202 Main Street: The Elizabeth
Lynch house
ntil it was moved around the corner to Chapel Street in 1872, the small two-room office of the Doctors Oliver stood on this part of the larger lot that included Dr. Andrew Oliver's house. In 1902 upon the death of the elder Dr. William Oliver, this was a vacant lot. It was at this time that 204 Main Street was either rebuilt or extensively remodeled; and sold out of the family. In 1903 when the Sanborn Map of Penn Yan was published, no house stood here. But in 1905 when the state census was taken (a census that gave street addresses), a Dr. Charles Shumway is shown as a resident of this particular address with his daughter and two sons.
A photograph said to have been taken in 1908 (shown below) indicates the original form of the structure, a very late example of Queen Anne architecture, asymmetrical, with an octagonal tower and a deep gabled dormer in the very prominant roof. The house had the very typical wrap-around porch as well. In fact the only signs that this was actually an early-20th century house instead of a late 19th-century one is the double window in the dormer, and the almost total lack of added ornamentation.
The lot still belonged to the Olivers, however. Elizabeth Lynch with her sister lived here for a long time and Carrie Oliver mentioned her with the bequest of this house and lot in her 1942 will. However, Carrie anticipated this in 1941 with a deed, and Miss Lynch owned the property until she sold it to Allen Nash in 1961.
Plots
Above right: 202 Main Street, a nice late-Victorian house that was quite sensitively altered to provide more room. A photograph taken about 1908 (below right) shows the original porch, later partially enclosed except for the first bay. Notice also in this picture 204 Main Street next door retains its front porch only, and the two-story bay window on the south side.
People related to this lot and structure:
Abraham
Wagener
Andrew
F. Oliver
Related sites:
204
Main Street
200
Main Street
Related history:
Turn
of another Century
