October 11, 2002

The third annual Westcott Neighborhood Tour will showcase six distinctive houses Sunday.

The tour is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is sponsored by the Preservation Association of Central New York and the Westcott East Neighborhood Association.

The Westcott Street neighborhood developed between the 1880s and 1920s into one of Syracuse's first "trolley suburbs." The first homes to be built were larger, in the Victorian/Queen Anne style, along Westcott, Cambridge and Allen streets and Fellows Avenue. In the 1920s, more houses were built, including those in Colonial and Arts and Crafts styles.

This year's tour includes houses built between 1900 and 1925. They are:

137 Clarke St.: This Dutch Revival semi-bungalow house was built in 1912. The present owners are Gary Reddig and Pat Summa.

536 Allen St.: This house is also a Dutch Colonial adaptation. It was designed in 1915 by Gordon Wright, who also designed the First Baptist Church and Mizpah Towers on Columbus Circle and the old Temple Adath Yeshurun.

The current owners, Christopher Davis and Jeffrey Tamburo, last year won a WENA award for Most Improved House for their former house on Clarke Street.

470 Allen St.: This house, built around 1904, is a large, distinctive Victorian home that features Queen Anne-style windows and unique shingle decoration on the second story. Its exterior is particularly notable because the porch is embellished with Gothic Revival details.

460 Allen St.: This house was first occupied in 1904. It was then probably a modest American Four Square typical of the period. It was once owned by Frank M. Shattuck, son of the founder and chairman of the board of the Frank G. Shattuck Co., which operated Schrafft's candy stores and restaurants.  In the 1920s, Shattuck enlarged the house and remodeled it into a Colonial Revival style. Shattuck's daughter Genevieve lived in the home from 1917 until her death in 1988.

1900 E. Genesee St.: This house is a 1920s Colonial Revival built in the neighborhood's post-World War I building boom. The house contains Art Deco furnishings, including a cocktail set designed by Norman Bel Geddes in 1937.

865 Westmoreland Ave. Built in the early 1900s, this modest house with simple Arts and Crafts features perches atop the Westmoreland Hill. It was purchased 15 years ago by Sheila Murphy, a certified practitioner of feng shui, the Chinese art of space placement.

Details

What: Third annual Westcott Neighborhood Tour

When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday

Where: Westcott Street neighborhood, south of East Genesee Street near Syracuse University.

Tickets: $8 in advance, available through Saturday at Westcott Community Center, 826 Euclid Ave., or Chairz & Co., 466 Westcott St. Tickets on tour day are $10, available at Westcott Community Center, beginning at 9:30 a.m. You must register at the center or at 131 Harvard Place before beginning the tour.