Historic Hudson: An Architectural Portrait

by Byrne R.S. Fone, John Ashbery (Foreword), Rudolph Wurlitzer (Introduction)

An architectural portrait of the city of Hudson, NY (est. 1783), featuring more than 200 antique and modern photographs and antique maps, with many of the photographs dating from 1850-1930. The city of Hudson, founded in 1783 by Quaker merchants and whalers from New England, has been called "a dictionary of American Architecture" because of its many 18th and 19th century buildings that have survived to the present day. With a foreword by poet John Ashbery, and an introduction by novelist/screenwriter Rudy Wurlitzer and photographer Lynn Davis.

206 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2005

Reviews

[Lisa-Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

My friend gave me this book because I was staying in Hudson, New York for my birthday and the book enhanced my visit. I stayed in a 1906 mansion-turned-bed-and-breakfast with a colorful history. This old Colonial town is an architectural feast for a house lover like me – every style is represented! Federal, Victorian, Second Empire, Gothic, Revival, Italianate, and even Arts and Crafts. “To visit the seven-block-long commercial heart of the city on Warren Street as it marches up from the river to the Hudson city park is to view a panorama of three centuries of American architecture.” The city started before the Revolutionary War as a port city on the Hudson, then became a whaling city, then an industrial and railroad hub. Hudson began to fade in the mid-20th century and is now mainly a tourist town filled with quaint antique shops and trendy cafes. This book is rich in text and photographs – old and new – and I love the way the author shows a particular block both then and now. He makes a few snarky comments about mansions torn down for parking lots, but he is mostly hopeful about the town’s rebirth. “Fortunately, much of the past is recoverable. Those with a keen eye may walk down Hudson’s streets and see, beneath the failed taste and brutalization of the 1950s-1970s, honest and original houses waiting to be liberated.” He celebrates the numerous restored houses but I was equally impressed by the storefronts. The beautiful three-story brick buildings are lined up along the streets like soldiers, with their glass fronts, turrets, apartments above the stores, and gorgeous old doors. You can’t help poring over the book to read about the history of each block. Then, when I remember that the Hudson River School painters walked among these same streets, it is the icing on the cake!

[Hallie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great maps and images, but the writing is a little over-wrought.