The Geneva Historical Society Tour of Homes

This home was built somewhere between 1875 and 1885, making it over 125 years old. When the Osborns moved into the house in 1994, the house was in its original state (woodwork, doors, hardware, etc), a typical Eastlake home. A typical farmhouse of the period, Eastlake is a generic term to describe a period and style named for Charles Eastlake, an English architect and designer.

In October 2007, much of the interior of the house was severely damaged by a fire. The Osborns took great care in choosing a builder that would honor an maintain the beauty and style of the house in doing the restoration. Frank Marianacci & Sons from Holcomb, New York, took on the monumental task which took approximately eleven months. The entire house had to be gutted, with the exception of most of the hardwood floors, but great care was taken to save as much of the woodwork, doors and original hardware as possible. Everything was taken down, taken back to their shop for cleaning and stripping and carefully put back into the house. The original floors were stripped and refinished. The back part of the house was burned so badly that it had to be reconstructed. This included the kitchen, pantry, laundry room, two side porches, powder room, and two upstairs bathrooms. In the renovation, all the space of the old kitchen, pantry, laundry room and a side porch is incorporated into one large kitchen space.

Fascinating to note: There are no fireplaces in the home. It was a very modern home for the period and used central heating with radiators. All of the original doors have their original tooled brass hinges and hardware. Some of the door knobs are the original black onyx. There are two sets of pocket doors original to the house. The dining room has original wainscoting on three walls. The wainscoting on the wall abutting the kitchen had to be replaced because of the fire. Every window in the house serves as a frame for the outdoors - lake, vineyards and fields.

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