The Foote Homestead

The Footes, a family whose ties to Addison County go back to the mid 1700s, were an important part of the town of Cornwall’s–and New England’s–early history. Footes were pastors, congressmen, senators, governors, and one even became Secretary of the Navy under Abraham Lincoln. The family’s homestead on what is now Rt. 125 is an impressive Italianate wonder that would stand out in the historic district of any city or town. Here though, on the desolate flats leading into Vergennes, its appearance is almost surreal, not unlike the remains of Reata, the home in the movie Giant.

The building looks and feels massive. In recent decades it has been uninhabited and had at one point turned to gray before a restoration of the house was undertaken a few years ago. The exterior is now finished and the house looks resplendent, if slightly over the top, in screamin’ yellow with white trim. The inside of the house is clean, sound, and GUTTED though, and as such it presents the prospective new owner with a bit of a dilemma. Do you do the “right” thing and restore the interior as accurately as possible? Or do you take the opportunity the stripped interior currently offers and pull an architecturally ironic move by perhaps going clean and unadorned and modern? With its large rooms, high ceilings and plenty of load-bearing walls, a clean, modern take on the house’s inner spaces would be a wonderful area in which to display a modern art collection. The stylistic dictates of the Italianate style would weigh heavily on interior decoration, though…

One last note: a carriage barn was originally part of the homestead but no longer exists in any recognizable form. Creating a form for a garage that feels integrated with the whole, especially in such a wide-open space, will be challenge someone hopefully takes up some time soon.

The Foote House is currently available for purchase.

View more photos of the Foote Homestead here.

Register Listing:
c.1875
Italianate style, hip roof, 2 ½ stories.
Features: bay window, slate, central tower, Italianate porch, distinctive dormer, distinctive door, cornice brackets.
Related early barn, ground stable barn, carriage barn.
Features: ventilators, cupola.