Kirkland Hotel
The Kirkland Hotel is a former hotel on the corner of Main Street and Clinton Avenues in Kingston , New York in the United States. The Tudor style building was built at the end of the 19th century.
It is a rare example of an urban wooden frame hotel that was also a popular local restaurant from the mid-20th century to the early 1970s. After the hotel closed, efforts to renovate the building stalled and the structure was almost threatened with demolition. After an award-winning renovation, it now houses offices and apartments. In 2002, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places , and it is also a contributing part of the Kingston Stockade District .
building
The building stands on an irregularly landscaped lot on the eastern edge of the Upper Town of Kingston. To the east of it is a garage in a similar architectural style, to the south of it is an office building for the administration of Ulster County . The neighborhood is urban, but not densely built up; the Old Dutch Church is a block and a half further south on Main Street.
The main wing of the hotel is a trapezoidal four-story building in timber frame construction on a stone and brick base . A tower rises above the entrance in the northwest. The roof consists of a complex series of steeply erected gable roof surfaces .
On the west side, facing Main Street, the facade consists of two blocks, each consisting of three bays and a gable roof . In between there is another entrance. A porch with a steep roof completely surrounds the building on the first floor. The main entrance is at the foot of a tower on the northeast corner; on the top there is a dome and a finial . The north facade on Clinton Avenue forms a pair of gables. East and south side not ornamented.
Inside, the building is largely intact. The walls are the original plaster base with plaster, a staircase with a metal staircase spindle and turned balusters connects all floors with one another.
history
At the site where the hotel was later built, there was a lumber yard from 1876 to 1885. Margaret Conklin bought the property in 1889 and built the hotel in the relatively new architectural style of Tudorbethan , which was very different from the mostly conservative, restrained styles in which the hotels were predominantly built at that time. The hotel mostly catered to guests who were dealing with matters with the county government, whose offices, like the courthouse, were nearby.
Conklin sold the hotel to George and Jane Holms in 1917 who, five years later, in 1922, sold it to Samuel and Alice Saulpaugh. It was the Saulpaughs who gave the hotel its name. They sold it to another couple, John and Mary Eagen, in 1925. The Eagens operated the hotel until 1948 and sold it to Max and Ruth Brugmann in 1950. The Brugmanns opened the Dutch Rathskeller , the restaurant in the basement of the hotel. In 1968 they closed the hotel and four years later the restaurant. Also in 1972 the front porch and the dome of the tower were removed.
Another owner opened a new restaurant in the cellar in 1976, the Cleaver Steakhouse , but went bankrupt that same year. In the mid-1980s, when the building passed through the hands of a number of owners intending to remodel it, the city council tried to classify it as a local monument. These efforts failed because the city's Landmarks and Historic Preservation Commission disagreed.
Another owner of the building had it repainted cream and green in 1988, but was unable to carry out any further work on the building. In 1996 it became the property of the city and was threatened with demolition to make way for a parking garage. In 2002, the Rural Ulster Preservation Company (RUPCO), a not-for-profit organization, bought the property and had it restored, including the previously removed dome and porch.
In the course of the renovation, geothermal heating was installed, which saves heating costs. Ultimately, the cost of the project amounted to 4.7 million US dollars . RUPCO came under criticism from the unions because non-organized craftsmen were involved in the renovation.
The restaurant in the basement was renewed in order to possibly be used by a new operator. RUPCO rents the premises of the former hotel for residential purposes and as offices as well as for events. In 2007, the renovated building was one of several to receive the Excellence in Preservation Award, presented annually by the New York State Preservation League.
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c d John Bonafide: National Register of Historic Places nomination, Kirkland Hotel ( English ) New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation . June 2002. Archived from the original on September 28, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 26, 2009.
- ↑ a b The Kirkland Hotel: History ( English ) Rural Ulster Preservation Company. Archived from the original on August 15, 2010. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 25, 2009.
- ^ Paul Kirby: Restoration of old hotel gets financial boost (English) . In: Daily Freeman , Journal Register Company , November 7, 2003. Retrieved December 25, 2009.
- ^ Paul Kirby: Landmark hotel comes back to life in Kingston (English) . In: Daily Freeman , Journal Register Company , February 10, 2008. Retrieved December 26, 2009.
- ^ Paul Kirby: Kirkland Hotel restoration lauded by Preservation League (English) . In: Daily Freeman , Journal Register Company , May 7, 2008. Retrieved December 22, 2009.
Web links
- Kirkland Hotel , at Rural Ulster Preservation Company site.
Coordinates: 41 ° 55 ′ 59 ″ N , 74 ° 0 ′ 59 ″ W.