78 Washington Ave Schenectady

Hotel Van Curler / Elston Hall of Schenectady County Community College (SCCC). Named for Charles W. Elston, an original member of the college’s Board of Trustees and Chairman and former member of the Schenectady County Board of Representatives, the building was originally built as the Hotel Van Curler which opened in 1925. The Van Curler was Schenectady’s premier hotel for decades and, with the YMCA across State Street, reflects a major change from residential to commercial uses in the southwestern end of the Stockade area that occurred following the opening of the Great Western Gateway Bridge in 1925.  The building was acquired by the county in1967 and renovated to house classes and administrative functions for the college, with the first class graduating in 1970. The Van Curler Hotel was designed in a Neo-Classical style that was popular in the 1920s by H. L. Stevens & Co., an architectural firm with offices in Chicago and New York City that was known in the first decades of the 20th century for its designs of reinforced concrete hotels and apartment buildings.  The limestone trimmed brick building is laid out in an H-shaped floor plan, with symmetrical wings flanking a central block.  The façade is composed in a classic three-part elevation of base, mid-section, and attic under a gabled roof, with a slightly projecting central pavilion that highlights the entrance porch.  Details contain Federal period stylistic influences, including Palladian windows, pedimented entrance surrounds, and decorative stone panels.  The building was individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.