Town of Wellsville Related Articles

HISTORICAL HOMES OF WELLSVILLE - ALLEGANY COUNTY, NY 

Photo above taken 12/8/2007 of the ROSS/SPICER/PEASE HOME, West State Street & Highland Avenue

A Fine New Residence

Wellsville Daily Reporter September 19, 1891

We have had the pleasure of seeing the elevation and plans of the residence that will be built immediately by Mr. (?) Ross.  The house is to be built in the colonial style, now so much the fashion in the suburbs of Boston and elsewhere throughout New England.  The so called Queen Anne style, with its quaint irregularities and little windows is almost entirely superseded by the pleasing simplicity of the colonial style.  It is remarkable what varieties of adaptations the architect has been able to make while keeping the original motif.

It is a pleasure also that a Wellsville boy is the architect, the plans being drawn by Edward P. York, of New York and they do great credit to his ingenuity and skill as an architect.

The house will stand on a sightly knoll, and will command a noble and beautiful landscape, eastward up the reaches of the Dykes creek valley, and northward and southward up and down the vistas of the valley of the Genesee, while below peacefully stretches out the umbrageous panorama of our beautiful village.  A more beautiful natural situation for a mansion could hardly have been found.

In front of the house stretches a veranda of noble proportions about forty feet in length and some twelve feet in width, the roof extending over the drive way at the southern end.  The entrance is exactly at the center of this veranda and after passing through a vestibule you enter a large hall with a fine staircase and ornamental window at the end and a fireplace on the right.  From this there opens on the south the parlor and library and on the north the large dining room, behind which are the kitchen and its appendages.  The arrangement of these rooms for social purposes is very fine, and a large company could be pleasantly and easily cared for.

The next story contains a fine central hall, and five exceedingly well arranged sleeping rooms, with bath rooms, and closets in such abundance as to delight a housekeepers heart.  In the attic are store rooms and servants rooms.  In the basement are laundry, furnace and sundry store rooms.  We understand that Mr. Ross will lay the foundation this fall and prepare for building in the spring.  The “Elevation” of the house in water colors gives a little idea of the general appearance as it will look when finished and it certainly is very sightly, attractive, and modern, a house good enough even for an editor to live in.  We believe we but voice the feeling of the community when we say that we are very glad that Mr. Ross, with his most engaging family has chosen Wellsville as a place of residence, and that he will add to its beauty by the erection of so fine a dwelling, and we give him and his a cordial welcome. 

Photo by Ron Taylor; Story transcribed by Mary Rhodes from Wellsville Daily Reporter