C. Burton Hotel

Infobox nrhp
name = C. Burton Hotel
nrhp_type =

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caption = Front (north) elevation and west profile, 2008
lat_degrees = 41
lat_minutes = 51
lat_seconds = 32
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 74
long_minutes = 34
long_seconds = 37
long_direction = W
location = Grahamsville, NY
nearest_city = Middletown
area =
built = 1851; expanded 1853cite web|last=LaFrank|first=Kathleen|title=National Register of Historic Places nomination, C. Burton Hotel|url=http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=100961|publisher=New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation|date=April 2004|accessdate=2008-09-24]
architect =
architecture = Greek Revival
designated =
added = 2005
established =
visitation_num =
visitation_year =
refnum = 05000171
mpsub =
governing_body = Private (currently vacant) The C. Burton Hotel, also known as the Sycamore House, is located on NY 55 a mile west of Grahamsville, New York, United States. It is a wooden Greek Revival structure dating to 1851.

It is possibly the only Greek Revival building in Sullivan County with columns, and the only one with a ballroom. In its later years it was used as a house and a medical office; currently it is unoccupied. In 2005 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Building

As it currently stands the building is a rectangular two-story six-by-two-bay structure on a stone foundation. Its front facade is centered on a recessed porch, with large fluted Doric columns, echoed by similar cornerboards. A broad gabled roof is covered in metal cladding, and round-arched louver windows are near the top at either end. The rear features a polygonal bay with two entrance doors.

The building is sided in clapboard. The roofline is marked by a deep molded cornice with returns and a wide entablature.

Three French doors give entrance from the recessed front porch to the interior, which retains its original plan. The large entrance hall has a set of stairs which lead to the ballroom upstairs, as well as a smaller area that may have been partitioned off from it to make a kitchen. Many areas, particularly in the central portion of the building, also have their original finishes and trim, including some marble mantels.

History

The building's seamless and symmetrical appearance belies its original construction and expansion. C. BurtonHis first name has not been identified.] originally built the small southern section as a roadside tavern in 1851. Although he was not on the main turnpike route through the area at the time,It veered to the west at the nearby junction with what is today Claryville Road (Sullivan County Route 19), and was until the late 1940s the central segment of NY 42).] business was apparently good enough that he expanded the building threefold two years later, adding the current main block.

It continued to do well under his and other ownership throughout the rest of the century, first for travelers and then as a regional vacation center, with guests coming via stagecoach from the New York, Orange & Western station in nearby Fallsburg. Starting in 1898, the Grahamsville Fair was held on the land behind the hotel, boosting annual visitation. Early in the new century, the first of two doctors began using it as a residence and office while continuing to put up guests as well, under the names Sycamore House and Hawthorne House.

Grahamsville's resort traffic began to decline with the change in vacationing patterns as the 20th century progressed, and it was just north of Fallsburg and other areas to the south and east that had been dominated by Jewish summer communities, which captured most of that market, the largest segment still regularly visiting the Catskills for extended periods in the summer. In 1944 its owners sold to another family who used it exclusively as a private residence. In 1994 those owners in turn sold to another family, which has been trying to restore the house while living elsewhere.

Aesthetics

The hotel's implementation of the Greek Revival style, and its size, is unusually sophisticated for a rural commercial building far from any major city then (or now). The massive columns and recessed porch are possibly the only such instances of those features on a Greek Revival building in Sullivan County.

Note

References