Syracuse Architect: Justus Moak Scrafford (1878-1947)

 

 Syracuse, NY. 726 Lancaster Ave. (formerly 114 Lancaster). Justus Moak Scrafford, architect (1910).  Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2013.

Syracuse Architect: Justus Moak Scrafford (1878-1947)
by Samuel D. Gruber

Last Sunday we took our second of this spring's Westcott Sunday walking tours and explored the few blocks west of Westcott Street and north of Euclid Avenue that climb the Clarendon Street hill.  The walk began on Euclid Ave. where the former Engine House 10 (now Westcott Street Community Center) and the grand Queen Anne style Loomis House are among the oldest in the neighborhood.  But this year we especially looked at the role of local architect Justus Moak Scrafford (1878-1947) who, together with Clarence S. Congdon, especially helped shape the area with a series of fine colonial style houses built on Clarendon Street and Lancaster Avenue between 1909 and 1914.  

Justus Moak Scrafford ca. 1902.  Syracuse University yearbook photo courtesy of SU Archives website

Who was Justus Scrafford?  Despite his affiliation with Syracuse University, the location of Scrafford's papers is not known, so information on his work comes mostly from newspaper references. Thanks to some research by Travis M. Bowman, and some additional sleuthing on my own for the Westcott tours, we now know that Scrafford attended Syracuse University where was an editor The Onondagan, the junior yearbook for which made many illustrations,  and he was also on the track team and in 1900 competed in the 800 meters in the summer Olympics in Paris. After graduation Scrafford worked at the New York City architecture firm of Trowbridge & Livingston until he was accepted at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts (School of Fine Arts)  in Paris.   After graduation from the Ecole, he returned to Trowbridge & Livingston for a year, until he was hired as an Associate Professor of Architecture at Syracuse; where he was made full professor in 1913. 

In addition to teaching at Syracuse he was especially active as a local architect between 1910 and 1920.  He designed many houses, mostly it seems in the English Colonial style, but also was the architect of the Bellevue Country Club, of which he was a member, and several churches including Erwin Methodist Church on Euclid Avenue near Westcott Street, not far from his house on Lancaster Avenue.  He also designed the Parish House at Grace Episcopal Church on Madison Street at University Avenue in 1913 and St. Philip's Episcopal Church which opened in January 1922 and closed in 1957, when the congregation merged with Grace Episcopal Church.  Scrafford's building was later torn down along with much else in the 15th Ward.  Scrafford's religious buildings were built in varied styles, but never employing predictable historicism.  They combine Arts & Crafts and more exotic elements. 

Syracuse, NY. Erwin Methodist Church on Euclid Avenue near Westcott Street. Justus Moak Scrafford, arch. (1911). Historic photo. 

 

Syracuse, NY. Erwin Methodist Church on Euclid Avenue near Westcott Street, surviving part of 1911 building.  Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2012

Syracuse, NY.  Grace Episcopal Church, Parish House.  Madison St. at University Ave. Justus Moak Scrafford, arch. (1913).  Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2009

 

 Syracuse, NY.  St. Philip's Episcopal Church (demolished). Justus Moak Scrafford, arch. (1921-22). Photo: Amazing Grace: The Legacy of St. Philip’s Church and Syracuse’s 15th Ward

Until recently, only Scrafford's own house at 726 Lancaster Ave. was identified.  The house, now owned by Grace and Michael Flusche, was featured in the Real Estate section of The Post-Standard with a picture on Aug. 26, 1910. In 2010, the Flusches celebrated the centennial of the house with a neighborhood party. The front porch has wide, fluted Doric columns with two sets of French doors that open to the living room. The foyer features an open oak staircase with a spiral-shaped newel post, and an archway with a keystone. The 14-by-15-foot dining room has a quarter-sawn oak floor and a coffered ceiling. It opens to a screened-in porch with 10-foot-high columns, beadboard ceiling and bluestone slate floor. The porch has a pass-through into the kitchen to make serving easy. The house also has a wing on the back, which Scrafford designed as a self-contained living area with a butler's pantry, full bath, bedroom and sitting room.

Paul and Elizabeth Paine House, 1911

 Syracuse, NY. 721 Lancaster Ave.  Justus Moak Scrafford, architect (1911).  Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2013.

Scrafford's presence in the neighborhood, and his teaching at Syracuse University brought new commissions. The next year (1911),  he began a fine large brick house across the street at 721 Lancaster Avenue for his University Colleague, librarian Paul Paine and wife Elizabeth. The three-story house has a symmetric facade with a modest projecting aedicule type entrance porch in front of a neo-Federal style doorway, with sidelights. The third floor is the attic level, but it has a high roof with three large dormers, providing a well-lit living space. The Paines moved into the house in 1912.  Paine was a librarian and lecturer at SU and from 1915 to 1942 he was Director of the Syracuse Public Library. The public library in Eastwood opened its present building on March 19, 1958 with ceremonies and was named the Paul Mayo Paine Branch. 

Edward L.  and Daisy Torbert House, 1912

 

Syracuse, NY. 317 Clarendon St. Justus Moak Scrafford, architect (1912). Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2013.

 

In 1912, Scrafford built a similar, but even more impressive house atop the hill at Clarendon and Ackerman Avenue for the Edward and Daisy Torbert Family.  This large well-sited house was one of several homes of prominent Syracusans erected in a second phase of building at the crest of Clarendon Street. One reason these houses are so much more impressive than their neighbors is that they sit on wide lots, allowing full facades, and these are set fairly close to the edge of the hill and are thus fully visible from the street below. This colonial Revival house is notable for its full four-column Doric porch with a decorative balcony rail above, and its three bold projecting third floor dormers, set into a hipped roof, with a fourth dormer facing east. The siting of the house provided impressive views to the south form all the upper floor windows. The big lot behind opens all the way to Thornden Park, and include a large garage in the same style as the house. The garage has an upstairs apartment, and is equal in size to many nearby residences. 

Edward L.  Torbert (1877(?)-1966) was an officer and later Director of the Onondaga Pottery Company, which later became Syracuse China, for 62 years. He was born in Davenport, Iowa. Named assistant manger of Onondaga Pottery in 1910, he filled many administrative posts with the company until his retirement in 1961. At different times Torbert was president of the United States Potters Association and the American vitrified China Association. Involved in civic life, he served as Chairman of the Onondaga County Parks Board from 1929 to 1960, and on the boards of numerous pother civic organizations. Daisy was active member of the Asa Danforth Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and other civic groups and hosted meetings at the house beginning from 1925. The house was sold after Daisy Torbert's death in 1952. Now owned by Trinity Fellowship congregation, it has supported the large family of Jeremy and Lucinda Jackson since 1979. Jeremy Jackson has co-pastored Trinity Fellowship since its foundation in 1978. 

F.M. Featherly House, 1913

Syracuse, NY. 701-703 Euclid Ave. , Justus Moak Scrafford, arch. (1913).  Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2013

In 1913, a newspaper notices suggest that Scrafford built a house for F.M. Featherly at 701 Euclid Ave., on the northeast corner of Lancaster and Euclid.  Featherly dealt in china at his business F.M Featherly, China at 209 West Fayette St.. Featherly's is a house of flats - two stories of separate but probably equal apartments. This type of house was becoming common in the neighborhood at this time.  Owners often lived in one unit and either rented the other, or it was used by a family member. The house is well proportioned, and when new would have looked simple, though handsome. There is nothing, however, in the design of the that distinguishes it from many others of the type.  

 W.A. Schuyler House, 1914

Syracuse, NY. 1828 East Genesee St,, Justus Moak Scrafford, arch. (1914).  Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2014

In 1914, Scrafford teamed with builder W. A. Schuyler, and is mentioned as the architect of a house "at East Genesee Street and Columbus avenue, overlooking Columbia Park," (Post-Standard, July 11, 1914).  This is almost certainly the house at 1828 East Genesee Street.

"Justus A. Scrafford. architect, la getting out plans for an English house to be built at East Genesee street and Columbus avenue, overlooking Columbia Park, by Mr. Schuyler. This will be covered with wide clapboards painted white and the entrance will be on the side- The living and dining rooms will occupy the major part of the first floor and there will be three rooms and bath on the second floor. Across the front there Is to be a spacious porch. The entire Interior will be finished In white enamel. Ground will be broken Monday and the house will be completed September 1 at a cost of $6,000."

J. W. Breads House, 1916

 Syracuse, NY 314 Lennox ave.  Justus Moak Scrafford, arch. (1916).  Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2014

  Syracuse, NY 314 Lennox Ave.  Justus Moak Scrafford, arch. (1916). Plan: Syracuse Herald (June 18, 1916)

Scrafford and Schuyler worked together again in 1916, on a house for J. W. Breads, at 314 Lennox Avenue. This house was featured with photos and a plan in the Syracuse Herald (June 18, 1916) as a "striking example of the economy of space in a semi-bungalow." The house stands in good condition - it was among the first in the Westcott Tract when it was built, but now is surround by other houses - many of them semi-bungalows not too different in exterior appearance.  Of course, in 1916, the semi-bungalow in many variations was a staple of house plan and house material handbooks and catalogs.

Hugh P. Baker House, 1915

Syracuse, NY.  Hugh P. Baker House.  Justus M. Scrafford, arch., (1915).  Photo: Syracuse Post-Standard, May 15, 1915. 

I'll end this incomplete list of Scrafford's work with mention of a house designed In 1915 for Hugh P. Baker (1878-1950) the second and fourth Dean of the New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse University (now SUNY-ESF) from 1912–20 and 1930–33. Baker put his stamp on the school and promoted its specialization in the study and application of wood resources.  He later served as president of Massachusetts State College  from 1933–47, now  the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

For most of his first tenure as Dean in Syracuse he lived in the house Scrafford designed on Salt Spring Road near Seeley Rd., and still relatively undeveloped part of the city, close the recently extended city line.  A notice about the house appeared in the Syracuse Post-Standard on May 15, 1915:

The property in the new part of Syracuse opens on East Genesee Street, the Salt Springs Road and Ferris Avenue and there is already started a considerable amount of building. Before the annexation several attractive homes were built in that section which is served by the Syracuse and Suburban Railroad. One of the most recent of these is the year round home of Dr. Hugh P. Baker dean of the New York State College of Forestry, Syracuse University. It is a large house with many attractive features and is surrounded by rolling country of a picturesque character. From Dr. Baker's sitting porch it has a view across country as far as Fayetteville. He is busy landscaping the grounds and planting trees and shrubs. Justus M. Scrafford was the architect of the residence.

I've tried to locate this house without success. When built it had no street address, but it seems to have stood on the south side of Salt Spring Road between Seeley Rd.and Gorland Avenue.  No houses there match the newspaper photo.  Baker left the house in 1920, and it may have been torn down for the construction of the Charles Andrews School in 1923.  When Baker returned as College Dean in the early 1930s, he lived at 113 Berkeley Drive, now the home of Chabad Rabbi Yaakov Rapoport. 

Conclusion

This essay is just an introduction to a forgotten Syracuse architect.  We still know little to nothing about Scrafford as a person or as a teacher, and his approach to architecture needs to be more fully considered. Along with several contemporaries such as Clarence S. Congdon, Gordon Wright, and Ward Wellington Ward he helped shape Syracuse's Eastside, and also played an important role in the shift away from 19th-century ornamental styles in middle-class house design.  His work was contemporary but separate from Arts and Crafts practitioner Ward. His English Colonial style offered an establishment alternative architecture well-to-do professionals.    

From now on, we'll keep an eye open to identify more of Scrafford's work, and perhaps to find his papers or other documentary evidence of his work.

 

Beyond the Box, Resurrection and Efficient Living in Camillus

Camillus, NY. St. Luke's Episcopal Church (1957). Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2014)

Camillus, NY. Wilcox Octagon House (1856). Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2014)

Beyond the Box, Resurrection and Efficient Living in Camillus
by Samuel D. Gruber

Usually driving down a strip in Central New York in the inner or outer suburbs, and along some of the old entrance routes to Syracuse, one drives by rows of boxes.   Closest to the city center are a few decorated Art Deco boxes and some small post-World War II brick retail and service stores simple and functional in their design.  On older streets (like James Street in Syracuse), are more delicate, often see-through modernist boxes, where they replaced mansions torn down in the 1960s and 70s., and to these we can add some fast food outlets that still draw on post-war modernism for inspiration.  Lastly, and so common now, are the rows of big bulky boxes with nothing to look at all to catch the eye - so uninteresting in their design inside or out - that their bigness and boxiness has given them their name of "big box stores".

Well, I had a pleasant break from this the other day heading to Camillus, when I drove by in quick succession two striking buildings that seem to have escaped from the box - and delight in offering alternate geometry.  The sanctuary of St. Luke's Episcopal Church at 5402 West Genesee St., designed by Crenshaw & Folley  and built in 1957, has a tall thin profile with steeply slanting sides, like someone cut it a like a piece of pie from a larger building.  The architecture seemed perfectly appropriate for the adjacent sign proclaiming "Allealuia, Christ is Risen," for indeed this building with its tall cross inscribed on the window wall facing the street seems to have arisen itself, sprung up for Easter beside the busy road.  Inside, the narrow sanctuary space soars, but the wood lined space is warmly intimate.  The is one of the most expressive modern religious buildings in the Syracuse area.  And for those who know my interest in plastics in architecture, there is the added fact that St. Luke's interior wood is Rilco laminated wood from the Weyerhaeuser Co., bonded with "structural glues stronger than wood itself" (plastics).

 

Camillus, NY. St. Luke's Episcopal Church (1957). Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2014)

Just down the road is the Wilcox Octagon House of Camillus, built in 1956, and one of the best preserved buildings of this type in Central New York.  In my mind the two buildings seemed instantly related, because the octagon, since Early Christian times, carried the meaning of resurrection, too.   In Early Christian baptistry design seven sides stood for the days of the week, and the eight side represented the Day of  Resurrection and Eternal Life, when the soul was reborn through Christian baptism.  Now, the builder's of the Octagon House almost certainly did not have this in mind - they were following the building precepts of Orson Squire Fowler in his influential book A Home for All; or, the gravel Wall and Octagon Mode of Building of 1853, in which he made the case for the octagon as the healthiest house form.

 

Camillus, NY. Wilcox Octagon House (1856). Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2014)

Camillus, NY. Wilcox Octagon House (1856), National Register plaque. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2014)

 

 Camillus, NY. Wilcox Octagon House.  First floor plan from Wilcox House website: http://www.octagonhouseofcamillus.org/

Fowler promoted the octagon house as cheaper to build, and with more  living space and natural light.  He maintained that because of the geometry it was easier to heat, and that it remained cooler in the summer.  Fowler believed that a circle is the most efficient shape, but would be difficult to build and awkward to furnish, so an octagon was a sensible approximation.  The octagon house is remarkable, however, not just for its design, but because it referred to an entire philosophy of living quite different from the societal norm represented by the dominant Greek Revival and Italianate houses of the period. To a certain extent, builders of the  octagon houses accepted a less formal domestic arrangement, and this often mirrored their other social and political views.

Another octagon house is the Henry E. Pierce house on Bear Street, near Washington Square, in Syracuse. 

Other Octagon houses in New York include these:

The Armour-Stiner Octagon House
http://www.josephpelllombardi.com/5homes/octagon.html

The Rich-Twinn Octagon House
http://www.buffaloah.com/a/NEWST/main/145/

Further reading:

Church construction with rilco laminated wood (Weyerhaeuser Co. 1961)

[includes photo and caption of St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Camillus]
https://archive.org/details/WeyerhaeuserCoChurchConstructionwithRilcoLaminated0001

Fowler, Orson S., The Octagon House, (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., first edition 1848 (1853 edition reprinted in 1973)

Westcott Porches

 

 Syracuse, NY. 421 Westcott St.  A late Victorian porch.  Photo: Samuel Gruber 2014

Westcott Porches
by Samuel D. Gruber

The best residential streets include a variety of houses, and these houses consist of a variety of parts.  The balance of consistency and  variety is what makes a walk down any block visually interesting, and makes one want to do it again and again.  There should always be - even in the most familiar settings - something new to see, or some relationship of parts, or  revelation in changing light or foliage - that has never been seen before, or at least not seen for a long time.  We need - even crave - visual stimulation even more than we know.  Dullness breed dullness.

This Sunday I'll begin my spring walking tours in Syracuse's Westcott neighborhood (click here for the schedule).  In the grand scheme of things, these few dozen blocks are really pretty much all of a piece.  Built mostly between 1880 and 1930, they comprise a fairly typical American "streetcar suburb" - an early type of segregated (by function) residential development.  Yes, despite the commonality of it all - there is ceaseless variety street to street, from house to house, and upon each facade and in each yard and on each porch. 

Syracuse, NY.  Westcott and South Beech area mapped in 1892.  This the area of Sunday's (April 27th) walk.

Sunday, we'll stroll down the 400 and 300 blocks of Westcott Street between Dell and East Genesee.  The first block - until Hawthorne - contains some of the oldest houses in the neighborhood.  Most already show up on our first map of the area published in 1892 (above).  These houses are mostly narrow wood frame late Victorian structures, simple in form and easy to build, but often more ornate in their applied decoration - some of which can still be found where house hasn't been stripped and vinylized.  Most decorative in these types of houses were the porches, which were also essential functional features in an era when street crime here was not an issue, and air conditioning was unknown. 

Syracuse, NY. 417 Westcott St.  An early example of a Colonial Revival porch, common from from the 1890s on.  Photo: Samuel Gruber 2014

I like to anthropomorphize houses.  If the windows are the eyes, gables the brow, and the roof the hair, then a house's front porch is its mouth - and smile.  Some porches/smiles are more radiant and open than others.  Some have recently had a cleaning and maybe some orthodontia, others present crooked smiles of quirky beauty, and distinctive personality, and suggesting deep secrets, too (yes, twenty years ago, my first year in the neighborhood, body parts were found under a porch on South Beech - but that is not what I'm talking about).  Sadly, not a few porches look like they've had their teeth kicked out.

Westcott Street still has some fine and old porches - though some have been recently painted in more modern (garish?) colors, and few have been stolen - walled up to create more rentable interior space.   A walk on Westcott presents a primer of local porch types.  Here are a few samples, and we'll look at these and others on our upcoming walks....

Syracuse NY.  456 Westcoot St.  Parts of a double-decker stick style porch remain, include the valence between the turned wood columns of the lower level.  Photo: Samuel Gruber 2014

Syracuse, NY. 400 Westcostt St.  A distinctive porch of paired bulging columns, supported on cast stone blocks.  The porch was probably added after 1900.  Photo: Samuel Gruber 2014

 Syracuse, NY. 430 Westcott St.  Triple-deckers are more common in Boston, but we have several on Westcott St.  Big houses maximized the potential on these lots, and today are filled with apartments.  Photo: Samuel Gruber 2014

The New Urbanism movement touts the value of porches - and has championed their construction in planned and suburban developments as a way for residents to show themselves to their neighbors and create community.  In the Westcott neighborhood the Old Urbanism works fine - though sometimes it needs a tune-up.  I'd like to see all of Syracuse devote itself to porches - fixing them up, spending time on them, and letting houses reconnect with their streets through these essential transitional spaces.  The porch is public and private - the best model of an urban life.  What kind of porch do you like? 

Westcott Sunday Architecture and History Walking Tours (Spring 2014)

Westcott Sunday Architecture and History Walking Tours (Spring 2014)

With architectural historian Sam Gruber 

Join me on this year's Westcott Neighborhood architecture and history walking tours, as we explore the development of the Westcott neighborhood, its architecture and its distinctive “Streetcar Suburb” characteristics.  Most of the neighborhood was planned and built between 1870 and 1930, and in its blocks are scores of examples of fine residential architecture in many styles: Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, and a variety of examples of the Arts & Crafts Movement.  I'll discuss these and other trends in urban design, and many features of house architecture and city streets we often take for granted.  Whether you are a long time resident of the Westcott Neighborhood or a first time visitor, you’ll see and learn something new on these community-sponsored walks. 

(All tours are free to the public.  They start ast 1 pm and last approximately 2 hours)
 

Sunday, April 27

The Old Neighborhood: South Beech, Dell, Columbus and Westcott Streets 
Startpoint: Picasso’s Pastries, NW corner of Dell and Westcott Streets
(Parking: on street and at free community lot on Harvard Place)

Sunday, May 4 

West of Westcott: Euclid Street, Clarendon Street & Adjoining Streets 
Startpoint: Westcott Community Center, Westcott St. & Euclid Ave.
(Parking: on street or at Erwin Methodist Church, across From WCC)

Sunday, May 18 

Stately Streets: Allen St., Cambridge St. ad Harvard Place
Startpoint: Recess Café, 110 Harvard Place (off Westcott)
(Parking: on street and at free community lot on Harvard Place, across from Cafe)

Sunday, June 1

 Westcott's England: Westminster, Buckingham, Kensington & Lancaster Neighborhood 
Startpoint: Westcott Community Center (Westcott St. &Euclid Ave.)
(Parking: on street or at Erwin Methodist Church, across From WCC)

Sam Gruber is an internationally known art and architectural historian, and cultural heritage consultant, who is a long time resident of the Westcott Neighborhood.  He served for many years on the board of Westcott Neighborhood Association and the Preservation Association of Central New York, of which he served as president, and formerly led the Westcott Neighborhood Historic House Tours.  Sam teaches part-time at Syracuse University and writes the blog My Central New York.