East Avenue (Rochester, New York)

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East Avenue was rural throughout much of the 1800s. By the 1840s, East Avenue boasted three homes, one of which now houses the Rochester Historical Society. Oliver Culver built his Federal style home in 1816, when East Avenue was still surrounded by woods. His homestead, on the northeast corner of East Avenue and Culver Road, is the oldest house in the neighborhood. The house was moved to 70 East Boulevard in 1905. Hiram Sibley, who helped form Western Union, in 1862 made East Avenue the grand thoroughfare it is today after building his home at number 400. The construction of the Italianate-style abode led to more business owners commissioning architects to build their homes on either side.

Their well-manicured lawns stretched to Park Avenue, providing much open space compared to Rochester’s other wealthy neighborhood, Corn Hill. As the children of the Corn Hill residents made their own ways in the world — many made their wealth here — East Avenue and its side streets became a premier destination for building. Its development heyday was between the late-1860s and early 1920s, when local “captains of industry,” including the presidents of the Gleason Works, Bausch & Lomb and other companies, built here. George Eastman, the founder of Eastman Kodak Co., arguably was the street’s most notable resident. His stately home has been turned into a museum and also houses the Dryden Theatre.

Neighbors also fought further development, which they saw creeping along East Avenue from Main Street. Hiram Sibley’s son constructed the building at the corner of East Avenue and Alexander Street as an “unsubtle statement” that commercial expansion ended there. Inevitably, some houses were torn down to make way for churches, apartment high-rises and the Rochester Museum & Science Center. Neighbors banded together in the 1960s to fight the demolition of several houses for new apartment buildings. In 1969, the City of Rochester became the first municipality in New York State to adopt a historic preservation ordinance and the first neighborhood to benefit was East Avenue.

The East Avenue neighborhood is probably the wealthiest neighborhood in Rochester, and quite distinct from its livelier counterpart, the East End. Today, residences, offices, museums, shops and stores line the Avenue. Many of the mansions remain single-family homes. Intermingled throughout are high-end apartment buildings, condos, and townhouses of more recent construction. As you move further to the east the neighborhood becomes heavily commercial, especially around University Avenue. The East End, centered on East Avenue to the west of Alexander Street, is Rochester's premier entertainment district.