[2] Description The William Austin House, built in 1870, is a fashionable, Second Empire style brick dwelling located in the northwestern fringes of the historic core of the village of Trumansburg.

The immediate neighborhood around the Austin House consists of late nineteenth and early twentieth century dwellings on relatively small village lots informally landscaped with lawns and mature trees and shrubbery.

Overall features of the building include slate-clad, Mansard roofs pierced by dormer windows accented by round or miter-arched lintels; broadly projecting eaves supported by elaborate scroll brackets; and generally regular fenestration, with paired and single double-hung sash predominating.

The front facade and west elevation of the main block are dominated by a handsome verandah with a slate-clad, Mansard roof pierced by tiny, decorative dormer windows (with round or miter-arched lintels).

Characterized by a prominent, slate-clad Mansard roof, polychrome masonry construction, asymmetrical massing and elaborate, Victorian era ornamentation, it embodies all of the distinctive characteristics of the type and period.

Trumansburg continued to flourish after the Civil War, rivaled only by the nearby city of Ithaca as Tompkins County's focal points of commercial, social, civic and educational activity.

Befitting his prominent position in the community, Austin built a fashionable Second Empire style dwelling for his family (including his wife, Anne E., and their five daughters) in an upscale residential neighborhood of the bustling village.

With the exception of some interior deterioration due to neglect, the building, as it stands today, remains an intact, representative example of Victorian era domestic architecture in Trumansburg.