Upstate

A Hudson Row House and Former YWCA With a Stylish Makeover, Yours for $2.1 Million

by Susan De Vries

02/03/2023 0

Situated on the main thoroughfare of architecturally rich Hudson, N.Y., this recently renovated townhouse is one of a row with striking garland-adorned oriel bays and a construction date that research shows is a bit later than that usually ascribed. The dwelling at 516 Warren Street last sold in 2021 and, after a stylish renovation by its designer-owner that retained period interior details, it is back on the market.

While the listing estimates a date of 1882 and the National Register nomination for the Hudson Historic District suggests a circa 1890 date, historic Sanborn maps from 1884, 1888, and 1895 do not show the row of four houses in place on Warren Street between North 5th and North 6th streets. Instead, the maps show a wood frame dwelling, the family home of the late Henry and Sarah Waldo, still standing. It isn’t until the 1903 Sanborn map that the row makes an appearance.

black and white view — The row of brick houses seen on Warren Street circa 1905. Photo via Illustrated Hudson

A more precise picture comes via a 1901 article in the Columbia Republican that reports that the Waldo property was purchased by builder Henry Baker with plans to demolish the old mansion and construct four three-story brick houses in its place. The row was completed by at least March of 1902 when No. 516 was sold by Baker to insurance man George E. Race.

Baker, an immigrant from England, served with a New York regiment during the Civil War and set up a paint and wallpaper business in Hudson after his service. While selling window shades, ceiling papers, paints, and other decorating goods, he was also busy buying property and constructing houses. His 1910 obituary estimated that Baker built “over one hundred houses” in Hudson.

He had built enough in Hudson by 1884 that the local press credited him as doing more than anyone to beautify the “waste places” in the city, including eight houses on North 5th Street, three on Clinton Street and two on Columbia Street. His obituary specifically mentions the Warren Street row, “a short distance above Fifth,” as a “handsome block of residence houses.”

a vintage ad and a photo of the house — Left: An 1889 ad for Henry Baker’s business in the Hudson Daily Evening Register. Image via Fulton History. Right: 516 Warren Street circa 1905 when it was the home of the George and Harriet Race family. Image via Illustrated Hudson

Whether Baker worked with a local architect is not clear, but it is an intriguing Queen Anne style row with those two-story oriel windows with shaped shingle roofs, dentil trim, and swag ornament. The windows have modest brick lintels, and all the houses still have their bracketed cornices. A photo of No. 516 taken circa 1905, not long after it was completed, shows the original stoop railings and windows shaded with striped awnings. The houses were dubbed ‘Baker Row’ in the local press, although this doesn’t seem to be a highly original name for a Henry Baker project as the moniker also pops up in the 1880s for another stretch of houses.

George and Harriet Race lived in 516 Warren Street until 1916 when they sold it to the Y.W.C.A for use as a new headquarters. An opening celebration in June of that year drew over a thousand people according to a press report, with locals admiring the “pretty rooms” that were furnished thanks to donations from the community. Two rooms on the first floor were to be used as a reading room and gathering space while the upper rooms were for the building occupants, including the house mother. By November, the organization celebrated burning their mortgage thanks to generous donations and was able to report that they had hosted classes, lectures, musical programs, and trainings for Sunday school teachers. The Y.W.C.A operated out of the building until at least 1970, when it ran a senior citizen center there.

Tin ceilings, mantels, moldings, etched glass doors, and marble sink were in place when the house went on the market in 2021, the old listing shows. The building also had central air and updated heating and electric. The house got a fast paced six-month renovation by the interior designer owner, according to an interview with Hudson Valley Magazine.

Period details, most already restored, remain, but the reno included creating a kitchen from scratch on the first floor in what had been a commercial space and turning the former top-floor kitchen into a bedroom. The completed house now has four bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms over roughly 3,300 square feet of living space.

Pocket doors open from the entry into the front parlor, where the walls have been recently covered in a botanical wallpaper by Lee Jofa, the tin ceiling is intact, and an onyx mantel in place. A rear den has a cozy club feel with wainscoting, another botanical wall covering, and tin ceiling.

In the kitchen are statement-making Calacatta Viola marble counters, white lower cabinets and, on the opposite wall, a built-in china cabinet lit to show off dishes.

An upstairs bathroom has a Thomas Crapper toilet with wooden high tank, which was already in place, with new floor tile and pedestal sink. An en suite bath in the new top floor bedroom has a soaking tub, black subway tiles on the walls, and Angel’s Trumpet wallpaper by Cole & Son above.

A twist on a traditional Toile de Jouy print is found covering the walls of another bedroom. Dinosauria by House of Hackney features dinosaurs wandering amongst dramatic foliage.

The rear yard is fenced with room for dining and some plantings. Parking is accessible from Prison Alley at the rear of the house.

County records show the property sold for $950,000 in 2021. Now, after the renovation, it is on the market with Annabel Taylor of Four Seasons Sotheby’s and asking $2.1 million.