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HISTORIAN’S CORNER
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Another Landmark is Now Gone
Jim Conners, Village Historian
The Llewellyn House, The Vandenburg Cottage, The Clifton Inn, The Mannor, The Relax Inn; what do all these historical establishments have in common? They are all different names for the same building located on the corner of Crane St. and Stephens St. It was a grand old house in its time, however, neglect comes with a price. And in this case the price is another piece of history lost forever. It is disappointing every time we loose a historical building that has been around for over 130 years
In 1873 Richard Shekell of Hopewell sold the land for $4,000 to John M. Page of Geneva. Since the plots of land around that block were selling for about $500 it is safe to assume that there was all ready a building on this lot. The 1874 map shows the building with J.M. Page's name. In 1877 it was sold to William Llewellyn and it became known as the Llewellyn House. The Llewellyn House was used as a place to stay for people coming to the Sanitarium but didn't have a room there. In 1899 there were at least 15 different places often called "cottages" that handled the overflow of guests. These homes could accommodated from 12 to 30 individuals. The Llewellyn House was one of those that had room for 30 guests. In 1896 the house was sold to Julia W. Llewellyn Vandenburg, and now we have The Vandenburg Cottage.
At some time the house was remodeled and the front and sides of the building were changed to the point that without studying the two photographs you wouldn't know that they were the same building. In fact we had a picture in the Historical Society archives that no one could identify. Upon seeing the same photograph in an old Clifton book with the name Llewellyn on it and then comparing both pictures we determined that they were in fact the same home. The basic house was the same but with a complete change in the porches it looked like two different homes. Sometimes remodeling is done with out a lot of thought about the grace and character of the original structure and design. And then sometimes remodeling is done and saving dollars is the goal, thus it was with this home when the exterior was changed with the addition of imitation red brick shingles.
Sometime before 1928 a Miss Mary C. McDonald ran what was named the Clifton Inn and in 1933 a George Parr of Albany leased the Clifton Inn and planned to carry on the place as a family and transient hotel, catering to parties and social functions.
Dominic Mauro bought the building in 1945 and ran what many still remember as The Mannor. A restaurant on the first floor offered a fine place for dining and events.
Sometime after the closing of The Mannor this building became a bar & grill called The Relax Inn. The Relax inn closed about 1989
The building then sat vacant for the next 16 years, which included an attempt to turn it into apartments, and then an attempt to renovate into a single home, both attempts failed. It has was determined that the building was beyond saving and needed to be torn down.
This year, the day before Thanksgiving, the demolition began and another piece of history lost forever.
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