This beautiful vernacular 19^th-century farmhouse is home to the Greece Historical Society. Many of us have moved from one home to another, but this is a house that has moved twice. Circa 1924, when it was located at the southwest corner of Latta and Long Pond Roads, the Beatties didn’t like the noise from the neighboring tavern. So, they transferred the house onto oak timbers and rolled it back from the road to a new foundation. The house is significant because of its association with pioneer families in Greece, but more so for its connection to Gordon A. Howe. He lived in the house with his family from 1941 to 1965. This political legend was the supervisor of the town for 30 years before becoming the Monroe County Manager for eleven years. The Monroe County Office Building is named for him.

In 1966, Wegmans Food Markets purchased the property. They were going to demolish the house; however, in 1988, under the initiative of Town Supervisor Don Riley, Wegmans sold the house to the Society for $1.00 and generously funded moving it to what is now the Greece Town Campus. The cupola on the front lawn once sat atop the Ridge Road town hall. The Historical Society was founded in 1969 and when it was less than a year old, the society organized a historic house tour. There were four homes on the tour, but the beauty of a virtual tour is we can escort you to a few more homes all from the comfort of your own home.

As stated in Snapshot 30, in October 1998, three years after being added to the National Register of Historic Places, the Covert-Brodie-Pollock House was the first designated landmark in the Town of Greece. There are three other homes that are also designated town landmarks. Also, you can check out our Landmark Page as well on the Covert-Brodie-Pollock House.

The house of Joseph Fleming, a town pioneer, is located at 981 Latta Road; it became a designated town landmark in October 2012. Fleming, who was a master stone mason before he turned to farming, built the house circa 1854. This beautiful Italianate-style home was the centerpiece of Fleming’s 300-acre farm. The main block is two stories high with a hipped roofed 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.

The Rigney-Feenney house at 1885 Latta Road stands on the western slope of Paddy Hill and is another designated town landmark, achieving that distinction in 2000. It was the home of the pioneer Rigney Family. Built around 1850, it is “a late example of the Federal style of residential architecture,” characterized by the beautiful front entrance, symmetrical windows, and louvered shutters. The house was built to last and endure fierce weather with “nine-inch square beams of oak set into a foundation two feet thick.” Patrick Rigney was a farmer and fruit grower with 250 acres surrounding the house. His children occupied the house until the early 1940s. In the 1950s, parts of the old farm to the west and south were 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 fourth owners of the house, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Feeney undertook to restore the interior of the house to its original floor plan updating amenities for themselves and their seven children. It was Mr. Feeney’s home for more than 60 years from 1952 until he died in 2014.

The William A. Payne House became a designated town landmark in October 2012 shortly after being listed in the National Register of Historic Places in June.

The home was built circa 1905 for William A. Payne who as Monroe County Sealer of Weights and Measures impacted local and state commercial practices. He was one of the founders of the statewide association that established fair and uniform methods of weighing and measuring products benefitting both merchants and consumers. He also developed education programs for fellow sealers.

This house, typical of several along Elmgrove Road, has aspects of both Queen Anne and Colonial Revival architecture, a trend at the turn of the last century. Queen Anne-inspired features include the asymmetrical floor plan, the complicated roof design, fish-scale shingles, and bay windows. Colonial Revival aspects are the cornice returns at the gable ends and the square posts of the front porch. The former carriage barn is now a garage.

Just like the Larkin-Beattie-Howe house this house also moved from one location to another but this one move was shorter than the Larkin-Beattie-Howe House.

Zaccheus Colby, a prominent Greece farmer, built this 10-room, pink Dutch brick, Italianate-style farmhouse in 1855. In 1872 he sold it to his brother-in-law, Abner Shearman. The Shearman family continued to reside in the house until 1970. Construction of 390 threatened the house, so Miss Suzanne Shearman spent 75,000 dollars to move the house from its original location at 1777 Ridge Road West to 550 Latona Road.

That was quite an undertaking. The house had to be cut in half, moved on a flatbed truck, and set on a new foundation. Upon Suzanne’s death in 1970, the house was sold to the Bierworth family.

In 1979 the Wegman Companies, Inc. headed by Philip Wegman purchased the house for their headquarters. They realized the importance of this beautiful historic structure and have made every effort to preserve and maintain the building’s architectural integrity.

When the Western New York Landmark Society surveyed buildings in the town of Greece in 1994, it lamented that this home was in such derelict condition; indeed, it had been condemned by the town. When a developer planned a senior living facility on the property, he was going to demolish the barn and convert the house into apartments.

Fortunately, the Town’s Historic Preservation Commission, along with the New York State Historic Preservation Office (New York SHPO), stepped up and helped to save it. The developer of Fleming Point Senior Living Center, at the time when the building was being rehabbed the exterior of the house and the barn using recommendations from the New York SHPO (pronounced “ship-o”). 

This house was built for the coal and railroad industrialist Arthur Yates circa 1902 probably as a summer home. The site is the former Patrick Fleming farm; he was the younger brother of Joseph Fleming. The property became known as Elmtree Farm. The house is “an outstanding example of Neo-classical style” identified by the front façade dominated by a full-height portico with details such as carved wood ornamentation, both Doric and Corinthian columns and pilasters, and windows with six panes on the top and a single pane on the bottom. Although Neo-classical was a dominant style at the turn of the last century for public and institutional buildings it was not common for private residences.

A bonus is the gambrel-roofed barn with its large round-arch loft opening and twin louvered, cross-gabled cupolas.

In 1914, the home was purchased by Samuel Thayer and remained in the Thayer family for 80 years. Over the years the house and barn were converted into several apartments. In 1994, it was purchased by Joseph Coco, who later sold the property to the developer of Fleming Point Apartments in the early 2000s. In 2007, the house and barn were purchased by Greece businessman David Wegman of the Wegman Group. Dave and his family rehabbed the interior into offices for their business and rented out space to other businesses.

FYI … The Thayers sold the property to Joseph Coco, who stripped the interior of all its details. (Joe Coco also purchased the Hotel DeMay and his wife Kim was one of the owners of the DeMay when it was demolished.)

FYI … The Wegman Group and WCI are NOT the same businesses. Gina DiBella believes WCI is owned by Dave’s brother Phil.

There is also a publication written by Marie Villone Poinan which is a 22-page book with illustrations and photos chronicling the history of the Yates-Thayer property.

We’ve already told you about the Carpenter and Toal families that lived in this home. The house started as a simple one-and-a-half story home when it was constructed circa 1840; it was expanded into its present-day late Greek Revival style about 1860. It has a porticoed temple front. Notice the elongated facade and narrow pillars and there is some unusual carved woodwork, such as the small diamonds at the top of the Doric columns. The Landmark Society survey said that the craftsmanship was outstanding. Lou and Gloria Latragna purchased the home from the Toal family and strived for many years to maintain the building’s integrity and share its history. After their deaths, it was sold to Fieldstone Capital in August of 2015 and then Fieldstone Capital sold it to Mark Stauffer on 09/08/2020 at the cost of $115,000.

According to Monroe county, property tax records the property had two new updates done to the property one was a machine shed in 1980, and in 1990 a ramp was added to the porch for access into the first-floor area of the house.

This photo is of the home’s living room, one of the few interior shots we have, to see some other interior pictures see the Democrat and Chronicle article for some other pictures.

Here is an article written by Ernst Lamothe Jr. on the Democrat and Chronicle website on April 17, 2014, called Latta Road Home hosted lots of fun you read more by clicking the link below

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/local/rocroots/2014/04/16/latta-road-home-hosted-lots-fun/7704273/

Not all notable homes in Greece are more than a hundred years old. The Greece Historical Society is sponsoring a historic resource study of the work of Thomas W. Boyde, Jr., Rochester’s first African American architect. This mid-twentieth-century house is on Edgemere Drive. Mr. Boyde designed at least three other homes in the town. You can learn more about Thomas W. Boyde, Jr and the research project we are sponsoring by clicking on the Boyde Project at the top of the page.