Historic Ithaca and Cornell University have agreed on a plan to donate a 180-year-old house on Pleasant Grove Road to Historic Ithaca, which will move the structure to a university-owned site. At least two sites are under consideration, including one in Forest Home and another north of the current location. In addition to providing the house and land, Cornell will donate up to $40,000 for costs associated with moving the house.

This agreement maintains the Moore house for single-family use and allows Cornell to proceed with planning for its North Campus residential program for first-year undergraduates. Historic Ithaca will work with a new owner to restore the house in its new location. The earliest possible date for moving the house is this fall.

For more than a year, the Moore house had been a sticking point between Cornell and Historic Ithaca over the university's North Campus plans. Those plans -- currently under review by boards and officials in the city and town of Ithaca -- include new residence halls, a new dining hall and relocated recreation fields. The North Campus residential initiative, introduced more than three years ago by President Hunter Rawlings, is of strategic importance to Cornell's overall competitiveness with its peer institutions, according to university officials.

While Historic Ithaca prefers that the one-and-a-half story building remain in its present location, both parties agree that it should be preserved, rather than demolished. At its June 24 meeting, the board of directors of Historic Ithaca adopted a resolution calling for negotiations with Cornell to move the house to one of several sites the university had offered.

Ed Franquemont, executive director of Historic Ithaca, said: "Given Cornell's position that the Moore house will not remain on site and our concern for the future of this Greek revival house, we will do what's best for relocation of this historic building and its preservation. We could not have done this without the active and generous support of Cornell."

Agreement was reached July 15 in a meeting between Frederick A. Rogers, senior vice president at Cornell, and representatives of Historic Ithaca. Rogers said: "We are fortunate to be able preserve the building for single-family use and to proceed with the educational mission of the university at the same time. We are pleased that Historic Ithaca will play a major role with us in this restoration effort."

After several ownership changes, the house was purchased by Cornell in 1946 from Dr. Norman Moore, former director of the university's student health-care system. Moore retained residency in the house until his death earlier this decade.