Wellington Row facts for kids
Wellington Row is a group of buildings on State Street in Albany, New York. It includes the famous Wellington Hotel, which the row is named after. You'll also find the former Elks Lodge No. 49, the old Berkshire Hotel, and a couple of houses (132 and 134 State Street). The Wellington Hotel also had a second building called the Wellington Annex on Howard Street. This whole row is part of the special Downtown Albany Historic District.
A Look Back at Wellington Row
The oldest building in Wellington Row is the John Taylor Cooper House at 134 State Street. It was built in the 1820s and later updated in the Greek Revival style. This style uses ideas from ancient Greek buildings, like columns.
The Wellington Hotel started small in 1905 with just 17 rooms. A few years later, in 1911, Claude J. Holder bought it and made it much bigger, adding over 400 rooms! Next to the Wellington, the Elks Lodge No. 49 was built between 1911 and 1913.
Many important people stayed at the Wellington Hotel. New York governors like Mario Cuomo and George Pataki both lived there when they were starting their careers in politics.
In 1975, a bank took over the Wellington Hotel because of money problems. The city of Albany then ran it as a hotel. The Annex building was used as a dorm for students from the University at Albany for a while. Later, in 1984, a company called MABS Diversified Investments bought the hotel and the nearby Elks Lodge and Berkshire Hotel.
Changes and New Plans
In 2004, a decorative part of the Wellington Hotel's roof started to lean dangerously. Workers had to remove it to keep people safe. The city decided to wrap the building to protect it.
Later, in 2006, a local company called Columbia Development bought all the buildings in Wellington Row. They had big plans to rebuild the area. While they wanted to keep some of the old look, most of the Wellington Hotel itself was planned to be taken down. Its front (called the facade) would become the entrance to a new, tall office building. The other buildings in the row, like the Berkshire Hotel and Elks Lodge, would be saved and used for shops and homes. This new area was renamed Wellington Place.
The Cats of Wellington
Before the Wellington Hotel started to be taken down, it was home to many stray cats. Most of these cats were black and white, like they were wearing a "tuxedo." A group called Scruff helped these cats. They caught them, gave them shots, and made sure they couldn't have more kittens. Then, they either released the cats back into downtown Albany or helped people adopt them. Many of the cats were given names that included "Wellington," like Mario Wellington, named after the former governor. The Wellington Hotel Annex building was taken down by hand in 2014.
