After we attended the Taste of Buffalo we drove an hour to Rochester.
Click here to see what we ate in Buffalo. And here for more of Buffalo.
As soon as we were checked in we went walking. Looking at this sky you wouldn't believe that within 15 minutes we would be caught in a deluge and were soaking wet taking refuge in a doorway of the convention centre.
Court Street Bridge is a historic stone arch bridge designed by city engineer J. Y. McClintock, constructed in 1893, and spans the Genesee River. It has six shallow arches over the river and two arches over the Johnson and Seymour Raceway and Erie Canal. Shallow arch spans are 52 feet and rises vary from 13 to 20 feet.
New Hampshire-born Jonathan Child migrated to Rochesterville in 1820 after having lived in Charlotte and West Bloomfield, where he met and wed Nathaniel Rochester's daughter Sophia Eliza.
Child made a name for himself in Rochesterville as a merchant and contractor, opening a shop at the Four Corners and developing the canal port named in his honor, Child's Basin.
In 1834, the year Rochester was incorporated as a city, Child was bequeathed the honor of being its first mayor. His reign was a short one, however. Appalled by the City Council's granting of liquor licenses to grocers, the pro-Temperance Whig resigned after only a year in office.
Powers Building was built in 1869 and is a nine story, 165-by-171-foot (50 by 52 m) building, laid out around a large open stairwell in the center. It features a triple mansard roof and observation tower which were added after initial construction, between 1873 and 1888, by Daniel Powers to maintain its standing as the tallest building in Rochester. It was designed by noted Rochester architect Andrew Jackson Warner.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
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The Times Square Building is an Art Deco skyscraper designed by Ralph Thomas Walker of the firm Voorhees, Gmelin, and Walker located in Rochester, New York. At 260 feet (79 m), it is the eighth tallest building in Rochester, with 14 floors. The former Genesee Valley Trust Building is a streamlined twelve-story building supporting four aluminum wings 42 feet (13 m) high, known as the "Wings of Progress", each weighing 12,000 pounds (5,400 kg). These structures are among the most distinctive features of the Rochester skyline.
The cornerstone of this bank was laid on October 29, 1929, "Black Tuesday" of the 1929 stock market crash.
Gannett Building is a historic industrial and commercial building located in Rochester in Monroe County, New York. It is a Classical Revival style structure constructed in 1927, with four major later additions. It was built to house the consolidated offices and newspaper printing facilities for the internationally prominent Gannett Newspapers chain.
One of the building's most visible features is a relief sculpture over the entrance of its east side. It was created by noted Italian sculptor Edmond Amateis. The work's central figure is Truth, guarding the eternal flame of enlightenment. The figures on the left are Fine Arts and Industry. On the right are Law and Agriculture.
The Mercury statue, a landmark of downtown Rochester, was created in 1881 by J. Guernsey Mitchell. Mitchell was commissioned by his brother-in-law, William Kimball, the owner of the William S. Kimball Tobacco Factory, located at the corner of Court Street and Exchange Street, to craft this statue out of riveted copper plates fabricated by the John Siddons Co located on East Main St. Once the 21 foot tall, 700 pound statue was completed, it was installed atop one of the factory smokestacks and quickly became a hallmark of the Rochester Skyline.
In 1951, the factory was demolished to make way for the Rochester War Memorial. The statue was placed in storage until 1973, when it was re-introduced in the Rochester skyline — this time atop the Aqueduct Building, one block north of its original home.
City Hall Historic District is a national historic district in Rochester . The district consists of four buildings arranged in a 19th-century civic complex. The buildings are the Rochester City Hall (1874–1875), Monroe County Courthouse (1894–1896), Rochester Free Academy (1872–1873), and St. Luke's Episcopal Church (1824). The City Hall and Free Academy buildings were designed by Andrew Jackson Warner. The Monroe County Courthouse was designed by his son, J. Foster Warner.
The "new" City Hall was built in the late 1880's and opened to the public as the Federal Building, housing over the years offices for customs, taxation, courts, prohibition control, draft board, the F.B.I. and until the 1930's, the Rochester Main Post Office.
Some scholars say its architect was noted Rochesterian Harvey Ellis, while others claim its designer was a government architect who designed many other federal buildings at that time. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and as a local landmark in 1973, and is recognized as a superb example of Richardson Romanesque architecture with its massive walls, turrets and towers dominating the brown sandstone exterior.
The Portland sandstone walls are 18 inches thick. It is the same type of stone used to construct New York City's famous brownstones. In 1973, federal operations relocated to a new facility and the building remained vacant until the City purchased it from the U.S. government for $1 in 1975. Major renovations, including a 45,000 sq. ft. addition, were completed in 1978 when the historic structure became the new home of Rochester's city government.
St. Luke's Church is the oldest public building in Rochester. It was built in 1823 and was Nathaniel Rochester's home church for many years. It is located at 17 South Fitzhugh Street, in the middle of downtown Rochester. According to the Landmark Society, it is the oldest surviving public building in the city of Rochester and an unusually early example of 19th-century Gothic Revival style.
William Pitkin, Rochester's 12th mayor, married Louisa Lucinda Rochester (a descendant of Nathaniel Rochester) at St. Luke's on June 20, 1848.
In 1988 St. Luke's, the oldest Episcopal congregation in the city and St. Simon Cyrene, the city's traditionally African American Episcopalian congregation, merged forming
St. Luke & St. Simon Cyrene Episcopal Church, and the current rector posts his sermons on his blogger page.Founders Cafe is in The Academy Building at 13 S. Fitzhugh St. Built in 1873, it was originally home to the Rochester Free Academy. The outside of the red brick building has elaborate windows and arches.
It would be a treat to sit on the patio at an umbrella-topped table and absorb the ambiance; this has to be one of the prettiest streets downtown. We were here on a Saturday and everything downtown is shut. Across the street are the historic Old City Hall and Monroe County Office Building. It would be great to be here and hear the bells play at St. Luke's Episcopal Church; a full song plays on the hour.
First schoolhouse in Rochester was built of wood on this site, 1813. It was replaced by a two-story stone building, 1836, and by this structure, 1873.
We can see the black clouds bearing down on us and start to scurry back but can't outrun it so take shelter under an eave at the convention centre until the once is over.
Sunday we had a great breakfast in the hotel, a little busy but it was good.
Our first destination this morning is the George Eastman Mansion. We pass some huge homes on our way to George's, he obviously had wealthy neighbours.
We then headed out in the car to track down some murals. I will show the murals in another posts.
The first one, Martin Luther King is on the side of this building.
You can find some more murals here.
The utility boxes were also decorated.
Along the way we came across this statue of Rochester, himself.
Colonel Nathaniel Rochester was born in Westmoreland, Virginia on February 21, 1752, but raised in North Carolina. He was a business man and slave owner in Hagerstown, Maryland from 1783 to 1810. He first visited Genesee Country in about 1800. In 1810 he moved from Hagerstown to Dansville, New York, and in 1818 to Rochesterville. He died in Rochester, New York on May 17, 1831, and is buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery. I wanted to visit here but was told "next time".
In May 2008, sculptor Pepsy Kettavong unveiled a statue of Nathaniel at Nathaniel Square at the corner of South Avenue and Alexander Street. A giant mural of Nathaniel can also be found at Founders Café. Darn how did I miss this???
We then drove to Joe's Crab Shack for a delicious late lunch or lupper as we call it.
Stuffed from all that we headed to find the Kodak Girl mural and visit the High Falls.
The High Falls is a lovely historic district and we wandered around for a bit.
The High Falls are one of three voluminous waterfalls on the Genesee River, that flow through the city of Rochester. The High Falls are located about 2 miles upstream from the lower falls and act as their source. The High Falls area was the site of much of Rochester's early industrial development, where industry was powered by falling water. Browns race diverts water from above the falls and was used to feed various flour mills and industries, today the water is used to produce hydroelectric power.
The High Falls may be viewed from the Pont De Rennes bridge, a pedestrian bridge that spans the Genesee River a few hundred feet from the base of the falls.
Founded in 1878, The Genesee Brewing Company, based in Rochester, New York, is one of the largest and oldest continually operating breweries in the United States. The Brewery makes the Genesee line of beers, including the iconic Genesee, the refreshing Genny Light, and the original Genesee Cream Ale.
Going back across the bridge.
A panhandler pointed out the deer to me and said they had been down there for ages. He had a unique method of begging, he asked to give you say $7 for a $10 bill. We did, turned out he "only" had $4.
Later in the evening another panhandler tried the same thing but was extremely aggressive and was following us into the Inter-Continental. We didn't.
We decided to take the car back to the hotel and go for a walk.
Everything was quite close to us. I would like to see the inside of this church.
Margaret Woodbury Strong, a prolific collector of everyday objects, especially dolls and toys, founded The Strong in 1968 under the name “Margaret Woodbury Strong Museum of Fascination.” Before she died in 1969, she bequeathed her considerable estate to help support the museum, and 13 years later it opened in a new 156,000-square-foot building on 13.5 acres in downtown Rochester.
Before we headed back home on Monday we made a couple of stops. It so happened that Tom had posted this that morning so we had to go find it.
Warner Castle was not a planned stop and the house was closed as it was Monday.
Warner Castle was not a planned stop and the house was closed as it was Monday.
Horatio Gates Warner designed his home, Warner Castle, built in 1854, to resemble the ancestral castle of the Clan Douglas which captivated his fancy during a visit to Scotland.
We were bound and determined to find the Vietnam Memorial and did it the hard way, tracking it down by seeing flags in the distance. After we got back into the car and drove a little ways there was a perfectly visible signpost for it.
I will save my detailed photos for another post that it deserves.
This Memorial was placed to commemorate the 280 men who gave their lives for freedom, and to educate future generations about their experiences, sacrifices, and to aid in healing for all those left behind. A steel bollard is dedicated to each man.
One more stop and a surprise that deserves its own post.
Time to head back with a kinda unplanned stop in LeRoy for a tour of the Jell-O Museum!
Then to Buffalo for lunch at the Anchor Bar.
There's some beautiful architecture there. I haven't been in Rochester in years.
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