64 Irving Place

April 2007

Irving Place was dedicated in 1855 as Bowery Street, which once indicated a place where trees bowered overhead, shading the lane, but was renamed at a later date.  Irving Place may just be the prettiest street in Allentown and is now legendary as the birth place of the Allentown Association in the early 1960s.  The entire east side of the street was threatened with demolition because of proposed commercial expansion on Delaware Avenue and passionate Irving Place residents took on City Hall - and won!  The street was spared and the Allentown Association was born.

A frame house was built on this lot around 1868 for printer William C. Trimlett.  It appears likely this earlier house was removed or rebuilt into the present brick and frame Stick Style house around 1884.  By early 1885 the house was occupied by Francis W. Forbes, a German and Latin teacher at the State Normal School (now Buffalo State College).  This residence was converted to a rooming house in 1939.

Taking in the beauty of 64 Irving Place, it may be hard to believe that the stunning house was a run-down rooming house just a little over 25 years ago.  It was covered with asphalt siding hiding the exterior beauty of the house and the interior suffered similar assaults accompanied with rooming houses.  Nonetheless, the good “bones” of the house inspired Allentown urban pioneers to restore the home to the jewel it is today.

Architect Charles Gordon, who lives on Irving Place, was commissioned to help in the restoration by designing the glass atrium at the front of the house and the addition at the rear of the house.  The result of the restoration is a marvelous Victorian home that is nearly 4,000 square feet of living space.  The interior features the original staircase and four fireplaces.  There are also lovely stained glass windows on the first and second floors.  The modern kitchen and baths are the only indication that we are in the 21^st and not the 19^th centuries!