex in Childs, N.Y. is closed for the season, but if you travel west on Ridge Road you can easily view that complex and 40 plus Cobblestone homes along the way to Niagara County. Going eastward out of Monroe County on old Route 104, you can easily pass just as many, if not more than the West Ridge route. Don’t forget that a Cobblestone building is just as often found on a side road as on the main roads. Enjoy our unique concentration of Cobblestone structures here in Western New York State.

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