Great Architects of New York: Henry J. Hardenbergh
The Second Fort William Henry Hotel
Address
48 Canada Street
Lake George, N.Y. 12845
Location
North side of Canada Street between Beach Road and West Brook Road.
Built
1910-1911
Largely Demolished
1969
Use
Hotel
—
These are the remaining fragments of the Second Fort William Henry Hotel, built in 1910-11 to replace the First Hotel, which was built in 1854 and burned down in 1909. Ludlow & Peabody assisted Hardenberg with the design of the Second Hotel, which was largely demolished in 1969 after competition from local motels hurt business.

Fortunately, two fragments of the Second Hotel were saved from demolition: the three-story service wing, which now has some guest rooms and a ground floor common room and bathroom, and behind it, the hotel's main dining room, which was part of the Second Hotel's main building. During the 1970s, '80s and '90s, these fragments survived as part of a motel campus that occupied the site, and have now been incorporated into the Third Hotel, which was built in 2002-03 and designed to "very closely replicate" Hardenbergh's Second Hotel.

Across the street, two structures offer reminders of the type of competition that put the Second Fort William Henry Hotel out of business.


Books

  • Gates, William Preston. History of the Fort William Henry Hotel. (Queensbury, N.Y.: W.P. Gates Publishing Co., 2004.)

  • Tolles, Bryant F., Jr. Resort Hotels of the Adirondacks: The Architecture of a Summer Paradise, 1850-1950. (Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 2003.) Chapter 5: "Henry J. Hardenbergh, Ludlow and Peabody, and the Delaware & Hudson Hotels."

    • The west and south facades of the service wing face the new hotel and its parking lot.


    The hotel's main dining room was also saved. This is its north facade, facing the lawn and Lake George beyond.


    The service wing's east facade rises above a motel addition.


    The service wing, at right, as it stands in relation to the Third Fort William Henry Hotel, built in 2002 to closely resemble Hardenbergh's Second Hotel.


    This photograph, from the Fred C. Thatcher collection via Gates 2004, shows the Second Hotel as it stood complete. The highlights show the surviving fragments: the service wing and the dining room.


    A poorly digitized aerial photo reprinted in Gates 2004 shows the relation of the service wing to the Second Hotel.