{"nrhp_refnum":"79001611","name":"Community Place","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"S of Skaneateles at 725 Sheldon Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Skaneateles","county":"Onondaga County","state":"NY","lat":42.98289585800006,"lon":-76.45451187099997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-04-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion","Philosophy","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Community Place is a four-building farm complex on Sheldon Road near Skaneateles, Onondaga County, New York. It has a stone residence begun about 1830, a stuccoed carriage house and stable, a frame barn and a small stuccoed barn.","why_significant":"The site was home to a Fourierist communal experiment founded in 1843, one of the longest-lasting in the country, in New York's \"burned-over\" district. It is the last surviving Fourierist complex in Central New York. The transitional Federal-Greek Revival stone house is also a rare surviving stone farmhouse of the early settlement period.","narrative":"Community Place is a farm complex on Sheldon Road near Skaneateles made up of a main house, a large stuccoed carriage house and stable, a frame barn and a small stuccoed barn. The front of the house, built about 1830 of smooth-cut limestone, combines Federal and Greek Revival details, and a wood frame addition followed around 1840. Inside, original mantels, wainscoting and a cherry-baluster staircase survive. In 1843 a joint-stock company bought the farm, then owned by Elijah Cole, to found a Fourierist commune. Members practiced trades, farmed more than 170 acres, ran an orchard and nursery, and published a newspaper called The Communitist. At its height about 150 people lived there. Disagreements over shared property and other matters ended the community in May 1846. The house's small bedrooms reflect that crowded communal period, and the carriage house once served as a public meeting hall. It is the last surviving Fourierist complex in Central New York.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Elijah Cole","architectural_style":"Transitional Federal-Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied as a private residence; the owners were removing later alterations and planning to restore the original front porch. The form lists condition as altered.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:38.977316-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/79001611.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001611/b474ddddca-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001611/b474ddddca-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Doncram","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CommunityPlace2009a_sm.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Doncram</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:CommunityPlace2009a_sm.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75320322","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Place","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5154841"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/onondaga-county/community-place-79001611/"}