{"nrhp_refnum":"05000018","name":"Ithaca Downtown Historic District (Additional Documentation)","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"E. and W. State, N & S Cayuga, N. Aurora, N. Tioga Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ithaca","county":"Tompkins County","state":"NY","lat":42.439100909000075,"lon":-76.4984197237371,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2005-02-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Commerce","Community Planning and Development","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A commercial historic district in downtown Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York, covering the 100 and 200 blocks of East State Street and nearby blocks of Cayuga, Aurora, and Tioga streets. It includes 69 properties, mostly multi-story brick commercial buildings dating from 1818 to 1954.","why_significant":"The district is argued to be significant under Criterion A as an intact example of a Central New York commercial district, showing how Ithaca grew from a small turnpike settlement into the city's commercial center. Under Criterion C, it retains a largely intact collection of attached masonry commercial buildings in Greek Revival, Italianate, Renaissance Revival, and Moderne styles.","narrative":"Ithaca's downtown core, on level ground at the south end of Cayuga Lake, is a district of 69 properties along East and West State Street and the neighboring blocks of Cayuga, Aurora, and Tioga streets. Most are multi-story brick commercial buildings with flat or low-pitched roofs, decorative cornices, and regular window patterns above altered storefronts. A few stand apart, including the Greek Revival Colonial Building of 1830, the Clinton House, and the Egyptian Revival Masonic Temple. Bank buildings on North Tioga Street, known as Bank Alley, have stone-faced ground floors. The district was recognized for showing how Ithaca grew from a small settlement at the crossing of two turnpikes into its commercial center between 1818 and 1954, and for its largely intact collection of attached masonry buildings in Greek Revival, Italianate, Renaissance Revival, and Moderne styles. Five buildings postdate 1954 and are noncontributing. Since 1974, parts of East State and North Tioga streets have been pedestrian-only.","period_of_significance":"1818-1954","architect_builder":"Architects named for individual buildings include Clinton L. Vivian and A.B. Dale; Driscoll Brothers and Company is named as a builder.","architectural_style":"Greek Revival, Italianate, Second Empire, Romanesque, Late 19th/Early 20th Century Commercial","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still the center of Ithaca's commercial activity; two blocks of East State Street and one block of North Tioga Street became a pedestrian walkway in 1974. Many storefronts are altered, but upper stories are largely intact.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:53.59804-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/05000018.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000018/eeea9418bd-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000018/eeea9418bd-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"renatoppl","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ithaca_Downtown_Historic_District_2012-09-02_18-07-14.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">renatoppl</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ithaca_Downtown_Historic_District_2012-09-02_18-07-14.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75322505","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ithaca_Downtown_Historic_District_(Ithaca,_New_York)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6094503"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/tompkins-county/ithaca-downtown-historic-district-additional-documentation-05000018/"}