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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. It is part of the Central Troy Historic District. Originally 6 stories with 3 towers on the roof, a fire damaged the top floor and it was removed along with the towers. In more recent decades, the building fell into disrepair after it was foreclosed on in the 1980s. An effort to save it was launched and it was restored in the 1990s. A nonprofit entity called Rice Building Incorporated was created to turn it into a business incubator center. With support from State Senator Joseph Bruno, New York State provided $2 million for the project. The architecture firm Lepera & Ward headed the project. 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). He married Margaret McCoun Lane, the daughter of Jacob L. Lane of Troy. 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 1916, 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. A plan to restore the building to its original aspect with architectural features including the towers was proposed by Joseph Michael Kelly, Architect and Engineer in 2015.


References

{{Reflist Buildings and structures in Troy, New York Commercial buildings completed in 1871 Gothic Revival architecture in New York (state) Triangular buildings