Geer Laboratory
624 Highland Road
Year Built: 1930
Architect: J. Lakin Baldridge
Style: Tudor Revival
624 Highland Road
Year Built: 1930
Architect: J. Lakin Baldridge
Style: Tudor Revival
This Tudor Revival built by the Geer family adjacent to their home (630 Highland Road) was designed by J. Lakin Baldridge. It is a half-timbered structure with a carving of a beaker above the front door.
At this private research lab in Cayuga Heights, chemist and inventor William C. Geer (1876-1964) conducted research on a variety of projects involving natural rubber, including a vulcanized rubber cover for golf balls that Geer patented and was marketed as the Cadwell-Geer cover.
In 1936, Dr. Geer patented a color stabilization procedure for rubber surfaces. He published a number of research papers, including, in 1942, “Elastomers in the Nation’s War Program.” The Charles Goodyear Medal awarded by the American Chemical Society, Rubber Division, was presented to Dr. Geer in 1951. The chemist donated equipment and books for the Geer Laboratory of Plastics and Rubber, which is located in Cornell's Olin Hall.
In 1936, Dr. Geer patented a color stabilization procedure for rubber surfaces. He published a number of research papers, including, in 1942, “Elastomers in the Nation’s War Program.” The Charles Goodyear Medal awarded by the American Chemical Society, Rubber Division, was presented to Dr. Geer in 1951. The chemist donated equipment and books for the Geer Laboratory of Plastics and Rubber, which is located in Cornell's Olin Hall.
Robert and Zetta Sprole bought the laboratory building and home at 630 Highland Road from the Geers on December 1, 1954. They then sold it on April 18, 1957 to Therm, Incorporated, which Robert Sprole had co-founded.
Gray Thoron (1916-2015) bought the laboratory building from Therm on April 7, 1966. A gazebo and a breakfast room were added to the laboratory building in 1988.
Thoron was born in Danvers, Massachusetts, on July 14, 1916. His father was a lawyer. He attended Browne and Nichols School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire. As an undergraduate he majored in American history and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1938 with honors. Thoron then got a job in a Wall Street firm. He was a combat infantryman in World War II and lost his hearing in one ear. After the war, Thoron became an associate professor of law at the University of Texas. He then spent two years with the Justice Department and left there to become associate professor and dean of the Cornell Law School, where he was instrumental in the building of Hughes Hall on the Cornell campus. He was an esteemed member of the New York State Bar Association Ethics Committee.
Gray Thoron (1916-2015) bought the laboratory building from Therm on April 7, 1966. A gazebo and a breakfast room were added to the laboratory building in 1988.
Thoron was born in Danvers, Massachusetts, on July 14, 1916. His father was a lawyer. He attended Browne and Nichols School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire. As an undergraduate he majored in American history and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1938 with honors. Thoron then got a job in a Wall Street firm. He was a combat infantryman in World War II and lost his hearing in one ear. After the war, Thoron became an associate professor of law at the University of Texas. He then spent two years with the Justice Department and left there to become associate professor and dean of the Cornell Law School, where he was instrumental in the building of Hughes Hall on the Cornell campus. He was an esteemed member of the New York State Bar Association Ethics Committee.
In June 1939, Thoron and Mary Dwight Clark of Dublin, New Hampshire, married. They had three daughters and two sons and divorced in 1968. Gray married Pattie Porter Holmes of Atlanta, Georgia, in December 1971. They were married for 29 years. Pattie Thoron died in 2000. Gray Thoron died on September 18, 2015 at the age of 99.
According to Thoron's obituary, the respected law dean and professor welcomed his colleagues and students to his family's home. "A signature of his deanship and afterwards was bringing together students and faculty for frequent parties and other informal social gatherings at his Highland Road home, for which they were deeply appreciative," noted the memorial. "Occasionally, he brought to the house students who were far from their own homes to partake of a holiday dinner. Late into his retirement he continued to receive letters and cards from former students expressing their gratitude for his hospitality and for his inspiration in the classroom."
On April 30, 2001, Thoron sold the building to Dominick LaCapra. LaCapra was born in 1939, received his BA at Cornell and holds a Harvard PhD. He joined the Department of History in 1969 and retired in 2013 after an illustrious career.
By Lee Moon, House Historian
SOURCES CONSULTED:
- Kelley, Susan. “Former law school dean Gray Thoron memorial is Dec. 19.” Cornell Chronicle. December 21, 2015. http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2015/12/former-law-school-dean-gray-thoron-memorial-dec-19.
- New York. Tompkins County. Deed Book 370, 539. Office of the County Clerk, Ithaca.
- New York. Tompkins County. Deed Book 462, 14. Office of the County Clerk, Ithaca.
- New York. Tompkins County. Deed Book 462, 118. Office of the County Clerk, Ithaca.
- New York. Tompkins County. Deed Book 902, 224. Office of the County Clerk, Ithaca.
- Obituary. “Gray Thoron.” Ithaca Journal. September 26, 2015. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/theithacajournal/obituary.aspx?pid=175932619.
- Robcis, Camille. “Retirements: Dominick LaCapra.” Cornell University--College of Arts and Sciences Department of History Newsletter. Spring 2013, 2.
