Newburgh City Club

 

 Photo courtesy of Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.

At 120 Grand Street in Newburgh, a skeleton made of sandstone stands guard near the south end of the public library. To the casual passerby, it looks like just another victim of time and neglect. But for those who know the history of the Hudson Valley, this shell of a building is a heartbreak. It is the ghost of the City Club, a structure that has survived wrecking balls and urban renewal projects only to be hollowed out by a suspicious fire and left to rot in the open air.

The tragedy of this building is not just about old bricks. It is about pedigree. This home was commissioned around 1850 for Dr. William A.M. Culbert, a homeopathic doctor who had married into the wealthy Powell family. To design his residence, Culbert hired two of the most significant names in American design history: Andrew Jackson Downing and Calvert Vaux.

This collaboration carries a heavy weight. Downing, a Newburgh native, is often called the father of American landscape architecture. Vaux, born in London, would go on to design Central Park in Manhattan and Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Historians believe the Culbert house was the final project these two geniuses worked on together. Just two years after the house was finished, Downing died in a steamship fire on the Hudson River at the age of 36. This building is effectively their final shared legacy, a rare example of Second Empire architecture that should be treated like a shrine.

For decades, the building lived a vibrant life. In the early 1900s, it transitioned from a private home into the Newburgh City Club. This was the place where the city’s movers and shakers gathered. You can almost imagine the thick cigar smoke and the clinking of glasses as deals were struck within those walls. In 1904, the club even expanded the structure to suit its growing needs.

Former Dr. William A. M. Culbert House.

Inside has become a tree canopy for birds and various insects.

Its luck began to turn in the 1970s. During the aggressive urban renewal projects that swept through Newburgh, the City Club watched its neighbors fall. The Palatine Hotel next door at 124 Grand Street was razed, as were all the structures across the street. But thanks to local preservation efforts, 120 Grand Street was spared. It was even restored between 1975 and 1976, seemingly poised for a second act.

Then came the fire of 1981.

The blaze was suspicious, and it was devastating. It gutted the interior, destroying the work done just a few years prior. The exquisite concave roof, a signature of its style, collapsed and vanished. Since then, the building has existed in a state of purgatory. Steel beams were eventually wedged between the outer brick walls to keep them from collapsing, turning the structure into a braced ruin.

Hope has flickered on and off for forty years. In 1986, an architect drew up sketches to restore it. Nothing happened. As recently as 2018, plans were developed to turn the space into a commercial or mixed-use hub. Those plans also evaporated.

The most recent attempt to save the City Club came in August 2020. The City of Newburgh, which owns the property, put out a call for proposals. They were looking for a developer with the money and imagination to bring the building back to life. The result was silence. No developers came forward. No appeals were made.

Today, the building is being quietly shopped around for lease as retail or office space, but the optimism is fading. The Calvert Vaux Preservation Alliance still fights for it, hoping for an adaptive reuse that could help the local economy. However, the reality on the ground is grim. The exterior design elements are mostly gone, and the cost to restore them to their 1850s glamour would be astronomical.

While preservationists continue to dream, the clock is ticking. Without a miraculous influx of cash and passion, this historic collaboration between Downing and Vaux faces a final, harsh judgment. It seems increasingly likely that the City Club will not be saved. Instead, its final destination may well be a demolition bin, taking a priceless piece of American architectural history along with it.

Vaux included the house as "Design No. 22" in his book Villas and Cottages. Its brick and brownstone elevations bear a notable resemblance to Vaux's Drip Rock Arch in Central Park.

 

Source(s):

1. Newburgh Again. (2012, May 21). Newburgh City Club (Culbert House) [Blog post]. Blogger. https://newburghagain.blogspot.com/2012/05/newburgh-city-club-culbert-house.html

2. Hickman, M. (2021, May 27). Late artist Martin Roth’s plant-swaddled historic Hudson Valley building is blooming. The Architect’s Newspaper. https://www.archpaper.com/2021/05/late-artist-martin-roth-plant-swaddled-historic-hudson-valley-building-blooming/

3. Abdessamad, F. (2021, July 20). Visiting Martin Roth’s experimental ‘Plant Concert,’ where ruins meet nature. Observer. https://observer.com/2021/07/visiting-martin-roths-experimental-plant-concert-where-ruins-meet-nature/

4. Rinaldi, T. E., & Yasinsac, R. (2006). Hudson Valley ruins: Forgotten landmarks of an American landscape. University Press of New England.

5.  Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.    https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ny1053.photos.121233p/