Cobblestone House in Elmira

                                 
      Note: This is the only known cobblestone structure
      in Chemung County.
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           "The Cobbles," 15 East Cobbles St., Elmira

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This large cobblestone house, along East Cobbles Street in Elmira, was built ca. 1838-40 for Judge Hiram Gray.  It is the only known cobblestone house in Chemung County and only one of three in the Southern Tier region of New York State. 

Michael Devlin said he is only the fourth owner since the house was built. He said he spent more than 10 years restoring it and expanded it from 6.600 to 7,400 square feet. "But I did my best to keep the original integrity of the home."  We think Judge Gray would be justly proud.

                                

"The Cobbles" in the 1880s (Chemung County Historical Society)

Judge Hiram Gray and his wife,  Aurelia (Covell) Gray,  enjoy some time together on the porch of "The Cobbles" in 1889. At the time he was 87 and she was 78.  They had been married 58 years. They lived in a tenement house on the property while the house was being constructed. It was very well built. They had four children and are buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira. (Chemung County Historical Society).

In the 19th century country living had its charm. Judge Gray commuted in his horse drawn carriage back and forth to the county courthouse in downtown Elmira. After his death his wife continued to reside there, but finally in 1904 she sold the entire property which was subdivided into building lots.  The house was sold to Charles Myers and remained in that family until his wife died in 1963.

Judge Hiram Gray supervised construction of "The Cobbles." Portrait dated 1879. He was born in Salem, Washington County, New York on July 20, 1801 and died in Elmira on May 6, 1890. He was an 1821 graduate of Union College where he studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1823 and came to Elmira to practice law in 1824. He married Arelia Covell, daughter of Robert Covell, a merchant and early settler of Elmira.  He represented the 22nd District in the 25th Congress in 1837-39. He was appointed Circuit Judge and Vice Chancellor for the state's Sixth Judicial District. Then he served three terms as Justice of the New York State Supreme Court until 1860, His last public office was as Commissioner of Appeals from 1870 to 1875. Until well into his 80s he continued to practice law.

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Michael Devlin, who has painstakingly restored the house, lives there with his family. Here is his story:

 I was born and raised here and have always known of the house-I wrote numerous letters to the Congregation Shomra Haddath begging them to sell me the house before it was too late.  The house was in major disrepair. So they actually got back to me after several attempts were made to sell the house. They had had  multiple offers. It came down to me and another person. That person was going to tear it down and build town homes as it has such a large parcel.

     So I had to up my price for the house and went to the town of Elmira. I had gotten letters of recommendation from all the neighbors as the Congregation wanted to know my intentions were. So I had to appear before the Congregation board  and plead my case. They eventually sold me the house. It had been converted in the early 1970's to a multi-unit house. They still had the blueprints from when it was converted so I was able to put it back the way it originally was. They were smart and buried the fireplaces in the walls. So they were all their-well at least 10 of the original 14 were still here. As for the building itself it was vacant for almost 30 years. 

    Every pipe was froze and broke so it sustained water damage to some of the rooms and the kitchen. It had its original purple slate roof on it when we bought it. But since it hadn't been touched in 30 years it couldn't be saved. The original yankee gutters could not be saved. We re-wired and re-plumbed the house, including a new roof and state of the art dual boiler heating system. 

  All the hardwood floors were refinished along with the trap door in the dining room floor that goes to an enclosed tiny room in the basement that was used during the 1800s for the Underground Railroad. The house originally had a cobblestone smokehouse out back along with a cobblestone tack house. They were gone a long time ago. The original servant quarters are the house on the corner and the original barn was parceled off to the house on cobbles west and was torn down last year.

   We found remnants of the original smoke house when we dug for the in-ground pool and foundation for our pool house. It actually had a foundation the we found. There is an attached garage that goes into the house. That's the original carriage house and is completely cobbles with ceilings that are 30 feet high.

   The house has a full basement with the same basic floor-plan of the first floor including fireplace. That fireplace is brick as is the one in the kitchen-the rest are various marble. Some are white marble and some are tiger marble. Look at the windows on the wrap around porch They used to be a three- tier window that would slide up into the walls and they went to the floor originally. They would open them up back in the old days.  From what I understand when Judge Gray built the house any celebrity or dignitary would stay at this house as his guest. I also believe the judge and his wife both passed away in the home. 

   There are no living heirs to the Gray estate. The daughter lived the longest and never married or had children. He had two sons and I know one died of some kind of plague in the mid 1800's. Also the original concrete blocks that  used to mount the horses are still on the property.  There are photos in the 1800's showing theses blocks. I took down 36 trees from the grounds when I purchased it and due to the rotting wood I installed Hardi fiber siding on the half.

   But  the trim and shutters and first floor windows are all original to the property. The stone retaining wall you see is the original driveway to the property. We removed it and blacktopped but repurposed the blocks into the wall.

   I was told that driveway was installed in the late 1800's.  Also I had to rebuild the entire wrap around porch due to neglect. All bathrooms and kitchen were replaced. The original verandas on each side are original to the home as well.

   The Myers sold the house to a Dr. Burke in 1968 who in turn they sold it to the Synagogue somewhere around 1972-73. They used it for the rabbis and for religious  schools Then they just let it go and didn't fix anything or do any repairs. They did nothing. -I have quite a bit of money into it-but if I counted my labor it would be over the top-I did all the renovations myself. Everything except the roof. I also built that pool house out back which is another 1, 100 square feet.

    My father in law and I removed the driveway and replaced it. I had another friend help me with wiring and 1 other guy and myself did everything else including kitchens baths tile sheet rock woodworking floor refinishing, heating, plumbing-otherwise I would have 10 times the amount I have into it If I had to include my labor into the calculation. At the present time we are talking about selling it.b

   But we’re in the early stages. We have had a few offers on it But the time is coming and I'm just tired and getting older. These houses require a lot of upkeep-especially when the house itself its 7, 400 square feet and the 1,100 square feet on the pool house and inground pool . I also own another 42 apartments in the area--and I do all renovations on them as well

                        Detail of stonework that encircles three sides of the house which 

                        is built of water-rounded cobblestones of various colors and sizes.