The Backstory: Two Pavilions, Two Standards

FYI

Cobbs Hill Park contains certain areas are that officially recognized by the City of Rochester as "landmark" sites. Changes in those areas are subject to the review and approval of the Rochester Preservation Board. Other areas of Cobbs Hill Park are not recognized/designated.

How our interest in this topic got started

The UMNA Local History Nerds got started on this topic late in January, 2024 when neighbors were notified the City of Rochester intended to construct two new pavilions in Cobbs Hill Park. According to information provided to neighbors the Rochester Preservation Board (RPB) would have to review and approve ONE of the two pavilions before it could be constructed. Yes, you read that right, ONE pavilion but not the other. Really?

The pavilion requiring review was to be placed SOUTH of Norris Drive behind the playground, adjacent to a parking lot commonly used for those playing tennis at the far western end of the park near Monroe Avenue. The pavilion that did NOT require RPB approval was to be placed NORTH of Norris Drive adjacent to the parking lot just east of the Lake Riley Lodge.

Click here to see more information about the proposal to build pavilions in Cobbs Hill Park.

So...

A couple of neighbors reached out to the City. They asked probing questions around why one pavilion required approval and the other didn't. The responses they got from City reps were, frankly, contradictory. One of the neighbors reached out to Megan Klem, Director of Preservation Services for The Landmark Society of Western New York for answers.

It turns out the areas recognized as being associated with landmark sites in Cobbs Hill Park had been amended (reduced) in 1972. Here's what Megan Klem wrote:

"Attached you will find the 1972 decision to remove the parcels north of Norris Drive and east of the Water Authority properties from the landmark designation. Basically, this happened because of a technicality in what the definition of a landmark site was in the code at that time." ( Emphasis added.)

Megan included a copy of the 1972 map with the revised boundary lines and the document signed by Mayor Thomas P. Ryan from that time that amended the designated areas covered by Cobbs Hill Park landmark sites. See below.

Boundary lines of the areas officially recognized by the City of Rochester as landmark sites after being amended in 1972.

192KB

1972 Cobbs Hill LL desig and amend.pdf

PDF

Open

The decision to amend the Cobbs Hill Preservation District boundary in 1972

UMNA Local History Nerds had sooooo many questions

• What were the original boundaries?

• What about the Erie Canal Eastern Wide Waters (Lake Riley)?

• What about the two lodges: Lake Riley Lodge and Tay House Lodge?

• What about Washington Grove?

• What about the "Portage Trail" or other aspects of Cobbs Hill Park related to Indigenous Peoples?

---

Exploring landmark site status for all of Cobbs Hill Park was adopted in the 2024 UMNA Work Plan