Summary
According to the agency’s website: “Designed by J. Foster Warner and built between 1902 and 1905, George Eastman House is a National Historic Landmark. The estate originally included a stable, garage, barn, five greenhouses, and many vegetable and flower gardens on eight and one-half acres. The 35,000-square-foot Colonial Revival house contains 37 rooms, 13 baths, and nine fireplaces, and cost $300,000 to build.
After his death in 1932, Eastman left his house to the University of Rochester. In 1947, the house was chartered as a photographic museum by the State of New York. In 1989, a new building was completed on the property to display and house the Museum’s growing collections of photographs, photographic equipment, books, and motion pictures.
A 14-month house restoration, completed in January 1990 at a cost of $1.7 million, was intended to present Eastman’s house as a memorial to the man who lived here.
A nationwide search resulted in the recovery of many of Eastman’s belongings once thought lost or destroyed. The many photographs made by Eastman and others, as well as details found in letters, bills, and notes, helped make the restoration authentic. The second floor has a restored bedroom with an adjacent bathroom and closet. The third floor, now used as administrative offices, housed Eastman’s screening room, his workshop, and servants’ quarters.”