Rochester, NY

This is a listing of some of the Don Hershey homes in Rochester, NY. It includes information such as the year it was built, the name of the original owner and other descriptive information. In some instances, there is a link to photos of the home. Just click on the “Photos” link for that home. This is a work in progress so by no means a complete listing. If you know of other homes that belong on this list, please comment here.

124 Beckwith Terrace
1934 (begun in the fall of 1933)
First home designed by Don Hershey upon becoming a registered architect.
Thomas and Fay Hargrave
Redwood  house (Louise & Norman Levy, 906 Meigs, later owners?)
Cost to build $10,700. Current owner says, “The most distinguishing feature is a beautiful spiral staircase in the entryway.”
Fun fact: Previous owner lived in this home for 24 years and the moved to another Hershey 25 Country Club  Drive.
More information

142 Beckwith Terrace
1935
Dr. Arnold H. Donovan
Brick house (Louise & Norman Levy, 906 Meigs, 2nd owners?)

Culver Road
Dr. A.H. Walker
Add & Alter plans (remodel house office)

3027 East River Road
1949
N. Graebenstetter (Grabenstetter)
14623 zipcode, stone, radiant heat in floor & ceiling (copper tubing)
Waterfront Don Hershey architecture and the closest private residence to RIT. 2,036 sq. ft. .33 acres
Photo

Goodman Street
1952
Dr. G. Glaser (or Dr. Jerome Glazer?)
Office alteration

Hale Manor Garden Apartments
1071 Lake Ave, Rochester, NY
For Emil Muller, New 608 housing – apartments
Hershey worked with R.E. Van Alstyne on this project.
Blue Ribbon, USA Builders Chicago
Photos

Highland Avenue
1942
Fred LaRose
Lilly pond

Highland Avenue (and Council Rock Avenue)
1945 or 1949
Don Cohen

Highland Manor Apartments
905 A South Avenue, Rochester NY 14620 or Mt. Hope
Apt plans

574 Melville Street
1940
Julius Morrison
New brick house off North Street (per Hershey’s notes). Actually a house off Culver (aka North St in the day). It has vertically arranged glass bricks next to the front door and corner windows. Back area is probably an addition later on. There was a 1940 D&C article about Julius Morrison being mugged while driving his grocery store truck — it listed his address as 572 Melville (today, 574 Melville). Julius Morrison, who owned a grocery store on Main St., lived at this address. There is a 1939 Rochester Daily Record building permit listing for Mr. Morrison, and it has Don C. Hershey as the architect.
Photos

24 Menlo Place
1940
Gretchen L. Dietzen
Off Mt Hope. Original owner, Gretchen Diietzen, was a secretary with the city Home Bureau.

10 Replies to “Rochester, NY”

  1. We always say we live in Rochester but it’s a Scottsville address. Since finding this website we feel orphaned at being left off your list. Ours is a Hershey ranch built in 1965. We have lived here since 1990 and have kept all the original architect’s plans. Perhaps the Wm Daugherty project on Morgan Rd is mentioned in Mr Hershey’s notebook? We love it yet we are now in the market for something smaller so as you can see on the above website this gem is for sale.
    Ours may be unique as the only horse farm house!

    1. Dan & Christy,
      What an amazing place! On 24.5 acres. Wow. The Japanese gardens are a perfect complement to your Hershey ranch with all the windows. And the views. Thanks for sending the link to the photos. Is it all right to use them on the site? Good luck with the sale. It will make someone very happy.
      Peggi

      1. Thank you Peggi. It’s wonderful to be included in such a group. If there is a complete list I’d like to see it. If I can help to compile a complete list of Mr Hershey’s homes I would be honored.
        Christy

  2. I’m pretty sure that the Don Hershey house “off North Street” is 574 Melville St., and as you speculated — it’s actually near Culver Road, not North St. Zillow lists it as having been built in 1940, which is close to the 1942 you have. When viewed on Google Maps street view, the house definitely has a hipped-roof, prairie schooner look to it — it’s easily the most modern-looking house on all of Melville St. A search of the Democrat & Chronicle archives confirms the Julius Morrison, who owned a grocery store on Main St., lived at this address. Finally, I found a 1939 Rochester Daily Record building permit listing for Mr. Morrison, and it has Don C. Hershey as the architect! (The address is given as 572 Melville, but this must have changed later to 574.)

    1. Just a correction — I see that your original comment about the Don Hershey house on Melville St. stated that it was built in the 1940’s, not 1942 — I mixed it up with the Menlo Pk. house! I’ll try to find out some info on the latter house as well. There was a 1940 D&C article about Julius Morrison being mugged while driving his grocery store truck — it listed his address as 572 Melville (today, 574 Melville), so apparently the Hershey-designed house had been built by then.

      1. Kelly,
        Thanks for all this valuable information. How exciting to find these lesser known Hershey homes!
        Peggi

  3. I confirmed that there is a Don Hershey house at 24 Menlo Place, off of Mt. Hope Ave. It was designed for Gretchen L. Dietzen, a secretary with the city Home Bureau, and built sometime in late 1939 or 1940 (Zillow has the date built as 1948, which is no doubt incorrect). A quick peek at Google Maps street view shows it as a box-like design with a hipped roof — it doesn’t resemble any of his later houses, but it still stands out from it’s more traditional four-square neighbors.

  4. Hello again Peggy,
    Stan and I met you at the Don Hershey Homeowners Meeting & Slideshow in Brighton, several years ago.
    FYI:
    We owned #81 Country Club Drive, in Pittsford, Rochester, NY 14618.
    We Sold that Hershey House in the Fall of 2013, and see that it is now ‘For Sale’ again.
    The backyard overlooks the Golf Course of the Irondequoit Country Club.
    Realtor is Holly Creek Team.
    I just saw on Zillow.com that the Price dropped from $475,000 to $449,500.
    I thought perhaps you might know someone who is interested ….

    Hoping this finds you well,
    Veronica Mecca-Dahle

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