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The Pulteney Apartments

(From March 1993 Historical Society Newsletter)

Consider giving the gift of history this holiday season and support Historic Geneva by purchasing our latest prints of Pulteney Park or Lakeside Park.

Built in 1796 under the direction of Pulteney Associates agent Charles Williamson, the address has had several identities over its long history.

Its first, the Geneva Hotal, was considered the finest establishment of its kind “west of Albany.” The original hotel was a three-story wooden building on the south-west corner of Pulteney Park and Washington Streets. Later additions were added to the south and west, said to have been by William Tillman in 1828. These wings were constructed of brick. The hotel operated under several proprietors and was a main stop on the stage lines for those traveling through upstate New York. The square that was its front yard would accommodate the carriages and hacks of people engaging in the commercial activities that centered around the park area.

By 1825, the village’s commerce began to move from the “hill” to the “bottom,” or lakeshore – ,  precipitated by Geneva’s harbor development as part of the state’s canal system. This shift meant that many of the buildings in the park area would eventually become residential. Today our historic row houses  are remarkably intact due to that development. Geneva’s commercial growth on the lakefront in the mid-nineteenth century drew activity away from the Geneva Hotel, which was too far away to capitalize on the transient business brought in by the steamboats. The Franklin Hotel, on the water’s edge at the foot of Seneca Street, eclipsed the Geneva Hotel as the village’s premiere hostelry when it was built in 1825.

In 1853 the hotel property was purchased by Dr. A.B. Smith, who opened his Geneva Water Cure and Hygienic Institute the following year. The Institute, called the Sanitarium or “San” by the locals, featured “every kind of bath usually applied in hydropathic treatment. The water is procured in abundance from the White Springs aqueduct, and facilities afforded for any degree of temperature that may be required.” By 1876, Dr Smith was offering electric treatment, galvanism, and magnetism, for the treatment of some diseases. The business prospered and another addition was built to the west in 1882. A fourth story was added in 1886. Dr. James Knapp became an associate with Dr. Smith by 1884. Knapp married Smith’s niece in 1887, and became the head of the institute after Smith’s death in 1894. Knapp continued the enterprise until his death in 1909, and the property changed ownership, first to Greene & Co. in 1914 and then to the Pulteney Apartments, Inc. in 1917.

When Pulteney Apartments, Inc. took over the premises, there were about 100 rooms divided into 12 apartments. Those were further divided by the corporation into 25 apartments that have existed for over 100 years. By the 1970s and 1980s the property showed signs of deterioration, needing costly repairs and a general updating of its mechanical systems. When local contractor Nicholas Massa purchased the building in July 1992, only six units were occupied. Project foreman David Feligno reviewed historical background material in Historic Geneva’s archives to ensure the renovation work would be sympathetic to the historical significance of the property. Workers completely updated the wiring and plumbing, reconditioned the boiler, repaired and recapped all the chimneys, rebuilt the soffits, reglazed all the windows, installed storm on all windows, installed perimeter underdrainage and new storm drains, totally rebuilt the penthouse/solarium, painted the entire building and remodeled all the apartments. All ceiling heights have been maintained, as well as the original woodwork, doors and window

Additional information about Pulteney Park –

• Jean MacKay Henrich and Pulteney Park
•  A 1962 soap prank in the Pulteney Park fountain from our vintage film reel collection