The Rice Building, originally known as the Hall Building for Benjamin Homer Hall who built it, is a triangular historic high
Victorian Gothic structure with
Moorish architecture window arches in
Troy, New York.
Built in 1871 for attorney, author, and poet Benjamin Homer Hall who served as City Clerk of Troy, it is located at 216 River Street on the corner with First Street. It has been attributed to the firm of
Vaux and Withers, the partnership between
Calvert Vaux and
Frederick Clarke Withers[ after the death in a ]steamboat
A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...
accident of Andrew Jackson Downing. More recent scholarship by a professor suggests George B. Post
George Browne Post (December 15, 1837 – November 28, 1913) was an American architect trained in the Beaux-Arts tradition. He was recognized as a master of modern American architecture as well as being instrumental in the birth of the skyscra ...
was the building's architect.[ Ganem Contracting was also involved in the project and photographed the work and many architectural details. The origins of the name Rice Building are not known.
]
Benjamin Homer Hall
The building was originally known as the Hall Building for attorney and poet Benjamin Homer Hall (November 14, 1830 - April 6,1893)[ who had it built. Hall was educated at Harvard University and served as City Clerk of Troy. The building may have been an inspiration for New York City's Flatiron Building. Hall wrote ''A Collection of College Works and Customs'' (ca. 1850), ''History of Eastern Vermont, from its Earliest Settlement to the Close of the Eighteenth Century'' (1858), and ''Bibliography of the United States'' (1860).][
A collection of his and his father Daniel Hall's papers include correspondence with Amos Eaton, ( geologist and founder of Rensselaer Institute), Edward Everett, William H. Seward, Hamilton Fish, Robert Todd Lincoln, Horatio Seymour, ]William L. Marcy
William Learned Marcy (December 12, 1786July 4, 1857) was an American lawyer, politician, and judge who served as U.S. Senator, Governor of New York, U.S. Secretary of War and U.S. Secretary of State. In the latter office, he negotiated the Gad ...
, John E. Wool
John Ellis Wool (February 20, 1784 – November 10, 1869) was an officer in the United States Army during three consecutive U.S. wars: the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War. By the time of the Mexican-American War ...
, and Asa Fitch.[
]
Fire
The upper floor and roof towers were damaged by a fire in 1913[ or 1920 (when a fire struck River Street),][ depending on the source.
]
Other information
The building was constructed on the site of Lane's Row and replaced structures on that site. Edgar Holloway
Edgar is a commonly used English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Eadgar'' (composed of '' ead'' "rich, prosperous" and ''gar'' "spear").
Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the later medieval period; it was, however, rev ...
made an etching of the building in 1974. The building appears in the Martin Scorsese film, based on Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton (; born Edith Newbold Jones; January 24, 1862 – August 11, 1937) was an American novelist, short story writer, and interior designer. Wharton drew upon her insider's knowledge of the upper-class New York "aristocracy" to portray ...
's 1920 novel, " The Age of Innocence (1993 film)" as a law office in New York City. The building was sold in 2016 for $800,000 to Tai Ventures.Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...
was involved in saving and restoring the building. The building features pointed-arch polychrome voussoirs.[
]
References
{{Reflist
Buildings and structures in Troy, New York
Commercial buildings completed in 1871
Gothic Revival architecture in New York (state)
Triangular buildings