It's all but a done deal. The Rochester Historical Society has signed a contract to sell Woodside, its headquarters at 485 East Avenue, for $450,000. The buyers are commercial realtors Robert and Amy Tait of Brighton. The property will remain a single-family residence.

"We were so careful to be sure that the contract had enough covenants to keep it from being broken up into condos or apartments," says Meredith Keller, a spokesperson for the Historical Society.

The decision to sell Woodside was unanimously approved by board members last June, but the deal has to be approved by the organization's 425 members. That vote is pending.

The Historical Society is still working on an agreement to lease space at the Rundel Library to store its 200,000 artifacts, which have been collected over the last 150 years.

Some past and current members have been against the sale, and are concerned about the final disposition of the collection. But Keller said the decision to sell Woodside was primarily driven by economics.

"I think someone estimated that there is about $1 million in deferred maintenance here," says Keller.

Woodside, built by Silas Smith, is considered by many to be one of the area's finest examples of 19th century Greek Revival architecture.

The sale is not expected to be complete until May 2009.