The Avery-Burton House: Another Case of North Side Deterioration

 Syracuse, NY. The Avery-Burton House, 317 Bear Street. Photo: PACNY, 1980s.

 Syracuse, NY. The Avery-Burton House, 317 Bear Street. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber (2012)

The Avery-Burton House: Another Case of North Side Deterioration
  
The other day I posted about the mid-19th century Catherine Murray House on Danforth Street on Syracuse's Northside and its sad and continuing deterioration.   The Murray House is not alone.  Several other historic houses occupying prominent sites that were in good condition in the 1980s are also in bad condition and are at risk.  All these houses should receive quick attention from the city's new Land Bank before they are past the point of saving.

The Avery-Burton House, at 317 Bear Street, at the corner of Park Street, is one of the finest mid-19th century houses in the Washington Square Neighborhood.  Architecturally, the once-attractive brick house combines Greek Revival and Italianate elements.  Historically, it is associated with the Salt Industry of the old Village of Salina.  The house now boarded up, has unfortunately lost some of its earlier details, but it is mostly intact - at least on the outside.

When Benjamin A. Avery (1817 - 1882), who had come to Syracuse from Groton, Connecticut, built the house, he owned a fifty-kettle salt block near the Oswego Canal.  As reported in Eva Hardin's essential Syracuse Landmarks: An AIA Guide to Downtown and Historic Neighborhoods (p167), Avery helped organize the Central City Railroad, which in 1860 started to run between Clinton Square and Wolf Street as the city’s first horse-drawn trolley line. In 1865, he sold his home to Henry Burton, a second-generation salt manufacturer.

The house was included in Hardin's book, but like most of areas houses was never designated a local protected site of nominated to the National Register of Historic Places.  At the time the Hardin, Dennis Connors and others were documenting Northside and other city houses in the 1970s and 1980s that intention and expectation was that many of these would receive the recognition they deserve.  Now, while still potentially eligible for such designation, the now-deteriorated condition may make that difficult.  City officials are now moving ahead with efforts to re-survey the area that could lead to new preservation initiatives. 

Fortunately, there are still many fine houses in the neighborhood that are cared for and are in good condition.  Overall, however, my walking tours around the area over the years have shown - often quite shockingly - the continued fraying at the edge of the oldest of Syracuse' residential districts. 

  Syracuse, NY. The Avery-Burton House, 317 Bear Street. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber (2012)

 Syracuse, NY. The Avery-Burton House, 317 Bear Street. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber (2012)