Ron Gage didn't want to merely craft a model of the Seneca Falls Historical Society, he wanted spectators to believe he had shrunk the building to 1/12 its size.

Gage, a Branchport-based craftsman, recently completed a 5-by-6 replica of the society house that will be awarded to the winner of a 200-ticket raffle in May 2008. The replica was built with 9,971 clay bricks, a skeleton of Russian birch plywood and curved styrene glass to represent the building's windows.

“It must have cost a fortune to build the house,” Gage said. “The people who built this must have been some master craftsmen.”

Gage was commissioned for the project by Kathy Jans-Duffy, collections manager of the historical society. Her husband, John, knew Gage and learned about his replica-making work through a disabled veterans group they both attend in Canandaigua.

“I was honored to do it,” Gage said.

A lifelong admirer of replica work, Gage had only begun building his own models about five years ago after attending a dollhouse exhibit and vendor show at the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport.

“I went and I was hooked,” he said.

Having never seen the historical society house prior to this project, Gage visited three times, snapped more than 100 photos and measured every wall to assure the accuracy of his replica.

The construction period spanned eight months of painstaking work protracted by trial-and-error. Once Gage realized the replica would need to be transported to the real historical society, he had to resize it to fit through doors. He removed a few components of the house, such as the pantry and bathrooms, in order to shrink it.

Gage went beyond the budget for his commission in order to build the house with materials - such as kiln-fired bricks - that would extend its life as long as possible.

“I wanted to make an heirloom, something that would last forever,” he said. “What was wood I did with wood, and what was brick I did with brick.”

The curved windows in the house's tower were a particular challenge to Gage, along with intricate carvings on the fireplaces and a staircase with checkerboards on each landing. The dining room's parquet floors, comprised of precisely angled wooden planks, was the object of much of Gage's labor.

“The angles were pretty hard because I'm lousy at math,” he laughed. “If I made mistakes I had to tear it apart and do it again, so I learned patience or else it would end up in the fire pit again.”

Gage spent seven days a week recreating every last small detail of the house, aside from the sections he omitted due to size concerns. He dedicates the work to Larry Hall, a fellow disabled veteran who passed away before he could view the finished replica.

The miniature house will be awarded to the winner of the historical society's fundraiser in May. It will come unfurnished, aside from one bed Gage fashioned from walnut.

“He is a very meticulous craftsman, he really captured all the details,” said Kathy Jans-Duffy, collections manager of the historical society.

After witnessing the house's response to seeing his replica, Gage believes the staff is secretly hoping they receive it back as a donation from the winner.

He observed, “Once they saw it, they looked like they'd really love to keep it.”

Staff writer David Wilcox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net