The Evamere Gatehouse is the most prominent reminder of the Evamere Estate, built by James W. Ellsworth and named for his late wife.

Newly widowed, Ellsworth returned to his hometown from Chicago in 1898.  He brought his two children with him so that they could benefit from being close to the extended Ellsworth family and have some of the same experiences he had as a child. 

With some of his fortune, the millionaire industrialist decided to upgrade the family home, and built an elaborate house called Evamere Hall at the site of the Ellsworth family farm.  Modeled after an English country manor, the Evamere estate  included geometrical gardens and hedges.  

The home was torn down in the 1950s and the Tudor Revival gatehouse is the most tangible reminder of the estate, although two Greek Revival houses from the 1830s, 204 and 233 Aurora Street, were guest houses on the Ellsworth estate.  Running tangent to the house is a small brick wall which also provides a clue to the property’s past. The wall actually begins with a beautiful stone foundation (as shown in the pictures) but then turns to brick as it extends around the old perimeter.  Many homes along Aurora Street have maintained and even restored the brick perimeter wall.

Ellsworth Hall and this gatehouse were designed by architect J.W.C. Corbusier.  The gatehouse has half timbering above and stone below, leaded windows, and a gambrel roof with a flared gable roofed wing.

Credits to Hiddenhistory.com and Hudson Heritage Association.