Draper House
Why it's listed
Located on Rochester Street, the main north-south road through Lima, this frame house was built about 1842 for Gideon Draper, a Methodist presiding elder and trustee of the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary. Its gable end faces the street, and its plan is a side hall with three rooms in a row, typical of Federal and Greek Revival houses of the period. In the mid-1860s, probably under carpenter John Selim Wright, it received Italianate details including a bull's-eye gable window, a bracketed entrance hood on scrolled consoles, double round-arched front doors and chamfered porch posts. The interior remains virtually unchanged, with multi-paneled doors, high baseboards, a statuary niche and an open stair. A carriage barn from the 1860s stands behind the house. Later owners included Seminary principal Schuyler Seager, and the house served as a student boarding house before the Thompson family lived there. It is valued as a well-preserved example of Lima's practice of updating older homes with fashionable ornament.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the house is a representative example of mid-nineteenth century domestic architecture in Lima. Its Federal/Greek Revival form was updated with Italianate ornamentation, which illustrates the local practice of modernizing older houses. The interior survives with a high degree of integrity, and the intact 1860s carriage barn adds to its significance.
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 89001140, listed August 31, 1989. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 1764 Rochester St., Lima |
|---|---|
| County | Livingston County |
| Listed | August 31, 1989 |
| Reference number | 89001140 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | ca. 1842; ca. mid-1860s |
| Architect / builder | Architect unknown; builder attributed to Gideon Draper & John Selim Wright |
| Architectural style | Vernacular Italianate overlay on a transitional Federal and Greek Revival form |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Private residence in good condition, with no known threats; the interior is virtually unchanged. |
| Acreage | 0.8 |
| Coordinates | 42.90974, -77.61193 (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 89001140.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q5305854
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.