Dewitt Mall

ITHACA, NY

BLOOM has been hired to design various commercial improvements to this classic former school building. Located Downtown, the building is a preservation success and a model of sustainability.

DeWitt Mall in Ithaca is an adaptive reuse of the former Ithaca High School / DeWitt Junior High School, designed by William Henry Miller in 1914, a Cornell-associated architect, in a Tudor Revival style.

Around 1971, when the building was declared obsolete and put up for sale, local architect William S. Downing Jr. bought it and converted it into a mixed-use building with shops, restaurants, offices, studios, apartments, and community-oriented tenants. Its best-known tenants became part of Ithaca’s downtown identity, especially Moosewood Restaurant, Ithaca Guitarworks, Café DeWitt, bookstores, vintage shops, and independent retailers.