Remembering a Legacy

The hotel in its glory days

For centuries, the Adirondack Mountains have attracted many people. Some came in search of solitude, while others came for profit. One of these profit hunters was John Harding. Harding was a keen businessman with a warm personality, and this combination proved essential to his wild success in the hotel and resort business. Harding was to nurture an elegant resort whose name would live on in the annals of North Country hotel history: The Algonquin Hotel.

The Algonquin, formerly known as The Alexander House, was built in 1884 by Jabez Alexander. Alexander chose a hill overlooking Lower Saranac Lake, the last lake in the Saranac chain of lakes and right in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains. This piece of land was chosen for its fine views of the lake and its many islands. Across the lake, the craggy peak of Ampersand Mountain could be seen jutting into the sky. Indeed, the piece of property was a gem.

Alexander operated the hotel for six years, when, in 1890, Harding bought it. Soon after his purchase, Harding changed the name to The Algonquin. Harding immediately went to work on the original design by adding a fourth floor and constructing an imposing tower toward the front of the hotel. Finally, he added an annex to one side of the hotel.

Harding was born in 1862 in Devonshire, England. Young Harding came to America with his parents in 1868, at the age of six. At 15, Harding apprenticed at the Paul Smith’s Hotel on Lower Saint Regis Lake. Under the guidance of master innkeeper Paul Smith, Harding learned the ins and outs and ups and downs of the hotel business. Apparently, his hard work paid off. In 1888, the 26-year-old Harding was hired as the manager of the newly built Hotel Ampersand, which sat at the eastern tip of Lower Saranac Lake. Two years later the Algonquin helped Harding stake his claim in Adirondack history.

The Algonquin was luxurious indeed. Guests staying at the Algonquin were treated to the best and nothing less. The resort took full advantage of the natural surroundings by offering fishing, hunting, boating, walking, swimming, and riding tours of the area. Guests could often be found enjoying a game of tennis or croquet on the sprawling grounds. The Algonquin’s close proximity to the Chateaugay rail station made its luxury accessible to many, and guests were often greeted at the station by coaches and brought directly to the hotel.

Inside, the Algonquin was truly elegant. Harding can be credited with this, as he learned much about hotel design and architecture from his apprenticeship under Smith.

Author Seneca Ray Stoddard commented on the Algonquin’s elegant interior in his 1888 book Adirondack Guide. “This is a comparatively new house, finely furnished in natural woods, naturally decorated, and furnished luxuriously. The sleeping rooms are large above the average; the beds of the best. It has high ceilings and large windows. It has open fireplaces, affording ventilation, and, on occasion, necessary heat…the grounds are extensive, having three-fourths of a mile of lake front, with pleasant walks and a beautiful sand beach.” Guests were treated to the finest cuisine of the day, and Harding hired cooks only from France and Germany.

Guests were always impressed with the lengths Harding went to to make their stay as enjoyable as possible. He always seemed to treat his guests as family, and often his guests would leave with the feeling they had acquired a lifelong friend. The homey feeling guests got while there is what kept patrons coming back year after year. One guest wrote this comment in the in a July 14, 1897 issue of the summer resorter magazine: “I always like to go to the Algonquin. There is something about the place that makes me feel at home almost the instant one arrives. It is more like the home of one big happy family, than a fashionable summer resort….if you are feeling blue, and things are kind of out of sorts, my advice is to come and stay awhile with jack.”

As much as the Algonquin was a destination for ordinary folks, it was also a high class resort that saw its share of the rich and famous. An entry from the September 4, 1897 registry says it all. “The honorable Clifford Sipton, of the Dept. of the Interior of the Canadian Govt., and family are here from Ottawa for September.” Dignitaries from other countries were not uncommon. Also from the September 4, 1897 registry, “Moustopha Bey, the Turkish minister to the United States, and Seifidden Bey, Secretary of the Turkish Legation, are guests at the Algonquin.”

With the advent of cars, staying in one place for a vacation became less of an ideal, which resulted in the beginning of the demise of the legendary Algonquin Hotel. Harding became interested in affairs of the village he lived in, and gradually his attention was drawn away from the Algonquin. In 1913, Harding leased the hotel to Dr. Friedmann, a gentleman from Germany who took it over and tried to run the hotel as a sanitarium for tuberculosis patients. This business venture failed, and once again Harding took over operation of the hotel in 1915, and in 1920 he threw in the towel. He sold the hotel to William N. Hanes of Hanes Brand underwear. The property fell into disrepair, and eventually, in 1947, the hotel fell victim to the wrecking ball.

The Algonquin was truly a legend for its time, and it shaped the history of a region. Today, the property where the Algonquin once stood is now taken up by the Trudeau Institute, a research facility dedicated to research of tuberculosis.

Would you have stayed at the Hotel? Tell us why!