HPC to Hold Public Hearing

At the last meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission, which took place on June 14, architect Walter Chatham presented plans for renovating the building at 833 Warren Street.

The plans involve eliminating the recessed commercial entrance and converting the building into two residential units.

Chatham maintained that the building had not originally been a commercial building and the recessed entrance had not been part of its original design. That's not hard to believe. The recessed doorway does not align with the oriel above it. But what was the original design of the building?

Unfortunately, the only early photograph of the building known to Gossips is this one, which only shows a small portion of the building. It appears, however, that when the picture was taken the recessed entrance was already part of the building's facade.

The Beers Atlas maps for 1873 and 1888 suggest that the building that now stands at 833 Warren Street did not exist or did not exist in its current configuration in those years.

Checking city directories reveals that through most of the second half of the 19th century the building was a residence. (Prior to the renumbering in 1898-1899, the building number was 427.) From 1868 to 1872, Sebastian Menick who owned a dry goods store with his brother John at what is now 543 Warren Street lived in the building. From 1874 to 1876, Smith Parsons, the city sexton, occupied the building. It was his home, but this ad, which appeared in the city directory for 1876, suggests he may have been doing some portion of this business from that address. 

Briefly, in 1877, F. T. Cochran, physician, lived and practiced at 427 Warren Street.  In 1878 and 1879, Allen Race, whose occupation is listed as painter, lived at that address, and from 1881 to 1883, Joseph Deyo lived there. In 1883, Peter Cole, a laborer, occupied the house. During his residence, it seems the house may have become a two-family dwelling because starting in 1886, both Peter Cole and Jacob Cole are listed in the directory as residing at 427/833 Warren Street.

Evidence from the city directories and the Tap Record suggests that the building now on the site may have been constructed in 1901. From 1897 to 1901, the address doesn't appear in the city directories, which suggests that it was vacant. Then in 1901, it reappears. That is also the year that the building is added to the municipal water system. For most buildings in Hudson, that happened thirty to forty years earlier. 

For most of the first two decades of the 20th century, families named Bame lived in the building. Originally it was just Charles, then Charles and Ralph, then Charles and Ralph and Arthur. 

The information most relevant to the recessed entrance to the building is found in the city directory for 1930-1931. In that year, Abraham Meiner operated a confectionary shop and ice cream parlor in the space. 

When the plans for the restoration/reimagining of the building were presented to the HPC on June 14, HPC member John Schobel commented, "It would be great to have a prominent building get some love, but this is a big change." A significant part of the big change is transforming what is now an oriel into what appears to be a two-story bay window.

If a two-story bay window is in fact what's being proposed, there is precedent for that design a little more than a block away at 745 Warren Street, where there is a bay window that extends three stories. 

 

Back in 2013, when there was a proposal to remove the bay on the first floor and replace it with a single door that would give entrance to a commercial space, the HPC suggested that, instead of removing the bay, the door be incorporated into the bay. And that is what was done.

The building at 745 Warren Street might be a good guide for the changes being proposed for 833 Warren Street. In the case of 745 Warren, the desire was to convert a residential building into a mixed use building. The building at 833 Warren is one step ahead: originally a residential building, it was converted at some point into a mixed use building, and now it's getting converted back into an exclusively residential building.

Gossips shares this picture as a reminder that once upon a time this stretch of Warren Street above Park Place was all residential. 

Photo: Evelyn and Robert Monthie Slide Collection, Columbia County Historical Society

The Hudson Preservation Commission is holding a public hearing on the proposed alterations to 833 Warren Street on Friday, June 28, at 10:00 a.m. The hearing and the subsequent meeting will be hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.

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