Wender·Vista
Ithaca Commons pedestrian street
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileNew York
in downtown Ithaca, at the south end of Cayuga Lake

Ithaca Commons pedestrian street

— — a street that gave up its cars and kept its trees.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“Two blocks of State Street, closed to cars since 1974 and rebuilt in 2015 with new bluestone, raised planters, and the Bernie Milton Pavilion at the center. Cornell students walk down from East Hill for coffee and used books. Buskers in the warm months, kids on the splash blocks, sleet on the canvas awnings in February. A small downtown that decided it wanted to be a room.

from the studio
Ithaca Commons pedestrian street
— bring it home

Ithaca Commons pedestrian street, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about Ithaca Commons pedestrian street

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

The Ithaca Commons is the two-block pedestrian mall along East State Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Street, between Aurora and Cayuga, in downtown Ithaca, New York. The street was first closed to cars in 1974, making it one of the earliest pedestrian malls in the United States, and was fully rebuilt between 2013 and 2015 with new bluestone and granite paving, raised planters, and the Bernie Milton Pavilion stage at the center. Ithaca sits at the south end of Cayuga Lake, hemmed in by the gorges of Six Mile and Cascadilla Creeks, with Cornell University on the hill above.

— the visit

The Commons is open at all hours and free to walk. Roughly thirty independent shops, bookstores, and restaurants line the two blocks, including Buffalo Street Books and the long-running State Theatre of Ithaca, which opened in 1928 a block to the south. Cornell and Ithaca College together bring around thirty thousand students to town each fall, and the Apple Harvest Festival fills the Commons the first weekend of October. Parking is in two city garages off Green and Seneca Streets, a block off either side of the Commons.

— the season

Ithaca winters are long. Average annual snowfall is around sixty-five inches, and the Commons gets its share between November and April, when the planter beds go bare and the brick goes dark with melt. May through October is when the street works hardest: the Ithaca Festival the first weekend of June, the Apple Harvest Festival the first weekend of October, and a steady run of weekend markets in between. The shoulder months, late March and early November, are the quiet ones, when the buskers thin out and the awnings come down.

— where
United States · Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York
— position
42.4395° N · 76.4969° W
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
2 km NE
Cornell University
Ivy League campus
2 km N
Cayuga Lake
Finger Lake
1 km NE
Cascadilla Gorge
gorge and falls
2 km N
Ithaca Falls
waterfall
N
Ithaca Commons pedestrian street
Cornell University
Cayuga Lake
Cascadilla Gorge
Ithaca Falls
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Ithaca Commons pedestrian street — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

The street was first closed to cars in 1974, making it one of the earliest pedestrian malls in the United States. It was fully reconstructed and reopened in summer 2015 with new paving, planters, and a new pavilion.

Two blocks along East State Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Street, between Aurora and Cayuga Streets, about a thousand feet end to end through the center of downtown Ithaca.

Yes. Cornell sits on East Hill above downtown, about a mile uphill from the Commons. The campus connects to the Commons by city bus and the steep walk up Buffalo Street.

The open-air stage at the center of the Commons, named for a longtime local musician. It hosts free concerts through the warmer months and anchors the larger downtown festivals.

The Ithaca Festival the first weekend of June, the Apple Harvest Festival the first weekend of October, and Winter Festival in late January. GrassRoots overflow from nearby Trumansburg fills the Commons in July.

Two city garages, the Green Street Garage and the Seneca Street Garage, sit a block off either side of the Commons. Street parking on surrounding blocks is metered through the business day.

— about the piece in your home

It has been for many of our customers. Alumni recognize the bluestone, the pavilion, and the awnings, and the piece gives them a fixed view of a college town they remember walking on the way to class.

The jewel-tone palette and warm brick reds suit Craftsman, mid-century modern, and warm transitional rooms. It also reads well against soft white or oat-colored walls in a bookish study.

The composition is patterned but quiet, with warm jewel tones that read as art rather than as accent. It fits warm minimalism, organic modern, and Japandi-leaning spaces without dominating the wall.

A single Large hangs cleanly above a console table. Above a standard sofa, a 4-tile Mural reads at the right scale, and a 9-tile Mural suits a long sectional wall in a great room.

Yes. For damp rooms or splashed surfaces, choose Dura Satin or Matte. The colour lives in the ceramic surface and is unbothered by steam, water, or routine cleaners.

A soft microfibre cloth and warm water. Skip abrasives and ammonia-based cleaners. The colour is slowly infused into the surface, so daily care is the same as any high-quality ceramic tile.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is painted by Reid Wender, the studio's curator, and produced only in our Knoxville studio. We do not license the work outside the family of Wender shops.

— if this one stayed with you

A few you might also love.

Hand-picked by the eye that found Sorapis. Same air, same kind of quiet.