Imagine All of Hudson Were a Historic District

Since December 2006, when the extensive Union-Allen-South Front Street Historic District was created by a resolution of the Common Council, no new historic districts have been designated in the City of Hudson. 

An attempt by Historic Hudson in 2011 to designate Robinson Street and the adjacent neighborhoods on North Second and North Third streets as a historic district met with vehement opposition from Ed Cross (who I'm told would now like the church building on Columbia Street he wants to acquire for his Endless Love Temple to be designated a local landmark) and ultimately went down in flames at a public hearing. Since then, no one has had the courage to propose any new historic districts, and that is unfortunate.

At the beginning of 2015, this double house at 451 State Street, right across the street from the Galvan Armory, ceased being part of Phil Gellert's notorious Northern Empire. 

Its new owner cleaned up the interior and then sold it in the summer of 2016. The current owner is, according to tax records, Pacific Studio, LLC.

The building is now undergoing exterior renovation. All the windows are being replaced--the second floor windows with windows that appear to be wider and shorter than the originals; the 1950s "picture" windows on the ground floor, added at some point in the house's unfortunate past, are being replaced with banks of three windows.

These newest alterations to the building's fenestration move it even further away from its original design, which can be seen in the background of this historic picture.

Had this house been in a historic district (sadly, it's just across the street from one), locating a historic photograph of the house and using it as a guide for any alterations to the building's facade would have been a requirement, and this further remuddling of the house's intended design could have been avoided.
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