The Colby-Shearman home was moved (due to the construction of I-390) in April 1968, in two sections about one-half mile from its original location at 1777 Ridge Road West to 550 Latona Road. The imposing, early Victorian house is in the Italianate style. It belongs to the picturesque movement in architecture in the second half of the nineteenth century. The style was loosely inspired by the rural architecture of northern Italy. The house was constructed by Zaccheus Colby c.1855 and by 1872 Colby had sold the house to his brother-in-law, Abner Shearman. Colby had been married to Shearman’s sisters, Rhoda and (after her death) Jeanette. He died a widower at the age of 79 in 1891. Abner Shearman’s descendants lived in the house until 1970.
By 1979 new life was brought into “the house that Zack built” as headquarters for the Wegman Companies Inc., developers, and investors. Surrounded by mature landscaping on a prominent rise, it is screened from a group of one-story professional buildings built by the Wegman brothers in 1984-85. The Colby Shearman house is included in a survey, done by The Landmark Society of Western New York, of 101 significant architectural sites in the Town Of Greece. The final assessment that was given by the Landmark Society states: ‘The history of this building, beginning as a nineteenth-century farmstead, is highly significant to the town of Greece. The Colby-Shearman House, the Ridgemont Country Club, and 981 Latta Road (the former Fleming farmstead) are the town’s best examples of Italianate style architecture.”
Photos, Data supplied by Alan Mueller, Greece Historian’s Office, Greece Historical Society
