Upstate

Come to the Rescue of Hudson's J. W. Edmonds Firehouse, Yours for $1.495 Million

A proposed revitalization hasn’t materialized and now this 19th century firehouse facing Hudson’s Public Square is in search of a new owner.

by Susan De Vries

06/10/2022 5 minute 0

A proposed revitalization hasn’t materialized and now this 19th century firehouse facing Hudson’s Public Square is in search of a new owner.

Built in 1868, the brick building on the market at 8 Park Place was designed by architect Peter H. Avery to serve as home to the J.W. Edmonds Hose Company No. 1 and the C. H. Evans Hook and Ladder Company No. 3, according to the local designation report.

The Edmonds Company once housed in the building had a much older history than the building itself. Hudson responded to the dangers of fire in a town with a fair share of wood frame buildings by establishing a volunteer fire company in 1794. It would become known as the J.W. Edmonds Hose Company, named after Hudson-born lawyer and politician John Worth Edmonds.

Architect Avery is also credited with the design of the Hudson Opera House, now Hudson Hall, in the 1850s and pops up in local papers as the designer of residences in and around Hudson in the mid 19th century. For the firehouse, he designed a two-bay, two-story brick structure, which historic images show originally had two arched equipment doorways on the ground floor that were repeated in a smaller scale on the floor above. Alterations in the 20th century removed the elegant arches on the street level in favor of larger doors to accommodate modern equipment.

The building appeared labelled as “Engine” on this map of 1873. Map by D.G. Beers & Co. via New York Public Library

The current building housed the two companies until the Evans Hook and Ladder moved out in the 1890s and the Phoenix Company moved in, staying until it was disbanded in 1998. The consolidation of the separate fire stations into a central location meant the removal of the Edmonds Hose Company from the building and the sale of the property by the city at an auction in 2008.

The purchaser presented plans to the Hudson Historic Preservation Commission in 2018, as reported by local blog Gossips of Rivertown. Plans included the restoration of the facade, the addition of a tower and the conversion of the interior with commercial on the ground floor and a residence above. The materials submitted for review included a timeline of the history of the building.

The listing photos certainly show a project begun but not completed, and the accompanying text notes the property requires a “visionary purchaser.” Included in the sale are three lots of land that contain the firehouse, a wooden addition at the rear and an empty lot that provides off street parking for four cars.

The building has roughly 3,900 square feet of interior space and, according to the listing, it is zoned for commercial and residential use. Based on the condition, it isn’t surprising there isn’t a kitchen, but the listing does at least mention one bathroom.

While the photos show a significant number of issues to tackle they also show an original stair, a mantel added in the 1880s and a decorative ceiling. There is no fire pole on site.

The building is off the main thoroughfare of Warren Street but faces the aforementioned Public Square at 7th Street. Visioning for the rejuvenation of that green space is under way. Friends of the Public Square, which goes by the acronym FOPS, earlier this month presented concepts by Starr Whitehouse, a firm familiar to Brooklynites for their work on the Marsha P. Johnson State Park, among other projects, and are currently compiling community feedback.

For those interested in a bit more firefighting history, Hudson is home to the Museum of Firefighting. Established in 1925, it has an extensive collection and its website declares it is the largest firefighting museum in the world.

The Park Place firehouse is listed for sale with Robert A. Huston of Tri Hudson Realty and priced at $1.495 million.