Stately Streets

Immediately south of James Pennock’s house at 2018 East Genesee Street (Stop #38) architect Albert Brockway designed an “English Cottage” for Pennock’s daughter, Mrs. Florence Gould. The house exterior has hardly changed in over a century. Notably, the entrance does not face the street, but a large chimney does. This arrangement would become the norm for new houses built on Allen Street in the coming decade. The house is made of brick and stucco. It may be hollow brick underneath. A large wide triple-gabled dormer spans the second story of the north facade under which, set asymmetrically, is the front door. The house defers to the larger father’s mansion next door.

On the outside the architect employed an English vernacular and does not include typical American Arts and Crafts handmade flourishes. More than most houses in the area, it seems to stem from the tradition of the English Arts and Crafts Movement and architect C. F. A. Voysey. The Gould house neither shows the robust Craftsman-style woodwork locally inspired by local resident and designer Gustav Stickley, or the more refined mix of Colonial and Tudor styles that would soon become familiar on Allen Street in the architecture of Ward Wellington Ward. If anything, Brockway’s design for Mrs. Gould is a precursor to many of the English cottage designs of the 1920s that would become popular on small enclaves like Euclid Terrace and on the larger lots of nearby Scottholm.