Yours truly is the unspecified “friend who was considering turning the old place into a dining club” in this New York Spaces article about Frank Faulkner’s latest architectural turnaround act.
Spaces got it wrong, however. My intention was not to convert this handsome South 4th Street building (which had been a law office continuously since the time of the Civil War) into some sort of supper-by-subscription operation. In fact I was contemplating a literary society along the lines of my favorite college haunt.
And that was really just a speculative cover for my true interest— making sure the building wasn’t ruined. So when Frank very tactfully let drop that he would be interested in buying the place if I didn’t, that mission was accomplished. I was happy to keep my money in my pocket, knowing Mssrs. Faulkner and Kesinger would do right by the place.
This is just the latest of more than a dozen homes to benefit from Frank’s restorative eye in Columbia County, many of which can be seen at his website. Some enterprising nonprofit really ought to organize a benefit tour of all his area projects; in Hudson alone, he’s saved and renovated places on East Allen, South 7th, Warren Street, North 5th, and now South 4th.
