Delaney Hotel
Encyclopedia
The Delaney Hotel, also the North Hoosick Hotel and Hathaway Hotel, is located at the junction of NY 22
and 67
in the hamlet of North Hoosick
, New York, United States. It is a large Greek Revival
-style
building dating to the middle of the 19th century with some later Italianate
decoration. Few alterations have been made, and it is a well-preserved example of vernacular
interpretations of those styles in a rural building.
It was a stagecoach
and railroad stop in its peak years. Later owners continued to operate it as a hotel, despite declining business, into the middle of the 20th century. After a period of vacancy and decline, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 1995. In the 1980s it was nearly demolished. Recently a new set of owners has proposed to turn it into a bed and breakfast
.
to the east and NY 22 comes in from Hoosick Falls
to the south, crossing the Walloomsac River
just before reaching the hotel. The bridge gives northbound traffic a good view of the hotel's south (front) facade
as it approaches. The two highways run concurrently
to the west of the intersection to eventually turn north into Washington County
, where they separate again.
The building itself is a three-and-a-half-story, eight-by-two-bay
clapboard
-sided
frame
structure on a stone foundation
topped by a moderately pitched
side-gable
d roof. Brick chimneys rise at either end. At the front and rear rooflines are eaves supported by decorative
brackets
.
Dominating the front facade is the full-length two-story porch, recessed under the third story. Both stories feature Stick Style diagonal braces. The second story has sawcut baluster
s. The third story windows have bracketed crowns.
A central double wooden door on the first story serves as the main entrance, with a secondary one on the east facade. Both have wooden surrounds. A similar window to those on the front facade is situated in the east gable apex. There is a two-story addition on the rear giving the hotel a rough "T" shape. Two outbuildings in the rear, once the hotel's icehouse and chicken coop
, are so badly deteriorated as to no longer be contributing
to the property's historic character.
The interior has been extensively altered. The first floor is now entirely open, with its original hardwood floor. The bars in the tavern room, including the intricately carved rear one, remains. An original walnut
banister is on the stairs to the second floor, where the walls have old posters of vaudeville
performers from the late 19th century. The third floor's ballroom remains.
The area was slowly beginning to industrialize, and by 1836 there were factories making flannel
and scythe
s in North Hoosick. Around 1850 Nairn Burgess built the hotel on his property to fill the demand for lodging, as many of the workers at the factory were migrants whose families lived elsewhere. It was also a stagecoach
stop. A large barn, since demolished, sheltered horses and buggies.
Burgess sold the hotel in 1871. After some very rapid transfers of ownership, it became Daniel Randall's property. He in turn sold it six years later, in 1877. It became known as the Eldred House after its new owner, Perry Eldred. In 1894 it was inherited by his young daughter Frances, who had still not attained the age of 21 when the executors of her father's estate sold it to Chase Hathaway, a major landowner in early 20th-century Hoosick. The building became known as the Hathaway Hotel.
Two years later, Hathaway sold it to Ida Delaney, a former manager. Her family would own it for over half a century. The area's industrial base declined, and in 1930 the hotel's ballroom could no longer be used as a venue for traveling vaudeville acts because it lacked a fire escape
. The local economy rebounded slightly, along with the hotel, during World War II
when the old factories were used for weapons manufacture.
After the war things slowed down again. The hotel was now operated by Ida Delaney's sons-in-law. Another of her daughters, Anna, had married a wealthy judge and spent most of the summer at the hotel with several servants. Her attempts to bail out the hotel financially led to friction with her in-laws. She inherited the hotel when her sister died in 1964, and eventually sold it, leading to a period of many different owners, none of whom could successfully operate the hotel.
It began to decline. In 1974 it was used for some scenes in The Catamount Killing, starring Horst Buchholz
and Polly Holliday. Most were exteriors, and the few interiors used were dim, perhaps to conceal the building's decline.
It was in such serious disrepair that by the 1980s Stewart's Shops
was considering buying it and demolishing it to build one of their convenience store
s on the property. A petition drive led by a local resident, Dianne Bingham, led the company to reconsider and instead build across the intersection. A Long Island architect bought the property instead, intending to renovate it, but did nothing for several years.
Several years later, Larry Stevens, who met and married Bingham during the petition drive, decided to buy the hotel. The couple spent weekends repairing it. They repainted it, reinforced the walls, put in a new septic system and gutted the interior with the intent of opening it as a bed and breakfast
for tourists visiting the nearby home of Grandma Moses
and Bennington Battlefield. During those renovations, they found late 19th-century posters for vaudeville acts on the second floor, and have kept them there.
New York State Route 22
New York State Route 22 is a north–south state highway in eastern New York in the United States. It runs parallel to the state's eastern edge from the outskirts of New York City to a short distance south of the Canadian border. At , it is the state's longest north–south route and...
and 67
New York State Route 67
New York State Route 67 is an east–west state highway in eastern New York in the United States. The western terminus of the route is at an intersection with NY 5 in the town of St. Johnsville...
in the hamlet of North Hoosick
Hoosick, New York
Hoosick is a town in Rensselaer County, New York, United States. The population was 6,759 at the 2000 census.The Town of Hoosick is in the northeast corner of the county.- History :...
, New York, United States. It is a large Greek Revival
Greek Revival architecture
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...
-style
Architectural style
Architectural styles classify architecture in terms of the use of form, techniques, materials, time period, region and other stylistic influences. It overlaps with, and emerges from the study of the evolution and history of architecture...
building dating to the middle of the 19th century with some later Italianate
Italianate architecture
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
decoration. Few alterations have been made, and it is a well-preserved example of vernacular
Vernacular architecture
Vernacular architecture is a term used to categorize methods of construction which use locally available resources and traditions to address local needs and circumstances. Vernacular architecture tends to evolve over time to reflect the environmental, cultural and historical context in which it...
interpretations of those styles in a rural building.
It was a stagecoach
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...
and railroad stop in its peak years. Later owners continued to operate it as a hotel, despite declining business, into the middle of the 20th century. After a period of vacancy and decline, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1995. In the 1980s it was nearly demolished. Recently a new set of owners has proposed to turn it into a bed and breakfast
Bed and breakfast
A bed and breakfast is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast, but usually does not offer other meals. Since the 1980s, the meaning of the term has also extended to include accommodations that are also known as "self-catering" establishments...
.
Building
The hotel sits on a 1.5 acres (6,070.3 m²) atop a small rise facing the three-way intersection where NY 67 comes in from VermontVermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
to the east and NY 22 comes in from Hoosick Falls
Hoosick Falls, New York
Hoosick Falls is a village in Rensselaer County, New York, United States. The population was 3,182 at the 2010 census, a decline of 254 since 2000. During its peak around 1900, the village had a population of about 7,000...
to the south, crossing the Walloomsac River
Walloomsac River
The Walloomsac River from the Native American name, Wal-loom-sac is a tributary of the Hoosic River in the northeastern United States. It rises in southwestern Vermont, in the Green Mountains east of the town of Bennington in Woodford Hollow at the confluence of Bolles Brook and City Stream where...
just before reaching the hotel. The bridge gives northbound traffic a good view of the hotel's south (front) facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
as it approaches. The two highways run concurrently
Concurrency (road)
A concurrency, overlap, or coincidence in a road network is an instance of one physical road bearing two or more different highway, motorway, or other route numbers...
to the west of the intersection to eventually turn north into Washington County
Washington County, New York
Washington County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the Glens Falls, New York, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 63,216. It was named for the Revolutionary War general George Washington...
, where they separate again.
The building itself is a three-and-a-half-story, eight-by-two-bay
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
clapboard
Clapboard (architecture)
Clapboard, also known as bevel siding or lap siding or weather-board , is a board used typically for exterior horizontal siding that has one edge thicker than the other and where the board above laps over the one below...
-sided
Siding
Siding is the outer covering or cladding of a house meant to shed water and protect from the effects of weather. On a building that uses siding, it may act as a key element in the aesthetic beauty of the structure and directly influence its property value....
frame
Framing (construction)
Framing, in construction known as light-frame construction, is a building technique based around structural members, usually called studs, which provide a stable frame to which interior and exterior wall coverings are attached, and covered by a roof comprising horizontal ceiling joists and sloping...
structure on a stone foundation
Foundation (architecture)
A foundation is the lowest and supporting layer of a structure. Foundations are generally divided into two categories: shallow foundations and deep foundations.-Shallow foundations:...
topped by a moderately pitched
Roof pitch
In building construction, roof pitch is a numerical measure of the steepness of a roof, and a pitched roof is a roof that is steep.The roof's pitch is the measured vertical rise divided by the measured horizontal span, the same thing as what is called "slope" in geometry. Roof pitch is typically...
side-gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
d roof. Brick chimneys rise at either end. At the front and rear rooflines are eaves supported by decorative
Ornament (architecture)
In architecture and decorative art, ornament is a decoration used to embellish parts of a building or object. Large figurative elements such as monumental sculpture and their equivalents in decorative art are excluded from the term; most ornament does not include human figures, and if present they...
brackets
Bracket (architecture)
A bracket is an architectural member made of wood, stone, or metal that overhangs a wall to support or carry weight. It may also support a statue, the spring of an arch, a beam, or a shelf. Brackets are often in the form of scrolls, and can be carved, cast, or molded. They can be entirely...
.
Dominating the front facade is the full-length two-story porch, recessed under the third story. Both stories feature Stick Style diagonal braces. The second story has sawcut baluster
Baluster
A baluster is a moulded shaft, square or of lathe-turned form, one of various forms of spindle in woodwork, made of stone or wood and sometimes of metal, standing on a unifying footing, and supporting the coping of a parapet or the handrail of a staircase. Multiplied in this way, they form a...
s. The third story windows have bracketed crowns.
A central double wooden door on the first story serves as the main entrance, with a secondary one on the east facade. Both have wooden surrounds. A similar window to those on the front facade is situated in the east gable apex. There is a two-story addition on the rear giving the hotel a rough "T" shape. Two outbuildings in the rear, once the hotel's icehouse and chicken coop
Chicken coop
A chicken coop is a building where female chickens are kept. Inside there are often nest boxes for egg laying and perches on which the birds can sleep, although coops for meat birds seldom have either of these features....
, are so badly deteriorated as to no longer be contributing
Contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
to the property's historic character.
The interior has been extensively altered. The first floor is now entirely open, with its original hardwood floor. The bars in the tavern room, including the intricately carved rear one, remains. An original walnut
Walnut
Juglans is a plant genus of the family Juglandaceae, the seeds of which are known as walnuts. They are deciduous trees, 10–40 meters tall , with pinnate leaves 200–900 millimetres long , with 5–25 leaflets; the shoots have chambered pith, a character shared with the wingnuts , but not the hickories...
banister is on the stairs to the second floor, where the walls have old posters of vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
performers from the late 19th century. The third floor's ballroom remains.
History
Benajah Burgess, a local farmer, originally owned the land. When he died in 1831, it was divided between his three sons. Three years later, two of them gave their portions to Nairn, the third.The area was slowly beginning to industrialize, and by 1836 there were factories making flannel
Flannel
Flannel is a soft woven fabric, of various fineness. Flannel was originally made from carded wool or worsted yarn, but is now often made from either wool, cotton, or synthetic fibre. Flannel may be brushed to create extra softness or remain unbrushed. The brushing process is a mechanical process...
and scythe
Scythe
A scythe is an agricultural hand tool for mowing grass, or reaping crops. It was largely replaced by horse-drawn and then tractor machinery, but is still used in some areas of Europe and Asia. The Grim Reaper is often depicted carrying or wielding a scythe...
s in North Hoosick. Around 1850 Nairn Burgess built the hotel on his property to fill the demand for lodging, as many of the workers at the factory were migrants whose families lived elsewhere. It was also a stagecoach
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...
stop. A large barn, since demolished, sheltered horses and buggies.
Burgess sold the hotel in 1871. After some very rapid transfers of ownership, it became Daniel Randall's property. He in turn sold it six years later, in 1877. It became known as the Eldred House after its new owner, Perry Eldred. In 1894 it was inherited by his young daughter Frances, who had still not attained the age of 21 when the executors of her father's estate sold it to Chase Hathaway, a major landowner in early 20th-century Hoosick. The building became known as the Hathaway Hotel.
Two years later, Hathaway sold it to Ida Delaney, a former manager. Her family would own it for over half a century. The area's industrial base declined, and in 1930 the hotel's ballroom could no longer be used as a venue for traveling vaudeville acts because it lacked a fire escape
Fire escape
A fire escape is a special kind of emergency exit, usually mounted to the outside of a building or occasionally inside but separate from the main areas of the building. It provides a method of escape in the event of a fire or other emergency that makes the stairwells inside a building inaccessible...
. The local economy rebounded slightly, along with the hotel, during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
when the old factories were used for weapons manufacture.
After the war things slowed down again. The hotel was now operated by Ida Delaney's sons-in-law. Another of her daughters, Anna, had married a wealthy judge and spent most of the summer at the hotel with several servants. Her attempts to bail out the hotel financially led to friction with her in-laws. She inherited the hotel when her sister died in 1964, and eventually sold it, leading to a period of many different owners, none of whom could successfully operate the hotel.
It began to decline. In 1974 it was used for some scenes in The Catamount Killing, starring Horst Buchholz
Horst Buchholz
Horst Werner Buchholz was a German actor, remembered for his part in The Magnificent Seven and Nine Hours to Rama. He appeared in over sixty films during his acting career from 1952–2002.-Life and work:...
and Polly Holliday. Most were exteriors, and the few interiors used were dim, perhaps to conceal the building's decline.
It was in such serious disrepair that by the 1980s Stewart's Shops
Stewart's Shops
Stewart's Shops is a U.S. chain of convenience stores located primarily in eastern Upstate New York and southwestern Vermont.Headquartered in Saratoga Springs, the company is well-established, particularly in the Capital District...
was considering buying it and demolishing it to build one of their convenience store
Convenience store
A convenience store, corner store, corner shop, commonly called a bodega in Spanish-speaking areas of the United States, is a small store or shop in a built up area that stocks a range of everyday items such as groceries, toiletries, alcoholic and soft drinks, and may also offer money order and...
s on the property. A petition drive led by a local resident, Dianne Bingham, led the company to reconsider and instead build across the intersection. A Long Island architect bought the property instead, intending to renovate it, but did nothing for several years.
Several years later, Larry Stevens, who met and married Bingham during the petition drive, decided to buy the hotel. The couple spent weekends repairing it. They repainted it, reinforced the walls, put in a new septic system and gutted the interior with the intent of opening it as a bed and breakfast
Bed and breakfast
A bed and breakfast is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast, but usually does not offer other meals. Since the 1980s, the meaning of the term has also extended to include accommodations that are also known as "self-catering" establishments...
for tourists visiting the nearby home of Grandma Moses
Grandma Moses
Anna Mary Robertson Moses , better known as "Grandma Moses", was a renowned American folk artist. She is often cited as an example of an individual successfully beginning a career in the arts at an advanced age. Although her family and friends called her either "Mother Moses" or "Grandma Moses,"...
and Bennington Battlefield. During those renovations, they found late 19th-century posters for vaudeville acts on the second floor, and have kept them there.