East Avenue Historic District

East Avenue in Rochester, New York, is lined for about a mile and a half with large houses, churches, meeting houses and museums set back behind tree-lined sidewalks and wide lawns. The district holds roughly 700 structures, with the grandest on the avenue itself and smaller residences on the cross streets. Styles run from Greek Revival town houses of the 1840s to Italianate villas, Queen Anne homes, and the Prairie-style Boynton House by Frank Lloyd Wright. Other landmarks include the Sibley House, Woodside, and George Eastman's forty-two room mansion, now a photographic museum. Third Presbyterian Church, dedicated in 1893, has a 140-foot tower. The avenue developed after the 1830s as millers, bankers and executives left the crowded Third Ward for more spacious grounds. Unlike Buffalo's Delaware Avenue and Syracuse's James Street, it avoided heavy commercial intrusion, and many mansions now serve as clubs, museums and offices. The district was listed for its architectural and social history.