Cornell architecture professor LeRoy Pearl Burnham designed and had this French Manor-inspired home constructed for his family’s residence in 1931. A 1903 graduate of Harvard’s architecture program, Burnham practiced for a number of years at a major firm in New York City. He then joined the Cornell architecture faculty in 1914.
Burnham complemented his teaching duties with designing elegant Colonial Revival homes in Ithaca, at least 11 in Cayuga Heights alone. In an undated autobiographical note for a Harvard University alumni reunion, Burnham wrote: “Together with teaching, I carry on a practice in architecture, which is gradually spotting the landscape around Ithaca with country houses. Some of them are of the Manor House and Stone Farmhouse type which I admired in France and England.”
The architect also designed the Tompkins County War Memorial and the Fuertes Astronomical Observatory on the Cornell University campus.
Burnham complemented his teaching duties with designing elegant Colonial Revival homes in Ithaca, at least 11 in Cayuga Heights alone. In an undated autobiographical note for a Harvard University alumni reunion, Burnham wrote: “Together with teaching, I carry on a practice in architecture, which is gradually spotting the landscape around Ithaca with country houses. Some of them are of the Manor House and Stone Farmhouse type which I admired in France and England.”
The architect also designed the Tompkins County War Memorial and the Fuertes Astronomical Observatory on the Cornell University campus.
The Burnham’s son, Robert H. Burnham (1926-1997), sold the property in 1953 after his parents died within two years of each other.
Burnham’s architectural portfolio, preserved by his family, contained the following photographs of the Burnham home shortly after its construction. Clara “Sam” Burnham, the widow of Robert H. Burnham, shared the photos with Cornell architectural historian Bonnie MacDougall, who in turn has preserved them.
Patricia Longoria
Deputy Historian
2017
Deputy Historian
2017
SOURCES
Burnham Family Scrapbook, copies of photos shared by Clara “Sam” Burnham, the widow of architect Burnham’s son, Robert H. Burnham (1926-1997), with Bonnie Graham MacDougall, Professor Emeritus, Architecture and Asian Studies, Cornell University;
“Deaths, Funerals: Mrs. Mae Laurette Burnham,” Ithaca Journal, December 27, 1950, p. 5;
“LeRoy Pearl Burnham,” Faculty Memorial Statement, 1952, https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/18274;
Tompkins County Clerk’s Deed Book 219, Page 72, Cayuga Heights Land Corporation to LeRoy P. Burnham and Laurette Burnham, September 10, 1929;
Tompkins County Clerk’s Deed Book 360, Page 560, August 15, 1953.
Burnham Family Scrapbook, copies of photos shared by Clara “Sam” Burnham, the widow of architect Burnham’s son, Robert H. Burnham (1926-1997), with Bonnie Graham MacDougall, Professor Emeritus, Architecture and Asian Studies, Cornell University;
“Deaths, Funerals: Mrs. Mae Laurette Burnham,” Ithaca Journal, December 27, 1950, p. 5;
“LeRoy Pearl Burnham,” Faculty Memorial Statement, 1952, https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/18274;
Tompkins County Clerk’s Deed Book 219, Page 72, Cayuga Heights Land Corporation to LeRoy P. Burnham and Laurette Burnham, September 10, 1929;
Tompkins County Clerk’s Deed Book 360, Page 560, August 15, 1953.