City - Saratoga, NY - The Worden Hotel 1904 - Side by Side
by Mike Savad
Title
City - Saratoga, NY - The Worden Hotel 1904 - Side by Side
Artist
Mike Savad
Medium
Photograph - Colorized Photo
Description
Hand colored photo from 1904
Original title: Worden Hotel
Photographer: Detroit publishing
Location: Division Street and Broadway, Saratoga, NY
This is the Worden Hotel located in Saratoga, New York.
On 1832, this location the Saratoga and Schenectady Railroad Depot was placed on this corner, along with a hotel called the Railroad House. The Railroad House hotel operated until 1853, then they demolished it and replaced it with a new hotel called the Marvin House, after a very prominent local family.
But the Marvin house burned down in 1865, then rebuilt it giving it 300 rooms in a 5 story house which was quite large at the time, it also had a very large veranda. In 1882, someone bought it and named it the Arlington Hotel.
In 1883, William Worden leased the Arlington, then later purchased it, he spent $100,000 (almost $3 million today) renovating it. He named it after himself calling it the Worden hotel, this building you see here, it opened on Jan 19, 1885.
This hotel was one of the few hotel in Saratoga Springs to have a central heating system, because of this luxury they could keep it open all year round. As most hotels lacked heat, the winters were freezing inside. Over the years, it became a sort of "hometown hotel", where locals would gather downstairs bar and grill, and it was quite close to the railroad station, making it a great place to stop and relax.
But in 1961, as per tradition, it caught fire and burned down. They closed forever, and in 1963 it was torn down. But they ended up building yet another hotel here called the New Worden hotel that only had 2 stories. Then eventually that one was closed and torn down, to be replaced by a metal sign talking about the history that was here.
This hotel is just down the block from the United States hotel which would be on its left of this picture. I colored that one a while ago, and the date is older than this one, so the colors won't line up. Looking at all the postcards, this buildings color ranged from tan to yellow to sort of an orange color.
Uploaded
November 9th, 2023
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