Charles E. Otis House (Delavan Terrace Historic District)

The Delavan Terrace Historic District, located in northwest Yonkers in Westchester County, NY, is home to nine private residences that date back to the early part of the twentieth century. Included in the district is the Charles E. Otis House, a half-timbered building in the Tudor Revival style that was built in 1904 for Charles E. Otis, a grandson of the founder of the Otis Elevator Company. Possessing a balustraded porch pavilion supported on wood piers in the front, the two-and-one-half story house was designed by H. Lansing Quick. The Delavan Terrace Historic District, which includes the Charles E. Otis House, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

The Charles E. Otis House was built in 1904 for the grandson of Elisha Graves Otis, inventor of the safety elevator and founder of the very successful Otis Elevator Company, originally located in Yonkers, NY. In design and execution it is similar to the 1911 Alexander F. Denniston House, also located in the Delavan Terrace Historic District. Often referred to as “period houses,” these two residences reflect some of the popular architectural trends for suburban homes of this size in the early decades of the twentieth century, most notably the enlarged main living space surrounded by a smaller kitchen and more narrow hallways.

The Tudor Revival Charles E. Otis House contains three major bays, stucco, a recessed four-centered pointed-arch entrance porch, and a projecting gabled entrance pavilion featuring half-timbering and wood consoles.

Although the area around the Delavan Terrace Historic District has changed significantly in the hundred-plus years since development of the area in the early 1900s, the homes within the district retain much of their original design and appearance, when the district’s origin was a comfortable middle-class section of northwest Yonkers. The Delavan Terrace Historic District, including the Charles E. Otis House, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

1. Case, Daniel. “Charles Otis and Griffith John Houses, Delavan Terrace, Yonkers, NY.” Feb. 2009 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charles_Otis_and_Griffith_John_houses,_Delavan_Terrace,_Yonkers,_NY.jpg?uselang=fr. Accessed July 7, 2022.
2. “Delavan Historic District #83001827.” National Register of Historic Places. United States Department of the Interior/National Park Service. 1985. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75323003
3. Otis World Headquarters. “History.” https://www.otis.com/en/us/our-company/history. Accessed July 7, 2022.
4. Rebic, Michael P., ed. James D. Keen, Doris B. Keen. Landmarks Lost & Found: An Introduction to the Architecture and History of Yonkers. Yonkers, NY: Yonkers Planning Bureau and the Yonkers Environmental Impact Advisory Commission. 1986.
5. Williams, Gray. Picturing Our Past: National Register Sites in Westchester County. Westchester County Historical Society. 2003.