The Landmark Society wants to sell or lease the Campbell-Whittlesey House, one of two house museums that the society operates. The society has owned the house at 123 South Fitzhugh Street since 1937.

Executive Director Joanne Arany says that a declining number of visitors, finances, and the gradual evolution of the society's mission are the main factors driving the decision.

"It became very clear that operation of museums was not central to the core of the mission," she says. "It is more geared toward healthy, livable, and sustainable communities. That's about preservation and planning practices."

If the building is sold or the society otherwise vacates it, the artifacts inside would be sold. House artifacts on loan to the society would be returned to their owners.**

"If any objects are sold, we are legally required to use those dollars to invest in museum operations," Arany says. "And so we're in the process of exploring what that means."

Arany says options for reuse of the house are wide open, but that it could work as professional office space, a visitors' center, or a single-family home. The latter would be particularly apt, Arany says, since the building was a single-family home originally.

"There would be something quite lovely about that," she says.

The 2,462-square-foot house is an example of Greek Revival architecture, and was completed in 1836 for Benjamin and Sophronia Campbell. Benjamin Campbell was a businessman who owned a flour mill near the current Blue Cross Arena.

"The house has its legacy in the development of the Erie Canal," Arany says. "Its first owners were purveyors of grains and other commodities, flour in particular, that would be traversing the canal."

**This sentence was incorrect in an earlier version of the story.