Delaney Hotel facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Delaney Hotel
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South elevation and east profile, 2008
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 Location in New York
Location in the United States
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| Location | Hoosick, New York, US |
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| Nearest city | Bennington, Vermont |
| Area | 1.5 acres (0.61 ha) |
| Built | ca. 1850 |
| Architect | Nairn Burgess |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival, Victorian |
| NRHP reference No. | 96000684 |
| Added to NRHP | 1996 |
The Delaney Hotel, also known as the North Hoosick Hotel or Hathaway Hotel, is a historic building in Hoosick, New York. It sits where two main roads, NY 22 and NY 67, meet. This large building was built around the mid-1800s. It shows off styles like Greek Revival and later Italianate designs.
The hotel was once a busy stop for stagecoaches and trains. Even as business slowed, it stayed open as a hotel until the mid-1900s. After being empty for a while, it was almost torn down in the 1980s. But local people helped save it! In 1995, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places, which protects important historical sites. Today, new owners plan to turn it into a bed and breakfast.
Contents
What Does the Delaney Hotel Look Like?
The Delaney Hotel sits on a small hill covering about 1.5 acres of land. It faces a three-way intersection. From this spot, you can see NY 67 coming from Vermont and NY 22 from Hoosick Falls. A bridge over the Walloomsac River gives drivers a great view of the hotel as they approach.
The Hotel's Exterior Design
The building is three and a half stories tall. It is made of wood, with clapboard siding, and sits on a stone base. The roof is moderately sloped with chimneys at each end. The edges of the roof have fancy brackets for decoration.
The front of the hotel has a large, two-story porch. This porch is set back under the third floor. Both levels of the porch have cool diagonal wooden braces, a style called "Stick Style." The second story also has decorative wooden railings. The windows on the third floor have special crowns above them.
Entrances and Other Features
The main entrance is a double wooden door in the center of the first floor. There's another entrance on the east side of the building. Both doors have wooden frames. A window similar to those on the front is found in the east gable, which is the triangular part of the wall under the roof.
At the back, there's a two-story addition, making the hotel look like a rough "T" shape from above. There used to be an icehouse and a chicken coop behind the hotel. However, these small buildings are now too old and damaged to be considered part of the hotel's historical value.
Inside the Hotel
The inside of the hotel has changed a lot over time. The first floor is now one big open space with its original hardwood floor. The old bar from the tavern room is still there, with its detailed carved wood.
As you go up the stairs to the second floor, you'll see an original walnut banister. The walls on the second floor are decorated with old posters from vaudeville shows from the late 1800s. The third floor still has its original ballroom, where people used to gather for events.
The Delaney Hotel's Journey Through Time
The land where the hotel stands was first owned by a local farmer named Benajah Burgess. After he passed away in 1831, his land was split among his three sons. A few years later, in 1834, two of the sons gave their parts to their brother, Nairn.
Building the Hotel for a Growing Town
In the 1830s, the area around Hoosick started to become more industrial. Factories making things like flannel and scythes opened up. Around 1850, Nairn Burgess built the hotel on his land. He wanted to provide a place for workers to stay, as many of them were migrants who didn't live nearby. The hotel also served as a stop for stagecoaches. There was a large barn, which is no longer there, for horses and buggies.
Changes in Ownership
Burgess sold the hotel in 1871. After a few quick changes in owners, Daniel Randall took over. He sold it in 1877 to Perry Eldred, and the hotel became known as the Eldred House. In 1894, Perry's young daughter Frances inherited it. Later, the hotel was sold to Chase Hathaway, a big landowner in Hoosick. It then became known as the Hathaway Hotel.
Two years later, Hathaway sold the hotel to Ida Delaney, who had managed it before. Her family owned the hotel for over 50 years! As local industries declined, the hotel faced challenges. For example, by 1930, the ballroom couldn't host traveling vaudeville acts anymore because it didn't have a fire escape. During World War II, the local economy and the hotel saw a small boost as old factories were used to make weapons.
Decline and Rescue
After the war, things slowed down again for the hotel. Ida Delaney's sons-in-law ran it. One of her daughters, Anna, tried to help the hotel financially. She inherited the hotel in 1964 and eventually sold it. This led to a period where many different owners tried to run the hotel, but none were successful.
The hotel started to fall apart. By the 1980s, a company considered buying the property and tearing down the hotel to build a convenience store. However, a local resident named Dianne Bingham started a petition. Her efforts convinced the company to build elsewhere. An architect from Long Island bought the hotel, hoping to fix it up, but nothing happened for several years.
Later, Larry Stevens, who met and married Dianne Bingham during the petition drive, decided to buy the hotel. The couple spent weekends fixing it up. They repainted it, made the walls stronger, put in a new septic system, and cleaned out the inside. They planned to open it as a bed and breakfast for tourists visiting nearby places like the home of Grandma Moses and the Bennington Battlefield. While working on the renovations, they found those old vaudeville posters on the second floor and decided to keep them there!
Images for kids
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Delaney Hotel from the East
