Audio Tour
Pittsford Lumber &
Northfield Common
Presented by
Bob Corby
In the 19th century, there were two lumberyards in Pittsford. One was located at the west end of Schoen Place. The other one was on the south side of the canal where the canal intersected State Street. When the canal was widened in 1911 and 1912, the Waddams and Whitlock Lumberyard, which later became the Pittsford Lumberyard, relocated to the area that today is known as Northfield Common.
In the early 1970s, John Mason, who owned the lumberyard at that time had the vision to convert the buildings to the retail uses that exist here today. There was a disastrous fire in 1972 that destroyed the lumber sheds. that's when the conversion of the lumberyard really began to the area that we are standing in today.
There are two buildings that are original: Pittsford Lumber, a boutique lumber supply store, which has been in Northfield Commons since the 1970s is located in a shed that originally was part of the lumberyard.
There is a former mule shed which has been incorporated into the Label 7 Restaurant.
The building that now houses Olives, the restaurant, and the J.T.H Agency was John Mason's house.
And the future location of the microbrewery, which is about to open, was the retail store and office for the lumberyard. The other buildings were built in the 1970s in a rustic style compatible with the industrial history of the property.