Cornell Heights -Historic District

Overview

Planned and developed between 1898 and 1937, this historic district contains a diverse collection of late 19th and early 20th century residential styles. Development of this once barren hilltop was spurred by a major expansion of Cornell University at the turn of the century and was made feasible by extension of the electric trolley and construction of two bridges across the Fall Creek gorge, all privately financed by the developers. The districts’s curvilinear street plan, lavish landscape features, dramatic geographical setting and residential character place it within the romantic tradition of the ‘ideal’ residence park, popularized by renown landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmstead.

Ithaca 2012
updated 05/2011 by jerbis