Civic & Commercial Development
White Eagle Hall, Delaware Avenue, Kingston, 1961. Photograph by Stephen Benson
White Eagle Hall is a Polish-American social organization. Its building was designed by Augustus Schrowang, Sr., who later designed the Ulster County Office Building on Fair Street along with his son, Augustus Schrowang, Jr.
Ulster County Office Building, Fair Street, Kingston, 1964. Photograph by Stephen Benson
The County Office Building is the most prominent modern building in Kingston, and possibly its most controversial. It was designed by Augustus Schrowang, Jr. and Sr. The younger Schrowang adapted the design from a project he completed as an architecture student at Pratt Institute, from which he graduated in 1959.
YWCA, Clinton Avenue, Kingston, 1978.
The distinguished firm of Kliment Halsband Architects was chosen to design a substantial addition to the Shingle-Style house occupied by the YWCA. Frances Halsband was the young designer. She believes that apart from her training and Woodstock roots, the fact that she was a woman probably helped in her selection.
Pine Street Professional Park, Pine Street, Kingston, 1965. Photograph by Stephen Benson
Marshall Erdman & Associates of Madison, Wisconsin, erected this office center. This building’s horizontal lines and roof overhang stem from Frank Lloyd Wright and, in fact, Erdman had built Wright’s First Unitarian Society in Madison.
Ulster Town Hall, Town Hall Rd, Lake Katrine, 1975. Photograph by Stephen Benson
The low-budget Town Hall, designed by architect Anita Yuran, is known as a “pre-engineered structure.” The Town government has outgrown this building and discussions have begun regarding a larger one.
Sophie Finn School, Mary’s Avenue, Kingston, 1962. Photograph by Stephen Benson
The Sophie Finn School was designed by the firm of Perkins & Will. It is probably the most architecturally distinguished school building of the IBM Years. The building was closed after the 2012-2013 school year and is scheduled to be taken over by Ulster County Community College as a satellite campus.
M. Clifford Miller Middle School, Lake Katrine, Town of Ulster, 1968. Photograph by Stephen Benson
Harry Halverson had designed Colonial Revival buildings since the 1930s. By the 1960s, he was designing schools like this in a stripped-down modern style. The Miller School is about a half-mile north of the former IBM plant.
Savings and Loan Association (currently Key Bank), Wall Street, Kingston, 1966. Photograph by Stephen Benson
Albert E. Milliken was the architect of this bank on Wall Street. Harry Rigby, Jr., Kingston City Historian at the time, noted with pleasure that “at the very last moment, the Savings and Loan Association of Kingston threw out plans for a functional building and instead built a beautiful structure of Colonial design.”
Rondout Savings Bank, Broadway, Kingston, 1967. Photograph by Stephen Benson
Rondout Savings had been close to the Strand and the Rondout Creek at 36 Broadway, but was forced out by Urban Renewal. This successor building near East Chester Street was designed by Albert E. Milliken.