The Amrita Club building is located at the southeast corner of Church (

US 44 U.S. Route 44 (US 44) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway that runs for through four states in the Northeastern United States. The western terminus is at US 209 and New York State Route 55 (NY 55) in Kerhonks ...

NY 55 New York State Route 55 (NY 55) is a east-west state highway in southern New York (state), New York, running from the New York–Pennsylvania border, Pennsylvania state line at the Delaware River in Barryville, New York, Barryville t ...

) and Market streets in

Poughkeepsie Poughkeepsie ( ) is a city within the Town of Poughkeepsie, New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie is in the Hudson River Valley region, midway between the core of the New ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It was once home to the club, one of the city's most prestigious gentlemen's organizations. In 1982 it was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

(NRHP). The club was established in the late 19th century, but the building was not erected until the early 20th. It is one of only two brick

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the arch ...

buildings in the city, and a sophisticated application of that

style Style, or styles may refer to: Film and television * ''Style'' (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal * ''Style'' (2002 film), a Tamil drama film * ''Style'' (2004 film), a Burmese film * '' ...

. Efforts to redevelop it in the early 21st century led to a protracted legal threats and negotiated settlement between the city and DTI (Decision Technologies International), a local software company which utilized the building as its corporate headquarters and development laboratory.

Building

The Amrita Club is in a very historic neighborhood. It is across the street from the Market Street Row, a group of houses that includes Poughkeepsie's oldest

frame A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...

house, and immediately north of the Hasbrouck House, with the Adriance Memorial Library a few houses down. It is across Church from the armory and across on the opposite corner is the Old Poughkeepsie YMCA. All of these are also listed on the Register. The building itself is a rectangular structure three stories tall, with raised

basement A basement is any Storey, floor of a building that is not above the grade plane. Especially in residential buildings, it often is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the Furnace (house heating), furnace, water heating, ...

, and eight to nine

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

wide by three deep. Its double-doored, centrally located entrance has a marble surround consisting of columns with sculpted

capitals Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

and a dentilled

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

. Below that, the doors themselves are topped with a

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

transom. The whole doorway is further topped with a keystone decorated with

fleur-de-lis The ''fleur-de-lis'', also spelled ''fleur-de-lys'' (plural ''fleurs-de-lis'' or ''fleurs-de-lys''), is a common heraldic charge in the (stylized) shape of a lily (in French, and mean and respectively). Most notably, the ''fleur-de-lis'' ...

and ribbons on either side. On either flank of the entrance, the first floor features

French windows ''French Windows'' is the third solo album by Irish musician Sonny Condell. It was released in 1999 by Hummingbird Records. Track listing Personnel *Sonny Condell – guitar, vocals *Neil MacColl – electric & acoustic guitars *Simon Edwa ...

and

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

balconies A balcony (from , "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. They are commonly found on multi-level houses, apartme ...

, except for the smaller windows next to the door, trimmed with marble lintels and sills. A similar pattern is found on the larger windows of the third story. Above them is a dentilled cornice and

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; , also called an epistyle; ) is the lintel or beam, typically made of wood or stone, that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can also apply to all sides, including the vertical members, ...

; two large chimneys rise from the

hipped roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downward to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope, with variants including tented roofs and others. Thus, a hipped roof has no gables or other vertical sides ...

. The rear elevation features two porches with Doric columns.

History

The club was founded in 1873 for local businessmen and professionals, with future neighbor and prominent local lawyer Frank Hasbrouck as one of the charter members. It excluded Catholics, African-Americans and Jews, and soon became synonymous with the city's elite. In 1905, local historian Edmund Platt described as "the first club of any importance". "Much of Poughkeepsie's growth was decided at the Amrita Club's dinner table", writes Carolyn Burke in her biography of

Lee Miller Elizabeth "Lee" Miller, Lady Penrose (April 23, 1907 – July 21, 1977), was an American photographer and photojournalist. Miller was a fashion model in New York City in the 1920s before going to Paris, becoming a fashion and fine-art pho ...

, whose father was a member during her childhood. It met either in rented rooms or refurbished older buildings until it decided to build its own clubhouse in 1912. Designed by Alfred E. Barlow of

,''Engineering News'' 29 Feb. 1912: 115. New York. it cost the club $100,000 (equivalent to $ in ). Over the course of the 20th century, the club's influence waned as the city grew more diverse and its industrial base declined. In the 1980s it eventually disbanded and the building became city property. Unoccupied, it decayed until 1999 when Decision Technologies International (DTI), a software consulting firm based in nearby

Wappinger The Wappinger ( ) were an Eastern Algonquian Munsee-speaking Native American people from what is now southern New York and western Connecticut. At the time of first contact in the 17th century they were primarily based in what is now Dutc ...

, reached a deal with the city to renovate the building and use it as its

headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

. The city committed $800,000 in urban-redevelopment

grants Grant or Grants may refer to: People * Grant (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Grant (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters ** Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885), the 18th president of the U ...

to help the company. In 2002, almost a year and a half after DTI had last withdrawn funds from the account, the city moved to

foreclose Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan. Formally, a mort ...

on the property since it believed DTI was not serious about redeveloping it and it had been approached by others who were. DTI insisted it was serious, and after first threatening to contest any action vigorously, agreed to waive certain defenses in exchange for a 30-day reprieve. The city formally commenced foreclosure actions early in 2003, with DTI's founder, Idoni Matthews, promising a court fight. In October it began work again. DTI completed the renovation works in 2004, the city granted DTI a Certificate of Occupancy. The building currently home of DTI's corporate headquarter and software development laboratory.

References

External links

* {{National Register of Historic Places in New York Buildings and structures in Poughkeepsie, New York Organizations established in 1873 Buildings and structures completed in 1912 National Register of Historic Places in Poughkeepsie, New York Colonial Revival architecture in New York (state) 1873 establishments in New York (state) Defunct clubs and societies in New York (state) 1912 establishments in New York (state) Clubhouses on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)