Cobblestone Buildings in Tompkins County, N. Y.

                          Ulysses Town Hall

    One of the most unusual modern examples of more contemporary cobblestone construction in upstate New York is the Ulysses Town Hall at 10 Elm St.  in the village of Trumansburg, Tompkins County. The original structure was a wooden frame and  cinder block building and had housed a tractor dealership. A second story was added.

    The idea of the unusual modern Greek Revival exterior originated with architect Mark Inglis who grew up in Wayne County and was descended from a cobblestone mason. He worked on the project with Trumansburg architect Peter Demjanic.

   There used to be large plate glass windows in the front that were closed in. Some 270  veneer panels of mortar and cobblestone were constructed and affixed to the exterior of the building. The building is about 60 feet square. It has no second story per se, but rather a large roof that was added sometime in the past. The building was elongated in 1996-7 with wood by about a third its length to its present size. 

    This project to cobblestone the building occurred in 1997-98 and was done by Paul Briggs of Lansing, N.Y., a mason long recognized for his knowledge in  cobblestone construction and restoration. The cobblestone five-inch thick veneer was added by Briggs in 1997. Work was completed in the spring of 1998.

   A local mudstone called "Llenroc" was used for the foundation, lintels, sills and quoins. All squared stones are about five inches thick. Many cobbles are that thick and many are not - just as in other cobblestone houses.  
    Some 3,000 stones collected in Genoa in Cayuga county were collected.  Briggs said: "I hired my neighbor Keith Hayes to help at times and taught him to do the jointwork and set cobbles. He did about 25 percent of them. Keith and I cast them into 12" x 24" forms, and did the joints after de-molding them. This was to save time but it was a marginal savings due to other complexities."

                 

                                       Main entrance fronting Elm Street.

                                                              Rear entrance

                                       Detail of side wall replicates early day
                                       use of rough field cobblestones.

            Side wall showing quoins. Photos by Richard Palmer

Cobblestone art still alive and well in upstate New York

by Richard Palmer

This new cobblestone structure is in the process of being constructed  by Jonathan Ferrari on the east side of Route 89 just south of Taughannock Falls in Tompkins County. Paul Briggs, a specialist in cobblestone construction and restoration, acted as consultant.

The building was originally an unfinished foundation below grade abandoned a few years ago. It is intended to be a garage and guest house and was constructed over a period of three years. They cast blocks with cobbles using flush joints with no attempt to hid the joints between the blocks.

Another photo shows an interior curved wall at a side entry breezeway or mudroom with interior cobblestone. Outside the same wall has black sealing tape over the top edge of the cobbles to protect them from the elements  through the winter.

Photos by Paul Briggs