In a successful and heartwarming partnership between the Habitat for Humanity and Cornell University, Associate Professor of the Practice George Frantz and Professor Michael Tomlan contributed to the rehabilitation of an abandoned Greek Revival farmhouse into a modern 4-bedroom home on 1932 Slaterville Road for the LaValley Family.
The project recently received an Award of Merit in Historic Preservation from Historic Ithaca and Tompkins County. Nominations for this distinguished award are reviewed by a panel of preservation professionals and selected based on the importance of the project to the long-term preservation of the building, adherence to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standard for Rehabilitation, and the impact of the project on the surrounding community.
The rehabilitation was part of a larger project that also included construction of two new homes on the site, using the Habitat for Humanity’s affording housing model of using sweat equity hours to build their home, and purchasing it with an affordable mortgage through the organization.
Frantz and Tomlan collaborated with Habitat project manager Simon Gould on the design of a new front porch as well as simplified trim elements for the house that would enable Habitat to restore the Greek Revival character of the home, while ensuring its affordability.
Frantz sees historic preservation as an integral element of city and regional planning and believes this project shows that preservation and affordable housing are not mutually exclusive.
“Too often affordable housing is concentrated in communities, neighborhoods or rural areas suffering from economic decline, and where deteriorated housing stock is often “historic” simply due to its age.”
This is the 5th Habitat project since 2012 in which Frantz has provided pro bono professional services in the development of subdivision plats and site plans, and guiding projects through the subdivision and zoning variance approvals in Groton, Trumansburg, Ithaca, and Dryden.