THE PETER LOTT HOUSE

By Alta E. BoyerPeter Lott house c. 1900: click to enlarge

The large Greek Revival house located at Orchard and Main Streets in Lodi has been a local landmark - historically and architecturally - since it was built in 1810. This survey of the house and its owners is based on records, personal documents and interviews with former residents. Dates are accurate, or closely estimated. This article has been written in the hope that this significant house will be rescued and made useful for the future.

1810 - John DeMott was 20 when he built his first house. On June 10, 1811, he married Mary Ann Halsey, 19, the seventh child of Lodi pioneers Silas and Hannah Howell Halsey. They lived in the new, ten-room house from 1811-1840.

The original frame dwelling was situated on a knoll and had two stories at front level, allowing for a large stone walled and floored kitchen, pantry, storage rooms and cellar at the west end. The Greek Revival style was prevalent in the area, and the home's features conform to this.

The gable end with extending surrounds faced east. The first floor included a heavy, colonial entry door with side panel lights, leading to a cloakroom, enormous living room with bedroom and dressing room to the north. An enclosed stairs came from the kitchen. Another enclosed stairs and separate back hall led to an upstairs hall, four bedrooms and storage space. An excellent, framed well house and well were a few steps from the kitchen door.

1810 was a very important year for John DeMott. He started building DeMott's Store in the center of the settlement, across from the Eagle Hotel. John, at age three, came with his father, Abraham DeMott, and family in 1790 from Readington, NJ. He learned the mercantile trade at age 16 in John McMath's Ovid store and in a few years he was manager.

His future as a progressive businessman was beginning, with DeMott's Store containing the post office as well as general merchandise. Until Lodi became a designated village in 1826, DeMott's Corners was the name of the growing community.

1840 - In 1836, DeMott had a handsome addition built to an existing farmhouse at the north end of the village, making a total of 30 rooms there. The DeMotts moved across town to the large home in 1840. The DeMott house appears in the 1876 History of Seneca County with a picket fence along the roadside.

1848-1854 - The Lott house presumably was enlarged with an eight room Greek Revival addition to the east of the original 1810 structure. John DeMott was a deacon of the Dutch Reformed Church and probably had some influence in changing the manse from Church Street, where it had been located since purchased in 1827. The Rev. Garret Garretson was pastor and needed more room for his wife and eleven children. He lived in the Lott house from 1849-52.

In 1854 to 1865, the manse returned to Church Street when the new Gothic Revival manse was built across the street from the brick church. The manse became the home of Dr. Nathan Lewis, noted as a dentist in the census of 1870 and 1880, and his family.

1854-1864 - Details of this period are missing.

1864 - Peter Lott moved from his home at Lodi Landing with his family. They lived in "the new part" of the house and a tenant farmer lived in "the old part." Until 1916, other information is sketchy. A property transfer by Mary Ann Halsey DeMott to Peter Lott was deeded in April 1867. Main Street was the direct road to Lodi Center, before there was a Rt. 414. Old 136A was the main highway during the post-Civil War era.

1916 - My parents, Lewis Tunison and Edith Lott Essom, moved from the Elijah Lott farm, a half mile south of the village to live in "Uncle Peter Lott's house." Lodi was then a thriving, self-contained town, with a new, brick, four-year high school.

I can remember the genteel Lott sisters who lived in the elegantly furnished front section. One of my Easter hats came from Miss Judith Lott's Hat Shoppe, located on Main Street, across from Covert and Bodine's Store (successor to DeMott's Store). My friend Florence Spear came to church wearing the white organdy bonnet with lace, ribbons and rosebuds that I wanted, while I probably looked very smart in a crisp Panama straw with blue ribbon streamers and rolled brim.

Miss Frances Lott was the first town librarian and Miss Alice Lott was organist at the Presbyterian Church for over 40 years, heading the "Lott class."I went around the wrap around porch to take piano lessons in her front parlor. It was a wonderful house to grow up in, with lots of room. I had a horse to ride to see my grandmother and aunts down the road and friends all along the street. Another Lott sister, Anna Mary, died around the age of ten.

1930 - We moved to a small, lovely Greek Revival house - now gone - on Church Street after my father's death. Mr. and Mrs. John Bumpus took over as farm tenants. After Miss Frances died (1947?), Miss Alice went to a Presbyterian church home in Geneva, where she died after selling the property to Charles Farr.

1950 - Charles "Frisky" Farr and Gertrude Biddle Farr lived there with their sons, Harry and Herbert, for several years. They later moved to the Frank Jones home, formerly a funeral parlor.

1965 - Sold to Court and Ann Bell, who began major renovations to stabilize it. After they moved to Ithaca, the property reverted to the Farrs.

1968 - Sold to Doris Marion, present owner.