Temples in the Wilderness

I started researching at the History Center for my public installation in Tompkins County. I found:

• There are a lot of buildings in Ithaca.
• They are almost all old.
• In 1824 we had 9 professional sawmills and less than 11,000 people. The crumbling foundation at Ithaca Falls is from one.
• The Trees is an 1865 Italianate house made of concrete. The use of concrete relates to an early “green movement” and idea that mundane materials can be exotic. It’s for sale.
• There is a prefab house from 1948 in Forest Home.
• In the 1820s Ithaca sold houses for the land; In the 1840s, they started to care about the style; In the 1890s their was a desire for good house plans.
• “….the Tompkins county house, before it was covered in stucco…”
• Alison Mason Kingsbury Bishop’s paintings of houses in Fall Creek are in the History Center’s art collection. They have an art collection?