Horseheads 1855 Extension Historic District

Grand Central Avenue in Horseheads, New York, is a broad boulevard with a grass median, and it anchors a neighborhood of 31 buildings that grew after the village extended its boundary in 1855. Large frame houses on spacious, tree-lined lots show the changing tastes of roughly 1830 to 1920, from a Greek Revival house on Steuben Street and a Gothic Revival cottage with a matching privy on Pine Street to Italianate villas with towers, Queen Anne and Eastlake homes, two bungalows and a Prairie-style house. The brick Horseheads Union School, designed in 1890 by Elmira architects Joseph H. Pierce and H.H. Bickford, adds a civic landmark. The area grew from farmland subdivided in 1850, during the Chemung Canal's peak of trade. The district was recognized for the integrity and harmony of its setting, not only individual buildings. Only two modern brick houses intrude, and the school was vacant and at risk of demolition.