Concern for the Dunn Warehouse

Last week, Gossips reported an RFP (request for proposals) for the Dunn warehouse had been reissued. The lease agreement between the City of Hudson and Dunn & Done LLC for the restoration and adaptive reuse of the building fell apart, and once again the City is looking to lease or sell the iconic Dunn building, one of the last surviving industrial buildings on the Hudson waterfront. 

Photo: Dunn & Done LLC

The timeline for the new RFP seems to be unusually truncated. The RFP was issued on September 15, and the proposals are due just five weeks later, on October 20.  

At the Historic Preservation Commission meeting on September 12, Ronald Kopnicki urged the HPC to designate the building as a local landmark. Victoria Polidoro, legal counsel to the HPC, suggested that Kopnicki should initiate that process. And so it happened that Kopnicki, his partner, Matt McGhee, and I collaborated to put together an application for individual historic site designation for the Dunn warehouse, which we presented to the HPC on Friday. 

Preparing the application did not take much effort. The State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) has twice determined that the building is eligible for individual listing in the State and National Registers of Historic Places. It was first determined to be eligible in 1985, when the National Register Hudson Historic District was created, but it was not included because the owner at the time, the Stockport Lumber Company, objected. It was determined to be eligible again in November 2024, when Dunn & Done LLC applied to SHPO to get the building listed in the National Register. National Register listing qualifies the building for historic preservation tax credits. Local designation will ensure that the HPC will have oversight over any changes to the building that might be proposed in the future.

In presenting the application, Kopnicki made this statement:

At the last meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission, I mentioned that, as part of the argument for the recent Partition Street project, the new building's metal cladding was described as an allusion to Hudson's historic industrial waterfront. In the Dunn warehouse, we have not an allusion, a reference, or a "signifier," but an actual building that represents that history. Forty years ago, it was found worthy of inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. That status should be pursued, because of its opportunities for funding; but local designation gives the building stronger protection.

A building is worth a thousand allusions, a thousand signs or pictures telling the public what used to be there. The Dunn warehouse stands as an emblem of Hudson's historic waterfront. It has historic, cultural, and aesthetic significance. Adapted to new uses, it will contribute to Hudson's future. I urge you to designate it as an individual landmark of Hudson.

Photo of building from 1985 Building Structure Inventory

McGhee made this statement in support of local designation for the building:

The beauty of this building is its basilica form, along with the silhouette on the Water Street side, outlining the Basilica and stepped gable end of the extension. Then, there are the two unadorned Roman arches. It is difference within harmony.

This unusual building is brought to the fore by its setting in parkland on the Hudson River waterfront, an asset of the people of Hudson, worthy of preservation.

Another photo from the 1985 Building Structure Inventory

The HPC voted to accept the application, which included as supporting documents the 1985 Building Structure Inventory, documentation of the 2024 eligibility determination, and 19th- and early 20th-century Sanborn maps of the site, as complete. The next step is to hold a public hearing on the designation, which is scheduled to take place at the HPC's next meeting on Friday, October 10. After the public hearing, the next step will be to make a recommendation to the Common Council, which according to Hudson's preservation law, is the body that must make the actual designation.

COPYRIGHT 2025 CAROLE OSTERINK