{"nrhp_refnum":"85002289","name":"New Century Club","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"253 Genesee St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Utica","county":"Oneida County","state":"NY","lat":43.099426804000075,"lon":-75.23455801999995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-09-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick residence at 253 Genesee Street in downtown Utica, Oneida County, New York, built in 1826 for merchant tailor Otis Manchester, with a c. 1840 side wing and a large 1897 rear auditorium addition designed by Frederick H. Gouge.","why_significant":"It is significant as the home of the New Century Club, a women's organization formed in 1893 that led local improvements in education, recreation and youth justice. It is also architecturally significant as a rare surviving early nineteenth-century Genesee Street dwelling with an intact Greek Revival interior and a Second Renaissance Revival addition by Gouge.","narrative":"Built in 1826 for merchant tailor Otis Manchester, this brick house at 253 Genesee Street in downtown Utica began as a fashionable residence on a street lined with the homes of prominent citizens. A two-story wing was added around 1840, and an Italianate porch and bracketed cornices followed about 1860. Later owners included a hardware merchant, an attorney and a physician. In 1895 the New Century Club, a women's organization formed in 1893, bought the property and in 1897 added a three-and-a-half-story auditorium wing designed by local architect Frederick H. Gouge. The club pressed for Utica's first kindergarten, a school to train kindergarten teachers, public playgrounds, a juvenile court, a detention house and the city's first policewoman. The house keeps a Greek Revival interior drawn from Minard Lafever's published designs, along with Federal, Italianate and Eastlake details. It remains in use as the club's meeting place and a community center in the central business district.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899 and 1900- (specific date 1826)","architect_builder":"Frederick H. Gouge (1897 addition); original architect/builder listed as NA","architectural_style":"Greek Revival (1826 main block), with Federal, Italianate and Eastlake interior elements and a Second Renaissance Revival rear addition","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and still in use as a meeting place and home of the New Century Club; condition described as good and relatively intact.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:44.946046-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/85002289.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85002289/16549af2a9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85002289/16549af2a9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Lvklock","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NewCenturyClub.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Lvklock</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NewCenturyClub.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"100002668","name":"Downtown Genessee Street Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/new-york/downtown-genessee-street-historic-district-100002668/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75320237","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Century_Club_(Utica,_New_York)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14707057"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/oneida-county/new-century-club-85002289/"}