According to Wikipedia:

The Standard House is a landmark in the city of Peekskill in Westchester County, New York, built in 1855. It is located at 50 Hudson Avenue between South Water Street and the Metro-North Hudson Line train tracks.

An Italianate brick building, it and the Union Hotel across the street are the only two hotel buildings remaining from the period of Peekskill’s industrial height as a center for the manufacture of stoves. It continued to be in use as a hotel after that industry declined, but couldn’t survive the decline of the railroad in the mid-20th century. Vacant and neglected through most of the later years of that century, it was restored early in the next. In 2000 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Currently it houses a retail store on the ground floor, and the city’s economic development offices.

As you’ll see from the sign The Standard House also houses Dylan’s Wine Cellar. According to their website:

[It] dates back to 1853 when a prominent Peekskill resident, Thomas Nelson sold the property the Standard House was built on in 1853 for $525 to another Peekskill resident, Issac Reynolds. Mr. Reynolds began construction of the Standard House likely between 1853 and 1858. During this time the Peekskill waterfront was hustle and bustling with lots of foundries, factories, salons, and hotels. The waterfront was a hub for transportation between the docks and train depot with the transportation of freight and passengers from New York and surrounding areas.

Early assessment documents listed the history of the Standard House has the following:

• 1879 “Store”
• 1881 to 1883 “Salon”
• 1883 to 1890, the Standard House was sold numerous times.
• April 1, 1890 John Galligan purchased the Standard House and the assessment records indicated the Standard House as a salon. An advertisement in the Annual Directory of Peekskill in 1900 read “Standard House” bar well stocked with the choicest liquors, wines, ales and cigars.
• 1901-1911 “Hotel”.
• November 17, 1911 the Standard House was sold to Patrick O’Neil Jr. who sold the building a short time after to A. Hupfels Sons Brewing Company.
• September 9, 1920 John J. Carbon bought the Standard House. Mr. Carbone operated, Carbones, a well-known Peekskill restaurant and bar. The Standard House stayed in the Carbone family as Carbones and the Central Grill from 1920 to 1997. Unfortunately, over the years, the Standard House was neglected and fell into disrepair. Sometime in the early 90’s there was a fire on the third floor and the building suffered fire and water damage. After the fire the building was boarded up and left to deteriorate.
• December 17, 1998, the Standard House was given new life when Peekskill residents, Richard and Kathy Cerreta, purchased the building. Once purchased, the Cerreta’s paid the back taxes and all building violations and began work. Instead of building new, the Cerreta’s were very meticulous with restoring the building, refurbishing most of the original materials and architecture. In 18 short months, the Standard House was transformed from a building that was dilapidated to a pristine work of art. The Cerreta’s were at the forefront of the revitalization of Peekskill and they created a high “standard” of historic restoration of Peekskill’s architectural history.

Accolades

• The Standard House has been awarded New York State Register of Historic Places (4/4/00)
• National Register of Historic Places (National Landmark Status) (9/22/00)
• Peekskill’s first Local Historic Landmark (2/26/01).

The Cerreta’s have also been recognized with many awards for their preservation of the Standard House. Today, the building is owned by the Zwick family, owners of Dylan’s Wine Cellar. They intend to preserve and continue the rich history of the Standard House by keeping the building original and in the family.

For lots more information on The Standard House see: Standard House.

Taken with a Sony RX10 IV

In the same park (Peekskill Waterfront Green) as the Samuel Otice memorial mentioned in previous post stands another memorial: The Peekskill Fire Department Alarm Bell. If you look up instead of out to the Hudson River, you’ll see an actual artifact from the City of Peekskill’s history: a beautiful bell commemorating those who lost their lives in the 1918 Fleischman Manufacturing Company Fire.

The bronzed inscription reads as follows:

Taken with a Sony RX10 IV

According to the Fieldguide to US Public Monuments and Memorials:

This remembrance honors Samuel Oitice, a 25-year Peekskill, New York, veteran firefighter, native and resident. Oitice was also a City of New York firefighter; he was killed in the terrorist attacks on the towers of the World Trade Center, 9/11/2001. The memorial recalls and pays homage also to victims, responders and rescuers as well as those left behind, stunned and grieved, that Tuesday morning after equally vicious attacks in Pennsylvania and Virginia.

The site’s program and design were developed by the memorial’s leadership group in cooperation with The Verdin Company of Cincinnati, Ohio. The memorial’s centerpiece, a bronze statue of a firefighter, behind a stoic gaze and on one knee, before Oitice’s remaindered, fire-fighting gear, was created by artist Andrea Grimsley under an arrangement with Verdin. Combined with the site as well is a steel beam from the WTC, courtesy of the Port Authority of NY and NJ.

The work’s supporters and champions were many, led and coordinated by the Sam Oitice Heroes Remembered Memorial Committee. From idea to unveiling, its members labored nearly ten years to create the monument.

The memorial was dedicated July 24, 2010. The white structure in the background is the monument commemorating the deaths of seven firefighters during the 1918 Fleischmanns factory fire.

Taken with a Sony RX10 IV

You can’t help but see this house if you’re driving north on Route 9/Albany Post Road. It was once part of Peekskill’s Historic Community of St Mary. For more on this see: The Abbey Inn and Spa, part of which can be seen on the right side of the picture. In 1908 a granite three-story house designed by Henry Martyn Congdon (1834–1922) (who also designed the Abbey Buildings) was built for the convent’s resident chaplains. The first of these occupants was Rev. Father Maurice Cowl. It is now the private home of a local doctor

For more information on the Abbey and its buildings see New York Almanack’s article: Peekskill’s Historic Community of St Mary

Taken with a Sony RX10 IV