{"nrhp_refnum":"89001948","name":"Willard, Dr. Sylvester, Mansion","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"203 W. Genesee St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Auburn","county":"Cayuga County","state":"NY","lat":42.92763471400008,"lon":-76.57477274499996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-11-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Art","Health/Medicine","Entertainment/Recreation","Science","Architecture","Social History","Invention"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A monumental Greek Revival brick mansion at 203 West Genesee Street in Auburn, Cayuga County, New York, begun about 1836 and completed about 1843, with late nineteenth-century Neoclassical additions, a carriage house, a greenhouse and a cast-iron fence.","why_significant":"The mansion is argued to be a distinguished example of mid-nineteenth-century Greek Revival domestic architecture in Auburn and holds a rare, intact in-situ Tiffany-designed residential stained-glass window. It was the home of three generations of the Willard and Case families, who were prominent local philanthropists. It is also associated with Dr. Sylvester Willard and with Theodore Case, an early inventor of sound-on-film motion pictures.","narrative":"Set on a one-acre corner lot west of downtown Auburn, this two-story brick mansion was begun around 1836 and finished about 1843. Its front is dominated by a pedimented portico with fluted Ionic columns. In the late nineteenth century, Dr. Sylvester Willard added an Italian Renaissance-inspired east wing and a rear dining wing, and much of the interior dates from that remodeling. A Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company window, added in the 1890s, survives in its original opening. The grounds also hold a carriage house, a former greenhouse, and an ornate cast-iron fence. Three generations of the Willard and Case families lived here until it became a museum in 1936. Dr. Willard was a physician, financier and philanthropist. His descendant Theodore Case used the carriage house and greenhouse in the 1910s and 1920s as a studio and laboratory while developing sound-on-film technology. Architecture, art, local social history and invention together account for the listing. The building now serves as a county history museum.","period_of_significance":"1836-1930","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Greek Revival; Classical Revival","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Currently houses the Cayuga County Museum of History and Art; the form notes the surrounding neighborhood has deteriorated.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:45.193737-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/89001948.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001948/ab97226584-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001948/ab97226584-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Doug Kerr from now in Binghamton, NY","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sylvester_Willard_Mansion_May_09.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Doug Kerr from now in Binghamton, NY</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sylvester_Willard_Mansion_May_09.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75316747","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Sylvester_Willard_Mansion","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5304427"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/cayuga-county/willard-dr-sylvester-mansion-89001948/"}