The southwest corner of Delaware & North Streets, late 1800's.
The southwest corner of Delaware & North Streets, late 1800's.
A five-acre cemetery stood on this site beginning in 1830. After the new Forest Lawn Cemetery opened farther up
Delaware Avenue, this cemetery fell into disuse and eventually the bodies were exhumed and reburied in Forest Lawn.
The increasingly valuable Delaware Avenue land was sold and the site occupied by the Robert K. Root mansion
and the Lenox Hotel.
The Robert K. Root mansion, facing North Street. The address was officially 650 Delaware.
The Robert K. Root mansion, built at the corner of Delaware and North in 1896, was designed by McKim, Mead, and White.
It stood until 1935 when it was demolished to make way for a Howard Johnson's restaurant.
Howard Johnson's Restaurant design used at Delaware & North
Howard Johnson's restaurant empire began in New England in 1925. He conceived of selling
franchises in 1935 and by 1936 there were more than 39 franchises open, one of which may
have been at this location. The design of the building above is an accurate reflection of the
colonial design which Howard Johnson's used in the 1930's. This building stood until 1994,
when it was demolished to make way for a Walgreen's.
The southwest corner of Delaware & North in 2006.
There was community opposition to the construction of Walgreen's' which the company addressed by revising their design
of the store to render it more compatible with the surrounding neighborhood, making its $1.5 million construction almost double
that of other stores it built at the time. The store opened
in 1994.
Stone from the wall surrounding the Root mansion was reserved and used
to create entrance piers, above.
For detailed images of the Howard Johnson's Restaurant in its last days, look here.