Click For An Aerial House Tour_yk9

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Cornell University first came to my attention during Air Force technical school in the fall of 1971.  Rumors to the contrary it was not from Ed Marinaro's football exploits  that fall but rather from Richard Farina's novel "Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me". 

The movie version played one night at the base theater in San Angelo and several days later I tracked down the source novel which Farina loosely based on his student experiences at Cornell.  It is full of pseudonym references to Cornell (Mentor University), to Ithaca (Athene), and to campus landmarks.  In the book the fraternity dinner is held at the Delta Upsilon house. In the film one character reveals it is the Phi Delta Theta house.   

As this planted the seed that would lead to my writing Cornell's admissions office when I was stationed in England,  it seems appropriate at this point to give some attention to the topic of Cornell fraternities.  

Cornell has had fraternities from almost its beginning although the large fraternity houses did not start to go up until the 1890's.   These were largely located in the area between Central and Stewart Avenues,  an area which still contains a large number of these houses.  Traces of Central Avenue still exist with the southern portion now called College Avenue.   Collegetown with its hordes of student renters was considered too plebeian for those in the Greek system.  Although regular residential houses in Collegetown served as fraternity houses until a chapter become well established and could afford a mansion sized home.

Back then South Avenue connected to Central (see 1928 map below),  running all the way to Hoy Field as Anabel Taylor Hall had yet to be built.   The early houses of Kappa Alpha Society (1868),  Sigma Phi (1890),  and Psi Upsilon (1876)  were on Central Avenue just north of Cascadilla Creek.   These have been torn down but a block or two west,  on and around South Avenue,  was a larger concentration of fraternity houses.  Many of these are still in use.

Cornell's first (established in 1868) two fraternities,  Zeta Psi and Chi Phi,  backed up to each other from opposite sides of Cascadilla Gorge,  both on the eastern side of Stewart Avenue.  

Begin Part One of the Tour

After viewing the former Delta Gamma house on E.  Seneca start the tour by proceeding north on Stewart Avenue from E. Seneca.  On your right just before the bridge is the upsloping lot where the Zeta Psi house was located.

On the other side of the bridge the Chi Phi fraternity is still in their historic #107 Edgemoor Lane house.  Turn right there and go uphill on Edgemoor.  Across the street from Chi Phi is a parking lot at #110,  this was once the site of an early Delta Tau Delta (1890) house.  A more modest house is still standing at #112 - this was first occupied by Sigma Phi Epsilon (1912) and later by Triangle (1942).  

102 West Avenue was on the corner to the east of 112 Edgemoor Lane.  Phi Sigma Delta moved in when Seal & Serpent moved to their new house on Thurston.  

It later functioned as a men's dorm until being torn down in the 80's? 

It looks familiar to me because it was still there during my Lambda Chi days.

At #125 is the current Lambda Chi Alpha house which was originally Phi Delta Theta's house.   And incidentally this house was where I lived during my student days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykyAIwDWAy0

Take a left on West Avenue.  At the next intersection is #15 South Avenue - the former Theta Delta Chi house - now the Center for Jewish Living.  This house still has its original side annex. The center is considered to have evolved from Phi Sigma Delta, a Jewish fraternity whose house stood at #102 West Avenue until it  closed in the 1950's.  

Across the street at #13 South Avenue is the Delta Kappa Epsilon house. 

Both of these houses are still standing.

Next at #6 South Avenue is Delta Upsilon  (1869) and at #217 West Avenue is the Telluride House.      

West Avenue circuitously continues all the way north to University Avenue,  first crossing  Campus Road where you can find Sigma Phi and a dormat Psi Upsilon (now dba the Equality & Engagement Community Center).  And just below them at 104 Mary Ann Wood Dr.  is Delta Tau Delta and a dormat Phi Kappa Psi (now dba the History and Anthropology Departments).   

Retracing your steps back to South Street you will pass the replacement house on Campus Road that Kappa Alpha Society built.  They ended  their presence at Cornell in 1990 and since then the house has been home to a number of unsuccessful Greek restarts.   The current occupant is Sigma Alpha Mu which has been on and off campus in an assortment of locations for decades.  Perhaps the gypsy house and gypsy fraternity will can find some stability with each other. 

Heading downhill on South Street you will find Pi Kappa Alpha (1917) at #17 and Kappa Alpha Theta at #15 - this was Cornell's  first sorority.  In the old days #15 was Theta Chi (1912) and before that Sigma Chi.   

Thus ends the least arduous portion of the tour.  Parts two and three are longer but flatter.

Part Two 

If you aren't too tired (or too disoriented) you can now start on the second portion of the tour which involves heading down Stewart Avenue into the west central section of the campus.  Or you can come back at another time.  

I suggest starting at the Dorm Hotel (#518 Stewart) and heading north.   The Dorm Hotel is just west of the Kappa Alpha Theta house.  Years ago it was the Hillside Tourist Home,  two houses south of the former Algonquin Lodge,  a coop house.   I stayed at the hotel during a portion of my 2025 visit during which I gathered the details for this tour and gave it a preliminary run through.

The Dorm Hotel is also near the site of the former Alpha Epsilon Pi house (originally the Sigma Upsilon Lodge-a local fraternity from 1915-1933).  Torn down in 1957 it was a remarkable structure,  the last house on the eastern end of Cascadilla Park Road.  A winding street going to downtown Ithaca.  The street is well worth checking out at another time.

Proceeding north past the City Cemetery on Stewart Avenue you will come to Cornell Avenue off to your left.  About 100 yards down is the Delta Phi fraternity house,  called "Llenroc".  Ezra Cornell built this mansion toward the end of his life.  It has a huge lawn with a wonderful view of Lake Cayuga.   The fraternity acquired this ornate mansion from Ezra's descendants and have occupied it since.  While an awesome house it did not convert well to its new purpose and its upkeep is expensive.  The fraternity is rolling out a room rental plan for the 2026-27 academic year.  The details are currently on-line.

This map shows what I call the discounted fraternity row.  Modest size fraternity houses along Stewart Avenue which are now student rooming houses.  Most likely some were originally built for that purpose.  For a time 614 Stewart was the home of Lambda Chi Alpha and after that Sigma Alpha Mu.   These Stewart Avenue houses were typically the houses of newly established chapters from which they would either prosper of fade into the sunset.  There were even newer chapters waiting to take over recently vacated houses.  A large number or Cornell's fraternities and sororities spent some time on the 600 and 700 blocks of Stewart Avenue.

Further north on Stewart Ave. is the Treman family compound.  Once a row of three mansions,  the first two were for a time used as fraternity houses.  A third house to the right was demolished after a fire and in the 1950's the Von Cramm cooperative was built on that spot.

The Robert Treman House (640 Stewart Avenue) is currently used as the Kahin Center for Advanced Research on Southeast Asia.  660 is a student housing collective.

Walk down the access road off Stewart Avenue to get a closer look at these two houses and then follow the parking lot to the right until you reach Von Cramm Hall and University Avenue.

Carefully cross University Avenue to the Kappa Sigma house and proceed north on Willard Way.

Fraternity House Fires

Kappa Alpha burned down in 1898.

Delta Chi burned down in 1900

Chi Psi burned down in 1906.

Delta Upsilon burned down in 1909.

Sigma Alpha Epsilon burned down in 1911.

Alpha Delta Phi burned down in 1929.

Alpha Epsilon Pi burned down in 1929

Zeta Beta Tau had major fire damage in 1939.

Kappa Sigma had major fire damage in 1948.

Tau Epsilon Phi had major fire damage in 1961.

Sigma Pi had major fire damage in 1994.

Of note is that almost all the fires occurred in this section of campus and that by the late 1930's fire fighting methods in Ithaca had improved to the point that the likelihood of total structural destruction was very low.

On the left is 200 Willard Way,  the house of Omega Tau Sigma - a professional veterinary science fraternity.  One hundred years ago this was the Tau Kappa Epsilon house.  And pre-WWI the Kappa Psi house - the local that became TKE.

Sigma Nu fraternity is at the end of Willard Way (#230) and Alpha Sigma Phi (Rockledge) is just to the northeast with their driveway off Stewart Avenue (#804).   

If you were to cross the bridge the first structure on the other side is 900 Stewart Ave.  In 1925 Sphinx Head, a senior men’s honorary,  built  a tomb-cum-secret meeting place where they conducted initiation ceremonies.  In the 1980's it was converted into a house and for a number of years was Carl Sagan's Ithaca residence.  There is not much to see from the road,  just that stretch of white wall with a doorway.

So you have been to the Stewart Avenue bridge and now should now head back to University.  On the way note 710 Stewart Avenue,  this was once the Tri Delt sorority house - 706 Stewart (no longer standing) was Chi Omega's.  Tau Epsilon Phi was in this house (710) just after WWII. 

              The Same house -

At the corner of Stewart and University is the former Alpha Tau Omega house #625 University.  Note the alterations made between the two postcards - this roof change was made for structural reasons and not because of fire damage.  Being fire free is somewhat noteworthy as fires have damaged and destroyed many of Cornell's fraternity houses over the years.

On the opposite corner is the white Phi Sigma Kappa house.

At 700 Stewart Avenue  are the Belleayre Apartments.   Apt. #30 was one of the places Vladimir Nabokov lived while teaching at Cornell.  A full rundown of Nabokov residences in both Ithaca and elsewhere can be found at:

https://www.dezimmer.net/Nabokov%27sWhereabouts/whereabouts.htm

Time for a little more map work.  You are about to proceed east (uphill) toward the Sigma Pi house at #730 University Avenue.   Those familiar with this area of campus may note an unfamiliar empty lot.   The sometimes fraternity/sorority house standing at #722 has been demolished.  It was the house from which Alpha Gamma Delta sorority "attempted" to establish a chapter at Cornell.  

The university finally reached the conclusion that necessary repairs and renovations were too expensive to justify.

The story of #722 can be found at these links:

https://labs.aap.cornell.edu/just-places-lab/722-University-Ave

https://ithacavoice.org/2017/01/little-piece-cornell-history-disappears/

McGraw Place runs between the Sigma Pi and the Theta Delta Chi houses.   And you can either continue on up University Avenue and view the Chi Psi house at 810 University or you can turn on McGraw Place and seek a view through the trees at Chi Psi.  If that view is inadequate you can see it from University after leaving McGraw Place.

Note the postcard of an early Phi Kappa Psi house,  Sigma Phi Epsilon was 103's next occupant.  It is the same structure.  In my student days I dated a Watermargin girl and at that time the crest above the door said "Born to Run" - a tribute to Bruce Springsteen.  You have now seen two former Phi Kappa Psi houses and the middle one will be on the North Campus segment of the tour.

Sigma Phi Epsilon had their recognition revoked a few years ago.  The downside is that they are no longer a recognized student organization.  The upside is that their name is no longer on the house at 109 McGraw Place and current students do not know who to blame for this eyesore.   That in and of itself is an excellent reason for them to not seek reinstatement.

https://scl.cornell.edu/unrecognized-organizations

On your right as you walk down McGraw Place you can see the rebuilt Chi Psi house.  

Sadly another fire.  

https://www.instagram.com/p/C0hnhgzubPb/

Part Three

We start the next segment of the tour at the Alumni House next to the Tang Welcome Center.   This was a faculty house which was later occupied by Phi Kappa Sigma and then by the Tri-Delt Sorority.  There is considerable detail on a nearby historical display.

 #620 - the lot in front of the Welcome Center - was one of a series of Alpha Chi Rho houses.

Pi Lambda Phi left Cornell in 1976 and the undergraduate admissions office took over their house sometime before that.   Initially the Traffic Bureau was also headquartered here.   One night in 1976 I spent the night alone in the house pulling an all-nighter for a big test the next day.  I brought along a sleeping bag and at about 4AM went to sleep on the carpeted floor of the basement break room.   I did not hear that the house was haunted until years later but I may have been the last person to spend the a night there.   It is a great looking house.

This brings us to "The Knoll",  basically a hill between Thurston and Stewart that can be entered by going left off Thurston and up an access road.   At last count there were five houses up here,  three of which have a fraternity/sorority history,  one of which might,  and one (#119) which was a professor's home until recently being absorbed by  Chesterton House,  a Christian living-learning community for students headquartered in the former AOPi sorority house.    There is also a small sixth house or detached apartment as part of #119.

#110 The Knoll Road (above photo) is a structure that may have once been a fraternity or sorority structure.  Currently it is clearly some type of student housing.  

The large letters on the side "BMA"  are associated with Cornell's crew team and stand for "Best Man Afloat"  so it may house members of the team.

Beside it (below photo) is the main Chesterton House building.  This is the original AOPi sorority house which was then taken over by Delta Phi Epsilon sorority and after that by AZD sorority.   The first two are history but AZD has moved up in the world and we will see their current house in a moment.

At this point I am going to recommend that you turn off Thurston onto Ridgewood Road,  skipping the distant Zeta Beta Tau and Sigma Chi houses.  You may wish to visit them by car as the roadway is not for the faint of heart.  They are both magnificent structures gone to seed which for some people might make them quite an attraction.   The Zeta Beta Tau parking lot is Walmart worthy.

Exiting "The Knoll" make a right off Thurston onto Ridgewood  Road.   At first glance things up here don't look much different than they did in 1925.   There are only five houses,  all mansions,  and all significant in Cornell's Greek system history.  

Phi Delta Theta

2 Ridgewood Road

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pI1p_FfRVQM

https://www.cayugaheightshistory.org/115-ridgewood-rd.html

If you wish you can take a left at Wyckoff and then double back after viewing this strange structure.  Once the house of Phi Sigma Epsilon (1963-1985) which was at 40 Ridgewood Road by the late 1970's.

The house at #509 (now yet again serving as a student rental) was originally a private residence.  It's present state reflects a lot of super ugly additions during its life as a rental.  Greek-wise it was last used by Phi Mu sorority in their failed 2014-2021 attempt to establish a chapter on the Cornell campus.  It is a staggeringly dreary setting which would have made a poor impression on any prospective recruits,  except maybe Wednesday Addams or Lydia Deetz.  Talk about starting out with a huge handicap.  

Yet there is actually a worse now abandoned fraternity house just through those woods in back of this house at #306 Highland Avenue.   Interesting that these two dismal structures are essentially next to each other.

Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity has acquired 105 Westbourne Land and their planned remake (with photos) is detailed here:

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/picture-gallery/news/2023/08/24/alpha-phi-alpha-fraternity-inc-purchases-1-6-million-residence-hall-in-ithacas-cornell-heights-histo/70675064007/

Beta Sigma Rho fraternity had a house at 126 Westbourne Lane a portion of which may have been incorporated into the Westbourne Apartment complex now at that address.

Take a left from Wyckoff onto Highland.  There are three fraternity houses on the left side of Highland including the gloriously tasteless Tau Epsilon Phi house.

Back in 1940 #306 Highland was the Kappa Delta Rho house but after the war they bought the former Sammy house at #312 while Tau Epsilon Phi took this over and in a short time had turned a once tasteful mansion into the architectural monstrosity you see today.  If the mega tacky addition wasn't enough,  in 1961 they burned down the original mansion portion.   Rather than rebuild the tasteful facade they matched it to the tasteless addition.   I suppose they exceeded expectations by managing to live there for a few years before burning it down.  

Built by a professor in 1908 this mansion with solid cement construction had a number of owners including Sigma Alpha Mu (yes it was yet another of their ubiquitous residences) who let it go when they closed for WWII.  Kappa Delta Rho has occupied it since 1952.  Other than an addition the exterior is unchanged.

This recent aerial map shows The Villager Apartments back in the woods with a driveway off Highland Rd.  The address is 316 Highland between Acacia and Kappa Delta Rho.   I suspect that the Phi Epsilon Pi house stood where the apartments are now located.  

The front of the house in the B&W photo below is the hidden left side of the house in the current color photo.   Note the location of the chimney.

Pi Beta Phi is now out on the far fringes of campus  and this house is occupied by Alpha Chi Sigma,  a coeducational professional chemistry fraternity whose members are bound together by friendship and discussions of Avogadro's number.

Continue on Wyckoff and then make a left on Wait Avenue.  Follow Wait and turn left on Triphammer.  On the way you will pass the Prospect of Whitby housing cooperative.  When the sisters of Kappa Alpha Theta disaffilicated in 1965,  they founded a collective (named after a famous London pub) in this former Alpha Xi Delta house - I think.

Then continue on and take a left on Triphammer.

Almost forgotten Sigma Kappa (1921-1956) gets my vote for the finest hour in the history of Cornell's Greek system.  Given that this took place in 1956,  when such things  were hardly fashionable it is quite remarkable.

https://www.nytimes.com/1956/08/02/archives/negroes-pledged-sororities-ousted-sigma-kappa-lifts-charters-at.html

A national college sorority has withdrawn charters from chapters at Cornell and Tufts that plan to initiate Negro girls this fall.

Mimeographed letters of notification from the national headquarters of Sigma Kappa were sent this week to officials of both universities and to members of the two chapters. The letters explained only that the action had been taken "for the good of the sorority."

"President [Deane W.] Malott has asked that I request of you information on the specific areas wherein you deemed the chapter to have been in error and the conditions that would have to be met were they to desire their charter reinstated.”

Officials of the National Committee on Fraternities in Education said they believed that the Negro girls in the Sigma Kappa cases were the first to have been pledged to national college sororities.

And in case you were thinking the sorority was probably founded in South Carolina or Mississippi,  it was founded at Colby College in Waterville,  Maine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sigma_Kappa_chapters

The Kappa Delta chapter at Cornell was established in the spring of 1917 but deactivated in 1969 due to a dispute over the national Kappa Delta leadership's refusal to allow Jewish members; it was reinstated in 1975 after the national policy changed.  The chapter now houses over 100 members at 109 Triphammer Road, one of three Cornell sororities still owning their original properties.  

The Omega Chi chapter deactivated in October 1969,  with the entire house protesting Kappa Delta's national policy that prohibited Jewish members.

And so we end the tour with the Kathryn Phillips House on Sisson Place.  Of all the post WWII construction this one was the best looking.  Of course neither the house nor the street exist anymore.   They built Toni Morrison Hall on top of this land.  The driveway between Kappa Delta and Delta Gamma is the only reminder of Sisson Place - once the main access road to North Campus.  Phillips House was built by Chi Omega in 1955 and they occupied it for most of its life although near the end Sigma Alpha Mu took it over.  

Chi Omega and AOPi have probably worked harder than any other national Greek organization to establish and maintain viable chapters at Cornell.  Going dormant and successfully reestablishing themselves only to flame out again years later.  (XO 1917–1963 1987–2003)  (AOPi 1908–1962, 1989–2008)  In between Phillips House has had a variety of uses and tenants.  Making it a fitting end for this project.