Description: Taken by photographer Ihna Thayer Frary in 1934, this photograph shows the front entrance to the Trumbull Cary house in Batavia, New York. Built in 1817, this house was home to Trumbull Cary, founder of the Bank of Genesee, a New York senator, and Batavia's first treasurer. Trumbull lived in the home with his wife Margaret and son Walter. The mansion was demolished in 1964. The Cary mansion was a prime example of Greek Revival style architecture. Two fluted, Ionic columns frame each side of the door with an elaborate semicircular window above. Four squares with floral motifs sit above each column, and the Great Seal of the United States sits in the center, above the door. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1873, Ihna Thayer Frary was a prominent American art and architecture scholar, whose primary interest was the architectural heritage of the region of northeastern Ohio known as the Western Reserve. In addition to serving as publicity and membership secretary of the Cleveland Museum of Art, he was a professor of Ohio and American architecture at the Cleveland Institute of Art and Western Reserve University’s School of Architecture. Over the course of his career, Frary was a design consultant for private clients and designed furniture, and was an active member of several prominent arts councils in the Cleveland area. In 1963, Frary and his two sons donated his entire photographic collection to the Ohio Historical Society (now the Ohio History Connection). The Ihna Thayer Frary Collection consists of 4,000 5 x 7 photographs of private residences, churches, taverns, and public buildings, as well as select rural buildings, bridges, archaeological sites, and public monuments. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: P112_B54B_3688_01
Subjects: Frary, I. T. (Ihna Thayer); Photography--Ohio; Domestic architecture; Doors & doorways; Classical Revival (European revival style)
Places: Batavia (New York)