Van Etten-Lacey House opened in fall 2012 as the home of the Center for the Literary Arts. Located less than a block east of campus at 408 Third Street SW, the charming home was hand built by Bernard Van Etten '28, married to author and highly respected Cornell English Professor Winifred Mayne Van Etten ’25, as their family home in 1937. Another legendary English professor, Stephen Lacey '65, later lived in the house.
The home was constructed of limestone quarried in Stone City, Iowa, and was once described in the press as "A Little Castle of Iowa Limestone." Nearly every room has a different type of wood used to panel the walls, from walnut to beech to tropical woods. Classes and literary functions are held there, and it also serves as the office for the Robert P. Dana Director of the Center for the Literary Arts.
