28th Arts & Crafts Conference in Western New York: Rochester and Environs

In executing the 2025 Arts & Crafts Conference in Central New York, it became clear to

IAC that the weight of Movement history and the wealth of Movement expressions in

Rochester & environs made compelling a return to New York State in 2026.

Rochester was an active center for the Movement in the United States. Critically

acclaimed artists such as M. Louise Stowell and Harvey Ellis co-founded the Rochester

Arts and Crafts Society in 1897, likely the Nation’s first, predating that in Boston by

several months, and contributed significantly to the Movement's growth and

educational legacy.

Stowell, an instructor at the Mechanics Institute (the forerunner of the Rochester

Institute of Technology [RIT]), wrote in 1892 in an article for the Educational Gazette, a

periodical for teachers that “Nothing should be careless in ornament or design, but

should be faithfully thought out and patiently evolved,

” arguably an unsurpassed articulation of the Movement’s ethos.

Sites confirmed thus far include(more updates to come):

· The George Eastman Museum. The George Eastman Museum, the world's

oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film

archives, opened to the public in 1949. Located on the estate of entrepreneur

and philanthropist George Eastman, the founder of Eastman Kodak Company,

the estate was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966, and the

museum is world-renowned for its collections in the fields of photography and

cinema. The museum is also a leader in film preservation and photograph

conservation, educating archivists and conservators from around the world.

Here we explore the significant holdings of American and European Pictorialist

photography.

· The George Eastman House (1902 – 1905)

In 1902, Eastman purchased property on East Avenue and hired architect J.

Foster Warner (1859 – 1937) to build a Roman brick Colonial Revival mansion,

featuring a classical portico and including Georgian, Dutch, and Greek elements

with limestone accents. William Rutherford Mead of McKim, Mead & White

designed the interior while Francis Bacon of the A.H. Davenport Company was

responsible for executing most of the interior decoration and furniture. The

home featured modern conveniences such as an electrical generator, an

internal telephone system a built-in vacuum cleaning system, a central clock

network, an elevator, and a great pipe organ. The home itself was a center of the

city’s rich musical life from its 1905 completion until Eastman’s death in 1932.

Eastman was deeply involved in the construction, paying close attention to

detail and requiring the use of high-quality materials. Also featuring eight

gardens, five greenhouses, a dairy, an orchard, a berry patch, a poultry yard, a

toolshed, a barn, stables, and livestock pastures, it was as much “a self-

contained urban farm as it was an elegant estate” (SAH Archipedia. https://sah-

archipedia.org/buildings/NY-01-055-0017; accessed September 29, 2025).

A 14-month restoration of the mansion was completed in January 1990.

· The East Avenue Historic District. This refers to the Rochester neighborhood

centered on East Avenue noted for its stately architecture, from the grand

mansions on East Avenue itself to the smaller but still impressive homes along

its side streets, in styles including Queen Anne, Italianate, Second Empire,

Gothic Revival, Strick-Eastlake, Shingle, neo-Classical, and Tudor. Many of the

mansions remain single-family homes; for example, the Frank Lloyd Wright

House is located on East Boulevard and remains in private hands.

· Genesee Country Village and Museum, a living museum of 19th-century

history, was conceived and founded in 1966 by art collector John (Jack) L. Wehle.

He recognized that the work of regional carpenters, master builders, and

housewrights was fast disappearing from the landscape. The museum was to be

a village of selected examples of 19th-century Genesee Country architecture

that demonstrated not only form but also function, serving as a showcase of the

disciplines of cabinetry, weaving, pottery, and other arts that would be displayed

in appropriate cultural context. Because the original interpretation and installation of the Village have been revisited considering ongoing research, the site is an important case study in the dynamics of reinterpretation.

· Roycroft, founded in1895 in East Aurora, NY. Roycroft founder Elbert Hubbard,

influenced by William Morris, was an early champion of the Arts & Crafts ethos in

the United States, and the Roycroft movement strongly influenced American

architecture and design in the early 20th century. The “Roycroft Campus”

includes 14 original building.

· The famous Wendell Castle workshop

· Frank Lloyd Wright’s Graycliff Estate and Darwin D. Martin House

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