Deke House (Ithaca, New York)

Deke House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
DKE House at night
Location:	13 South Ave., Ithaca, New York
Coordinates:	42°26′40″N 76°29′16″W / 42.44444°N 76.48778°W / 42.44444; -76.48778Coordinates: 42°26′40″N 76°29′16″W / 42.44444°N 76.48778°W / 42.44444; -76.48778
Area:	0.4 acres (0.16 ha)
Built:	1893
Architect:	William Henry Miller; Arthur Norman Gibb
Architectural style:	Romanesque
Governing body:	Private
NRHP Reference#:	90002144[1]
Added to NRHP:	January 11, 1991

Deke House, the Delta Kappa Epsilon or "Deke" House on the campus of Cornell University, was built in 1893 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.^[1] It was designed by William Henry Miller to serve as a fraternity house. Two trees which Theodore Roosevelt planted in front of the house are on the National Register of Historic Trees.^[2]

It is located at 13 South Avenue in Ithaca.

The original 1893 building was designed to house only 16 students. Two sides of the exterior were clad with marble from the St. Lawrence Marble Company of Gouverneur NY.^[3] It was built on land leased to the fraternity by Cornell University.^[4] It has been occupied continuously by the fraternity since September 1894.^[3]

By 1900, the chapter's membership had expanded far beyond the capacity of the small 12 x 15 foot dining room, and the fraternity retained Miller to design an addition. Miller enclosed the loggia on the west side of the building to add 500 feet.^[5] , In 1910, the fraternity hired the architectural firm of Gibb and Waltz of Ithaca NY to design a new addition on the east side of the house. In response to objection of the professor occupying 9 South Avenue, Cornell required that the new east wall of the house not have any windows "except such as may be stationary and glazed with cathedral or prism glass or otherwise so that the interior may be invisible from the outside.”^[6] This wing brought the house to its present form.

External links

• Delta Kappa Epsilon History Collection (Cornell University Library)
• Delta Chi Chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon Website

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html. 
2. ^ Kathleen LaFrank (undated). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Deke House". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=9377. Retrieved 2009-09-01.  See also: "Accompanying seven photos". http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=9381. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Fogle, Homer William Jr. (2005-11-25). "The Deke House at Cornell". p. 17. http://www.dke-cornell.org/130-dkecor/files/DX-Narrative.pdf. Retrieved 2008-10-19.  at 17.
4. ^ INDENTURE dated 1 October 1893, "Cornell University to D.K.E. Fraternity," Tompkins County NY Liber 141 (Deeds), pp. 386-8, recorded 25 October 1893.
5. ^ Fogle, Homer William Jr. (2005-11-25). "The Deke House at Cornell". pp. 45–46. http://www.dke-cornell.org/130-dkecor/files/DX-Narrative.pdf. Retrieved 2008-10-19.  at 45.
6. ^ Executive Committee Minutes, Proceedings of the Board of Trustees, 18 January 1910, p. 67.