Contemplating What Was

Rumor and speculation about what might be in the future for this stretch of Warren Street inspired Gossips to wonder about what is missing from the original streetscape between 324 Warren Street and 336 Warren Street.

At one time, there were five buildings in this space. The single building at the center--330 Warren Street--is a fairly modern structure, probably built in the 1950s. Up until about twenty years ago, it was known as Harold's Lounge. 

This post card image, probably from the 1920s, shows the streetscape intact. In this picture, 336 Warren Street appears near the middle of the row, with red-and-white striped awnings. The building in the left foreground appears to be the one that once stood at 330 Warren Street, where the little one-story former bar is now.

Some time spent with the 1912 Hudson city directory provides the information to create a snapshot of this part of Warren Street a century ago. 

At 324 Warren Street, the still surviving building that marks the western end of the space, N. O. Belyea ran a boarding house. Among the boarders who lived there were Nathan Smith, J. S. Ladow, Fred G. Mack, Mary Storrs, David T. Pardee, who worked as a cashier, and Florence Rose, who was a music teacher.

Moving upstreet, at 326 Warren Street next door, now missing, Alfred J. Rowles had a confectionery shop. George W. Alden, an auctioneer, had his business in the building, and it was home to Hattie Hildreth, William van Alstyne, a salesman, and Mary R. Nicholson, whose occupation was described as "art needlework."

In the storefront at 328 Warren Street, also missing, was the Osborne Crockery Store. (Arthur Osborne, the proprietor, lived just up the street at 340 Warren Street, where Swoon now occupies the ground floor.) The people who lived above the store at 328 were Abram T. and Bessie Schoonmaker. He was a storekeeper; she was a bookkeeper.

At 330 Warren Street, where the building that was once Harold's Lounge now stands, Thomas E. Cody ran a restaurant, or perhaps it was a saloon--the directory doesn't distinguish. 

The building at 332 Warren Street, which appears to be the building with the Rialto marquee in the post card picture and now no longer exists, was exclusively residential in 1912. Mrs. Susan E. Dreis lived there, as did John H. and May Recor, with their sons, John and Frank. This house was mentioned in the 1867 inventory of distinctive private residences published in the Hudson Evening Register and reproduced on Gossips. In 1867, this house, known then as the Little property, was the home of Henry Miller, the city recorder. The article reports that the house had, in 1867, been recently "completely overhauled" and now "makes a very fine residence."

Morgan A. Jones's home

The next building, 334 Warren Street, now missing, was the location of Jones & Hardy Mill Supplies. The Jones of Jones & Hardy was Morgan A. Jones, the rich young man who built the house of his dreams at 317 Allen Street. George A. Holsapple, who was employed by Jones & Hardy, seems also to have sold insurance, or maybe real estate, from that address, and Ella V. Martin made her home there.

336 Warren Street

Finally, there is 336 Warren Street, the surviving house at the east end of this set. In 1912, Frederick C. Hildenbrandt conducted his business here, which was described in the directory as "hard wood finisher, antiques, second-hand furniture, furniture repairing, upholstering." Hildenbrandt himself lived at 136 Warren Street, but Theo Schoonmaker, a machinist, lived here at 336 Warren Street. It is not known if Theo was related to Abram and Bessie who lived just down the street at 328.
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