A blog about Hudson, New York

In other towns, empty- looking,  brown-paper-covered storefront windows might be unhappy harbingers. But not in Hudson, where the musical chairs on Warren Street continue unabated.  Mark McDonald, top left, has moved one flight above at his own building (555 Warren), the first floor of which will be the new locale for N.P Trent, “one of the country leading dealers in English and Continental furniture, art and decorative accessories,” as the sign on the window says. Pictured to the right of that, at 623 Warren,  is the petite space soon to be Steve Izzo’s new gallery, whose name is not yet known (at least to moi ). The former Toggery building at no. 613, home of Richter’s sportswear (center left),  has been purchased by John Knott, who can be counted on to do lovely things to it (as he has already been doing to the building he is turning into the Hudson HQ of Quadrille, destined to open at the end of the summer.) On a sadder note, Steven Bluttal will not, as planned, be taking over the store that now says Florsheim Shoes and which was more recently Fabrications, but right across the street BardinPalomo is coming into their space real soon. We’ve heard that Tom Swope’s antiquities gallery is closing but an equally fabulous retail enterprise is reported to be taking its place tout de suite.  The only unanswered question right now: Where (and what) is George? –Scott Baldinger

There are stores in Hudson that bring back (false recalled?)  memories of a (not that much) earlier time, seemingly hapless spaces in which you can wander alone to find some photo portrait of Fred Astaire, an  Eva Zeisel tear drop veggie bowl, Glidden pottery plate or some hot- looking yet brand -nameless modernist desk lamp that may end up forming the basis of an entire new collecting obsession. (Or maybe not – no biggie). A few Warren Street examples at different levels of the brow come to mind: Warren Street Antiques, Carousel,  Mark’s Antiques and Larry’s Back Room, and  Regan and Smith,  its huge new space divided into a rabbit’s warren of uber-stylish vignettes you can hide behind. Of all of these my current favorite is Verso  (530 Warren Street, 518 822-8227), Harold Hanson’s repository of this and that, piled up on tables here and there. On a recent visit I came upon all four of the above-mentioned objects (Zeisel, Glidden, Astaire photo, desk lamp) while a friend of mine found a lovely Orrefors crystal  bowl whose label was intact.  While hanging and chatting, I stumpled  upon a Von Nessen swivel lamp in pristine condition, crammed into a corner table of smalls.  And then there’s Harold himself,  a former media mogul,  now sedately sedentary off to the side,  a refreshingly nimble-witted, wise and unbitter watchkeeper of it all. He wants it to be known that he can be depended upon to open the store five days a week (every day except Tuesdays and Wednesdays), promptly at 11a.m.  –Scott Baldinger

Given the retrograde design quality of so many of Hudson’s restorations and so much  of its new construction, two new projects seem to have been  taking a refreshingly sensible and attractive turn for the better.  One looks, as of yet,  to be a simple yet crucially needed paint job; the other is a new building abutting a severely compromised historical one that has been the source of much discord and worry over the years.

The first, the salvaging of  two residential buildings left for rot by the former owners of the Armory, are being worked on by none other than the folks at Galvan, who I and others have criticized for their lack of action and  varying quality in the past. The improving sight of these inexplicably neglected structures, which have for so long been a drain on an especially historically grand avenue of stately turn- of-the century homes, is especially gratifying (and as of yet, not polarizing.)  A very promising start, it they aren’t transmogrified beyond  their pleasantly simple bones.

Amicably contemporary in design, the submission by architect Jane Smith (formerly a member the Historic Perservation Commission) for the new senior center  headquarters on 3^rd street,  is a refreshing solution to a difficult spatial  problem: nonaggressivey natural in material, it is neither oppressively slavish to the original nor stridently contrary. Fresh thinking crammed into an oddly confined lot, it sort of reminds me of the sloped- roof library additions I recall growing up with in the 1960s, the reading pits of which I loved to hunker down into. It is nothing if civic minded. So far, I think everyone at the Preservation Commission and in the community at large should feel comfortable giving a thumbs up to these promising grace notes in town.  –Scott Baldinger

A couple of months ago, architect Michael Davis went before the Hudson Planning Commission to get approval for his plan to bring a cosmopolitan variety of food truck vendors and a beer/wine garden into the lot adjoining his antiques shop, 3FortySeven (347 Warren Street). The commission asked him to present more detailed renderings, which will be reviewed by the committee in a meeting next week at City Hall (April 11 at 7 p.m.). 3FortySeven manager Giovanni di Mola posted the first of these on Facebook a few days ago, and they look, to this hungry observer, good enough to eat. (In more detailed drawings to come, di Mola says, the south side will not be overtaken by a forest.)  “We need everyone’s support to get the blessing we need to build our outdoor space and have Tortillaville, Yum Yum Noodle, Truck Pizza, and Taste of India, plus one other (still interviewing) set up shop.”  And the sooner the better, I say.  – Scott Baldinger

Another rumor du jour of the could- it- be- true? kind:   Eleanor Ambos, who owns the former Elks Club villa on Union, the Allen Street School, and the Pocketbook Factory, is in final negotiations to sell the latter of these properties to the Seattle-based Ace Hotel Group. Ace gave new life to the former Hotel Breslin in New York City (my own pic below) and other properties in Seattle, Portland and Palm Springs, and has been called a “mega-chain waiting to happen” by Wallpaper magazine; the New York branch features a Stumptown cafe and Chef April Bloomfield’s Michelin-starred restaurant, The Breslin. The Pocketbook Factory started out in 1880 as Union Mills, which manufactured shirts and underwear and switched to pocketbooks some time in the early 20th century. Originally, the tower (see above, on the left) had a lovely steeple-like cap, which would be great to see rebuilt.   –Scott Baldinger