Rochester Academy of Medicine
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Rochester Academy of Medicine
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A LOOK AT THE HOME
OF
The story of the stately mansion at 1441 East Avenue began in the late 1800s, when it was the residence of the Lyon family: Harrison and Fannie Minerva Lyon, their son, Edmund Lyon, his wife, Carolyn Talcott Lyon, and their children. In1880, Edmund Lyon received his law degree from Columbia Law School and returned home to complete his master's degree at the University of Rochester. Shortly thereafter, he received a sizable bequest from the estate of his uncle, after whom he was named. At the same time, the home of the pioneer physician, Dr. Elisha Miller, came up for sale. Since the home was located directly next to the home of his married sister, Edmund offered his parents a handsome down payment so they could move into this home near their daughter "Lizzie," her husband, Will Chapin, and their family. After his marriage to "Carrie" in 1896, Edmund moved into the family homestead, which became affectionately known as the "Lyon's Den." Edmund Lyon became a prominent attorney, and he and Carrie were instrumental in the establishment of the Deaf Mute Institute of Rochester (now the Rochester School for the Deaf). Their work at the DMI and their dedication to the deaf has been internationally acclaimed. As the years passed, the family was blessed with birth of daughter Elzabeth and twins Carolyn and Linda and saddened by death of two infant sons. Edmund and Carolyn lived their entire married lives in this home. Edmund Lyon died here in 1920 and Carolyn in 1936. In 1938, their three daughters donated their beloved home to the Rochester Academy of Medicine. At the time the Lyon family moved into the house it bore very little resemblance to the structure it is today. The house was faced with gray brick, was considerably smaller, and had an Italian villa appearance. There was a cupola on the roof, and the address was 505 East Avenue, Brighton. In 1910, it was decided to have the Lyon residence remodeled, a gargantuan task that took no less than two and a half years. It was during this period that the house became 1441 East Avenue, Rochester, and it was "modernized" to look much as we see it today. The round brick porch was covered with a wooden roof, held aloft by carved wooden pillars. The refurbishing was done by Issac Scrantom, president of the Hayden Furniture Company, which was responsible for all of the wood carvings and bas relief molding in the 33-room house. The large front hall and stairway is hung with tapestry wallpaper put up by the Academy in 1973 when the original imported tapestry became frayed with time. The doors, paneling and staircase are all walnut, and the intricate carving was done by hand. The original light fixture illuminates the area, and the elevator was the first one in a private home in Rochester. If you enter the home from the main front entrance, the first room to the right was the family drawing room. It is now the Academy's Founders' Room, used mainly for meetings. The loveseat in the entrance hall belonged to the Lyon family. The marble-floored solarium behind the drawing room has unusual lattice work on the doors that gives an almost three-dimensional effect. In the handsome dining room, where the Lyons often entertained, is a fireplace about which Carolyn Lyon Remington tells an amusing anecdote. The plaster facing features the face of a woman, who, as in most bas relief, had concave eyes. The young girls felt such sympathy for this poor, sightless lady that they used their chewing gum to fill in the cavities and give her eyeballs. Over the years, as the room has been repainted, the eyeballs were painted, too, and the woman has kept her eyes!
The spacious living room and library are paneled of white quartered oak in an intricate design. The ceilings are known as "parget work", a molded decorative hard plaster and in this case using the Tudor rose motif. The same design is used in the hand-carved mantle of the living room fireplace, and the facing is cut English limestone. The living room was designed after one of the rooms of the Knole House at Sevenoaks in Kent, England, At the time of its completion, the library was considered by authorities to be the finest oak room between New York and Chicago.
Edmund and Carolyn's first guests after the extensive remodeling were those who contributed to its completion: the bricklayers, carpenters, plumbers, paperhangers, painters and other artisans; there were some 67 in all. That evening, another 80 friends of the family were invited to a concert on the newly-installed Aeolian-Skinner organ that stood under the mezzanine in the living room. Behind it, in one of the panels, is a secret door that leads to a small paneled room and then to the front entrance. This probably provided entry and exit for performing musicians, while the small room looks as though it might have been for coats.
In the upstairs hallway, the Academy has placed on display a book that was donated by the family of Dr. Kenneth Davenport. It is a first edition, printed in 1555. Dr. Davenport perished in a fire; the book was somewhat burned, but the family had it put in a casing before giving it to the Academy. The current library on the second floor was originally the master bedroom of the Lyon household. The adjoining porch is "Mother's porch," with a large rustic brick fireplace and tiled floors. Offices now occupy the other second floor bedrooms, as well as the third floor, which was a ballroom and billiard room. The present kitchen on the main floor was the butler pantry; the old kitchen is now used as private quarters for the custodian. The wing off of the living room is totally in keeping with the architecture on the exterior. It was built by the Rochester Academy of Medicine in 1939; the auditorium seats 280 people and is used on a regular basis by the Academy, which numbers about 850 members. Edmund and Carolyn Lyon, who in their lifetime helped so many people who were unable to hear, have left the legacy of a beautiful home that represents a time from the past. Through generosity of their daughters, the home has been preserved so that it can be used by even more generations of Rochesterians. |
The
mezzanine itself is an intriguing little room with leaded glass windows that
overlook the living room. It was Edmund Lyon's study and is reached through the
second secret door in the house. As you walk up the wide stairway, a split in
the wall is actually a door that leads to this private sanctuary and a view of
the room from above.