Leetch, Dr. Henry, House
Why it's listed
Perched on a terraced, wooded hillside above Moody Pond in Saranac Lake, this two-story Tudor Revival house at 3 Johnson Road was built in 1931-1932 for Dr. Henry Leetch. Leetch was a physician specializing in tuberculosis who came to Saranac Lake from Washington, D.C. in 1929 to cure his own illness, and he lived in the house until retiring in 1965. Local architect William G. Distin designed it, and Branch and Callanan built it. The wood-frame house has a fieldstone foundation, clapboard siding, stucco and half-timbering in the gables, and metal casement windows. A glass-enclosed cure porch over the basement garage reflects its purpose, providing fresh air for open-air treatment. Inside, oak floors, brass pipes and fittings, and a brick fireplace survive. It is valued as an intact example of a private cure residence from the final decades of Saranac Lake's tuberculosis-curing era, with strong integrity of setting, design, and materials.
Significance in brief: The house is presented as an intact example of private residential architecture built for a tuberculosis patient in Saranac Lake during the last decades of open-air treatment. Dr. Henry Leetch, a physician specializing in tuberculosis who had the disease himself, built it and lived there until 1965. It retains an enclosed cure porch and a high degree of integrity.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 92001471, listed November 6, 1992. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 3 Johnson Rd., Saranac Lake |
|---|---|
| County | Essex County |
| Listed | November 6, 1992 |
| Reference number | 92001471 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1931-ca.1940 |
| Architect / builder | William G. Distin, Architect; Branch and Callanan, Builders |
| Architectural style | Tudor Revival |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Health/Medicine, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Still used as a single dwelling; the form describes it as retaining a high degree of integrity. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Within district | New York Central Railroad Adirondack Division Historic District |
| Coordinates | 44.32632, -74.13299 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 92001471.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q5304146
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.