Built in 1828, the Elisha Wadsworth House served as an inn for travelers on the Albany Turnpike until 1862. Originally facing north on the Turnpike (now Albany Avenue), it was rotated 90 degrees to face west, on Prospect Avenue, in 1918. Update: After years of neglect (during which original woodwork was destroyed after a water-pipe burst), the house was thoroughly renovated in 2013.
Elisha Wadsworth House (1828)
Are you sure it was rotated 90 degrees? By the looks it is of masonry construction. To move a wooden house is one thing, but brick?
According to Andrews and Ransom’s Structures and Styles, the house was “turned 90 degrees”. I don’t know how it was done, though.
The home was not actually physically turned, rather the doors and porch were relocated from the Albany Ave side to face the Prospect Ave side. There are older doorways and windows that were closed up and are now at basement level, as the grade of the property was also changed at the time. This home is currently undergoing a total renovation and is listed for sale as a custom home being recreated within the historic walls of the oldest home in the West End.