Hoffman House on market for $950,000
Restaurant has operated in historic building for 40 years
The owners of the Hoffman House, an Uptown restaurant with a history that dates to the 17th century, have stepped up their effort to sell the business.
A large “For Sale” sign has gone up outside the stone building at 94 North Front St. The asking price is $950,000.
The building, constructed around 1679 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, has been owned by Ginny Bradley and her husband, Pat, since 1975, and the couple has tried to sell it before.
“After testing the waters for a few years, we have decided that it was, indeed, the time to take the
plunge and aggressively market the building and business,” Ginny Bradley said Wednesday.
When the “For Sale” sign went up, Bradley said, her reaction was “Oh, boy, we really are trying to sell.”
“Unfortunately, we had lost [a] daughter last year to cancer, and we realized how short life is,” she said. “We wanted to just enjoy life and visit our kids and do some of the things we have not been able to do.”
Bradley choked up occasionally during a phone interview, saying the Hoffman House was where “we raised a family.”
“It has been our life,” she said of the business. “Forty years is a long time at anything, especially in the restaurant business, and it’s kind of time to start a new chapter.”
The restaurant employs 15 people, many of whom have worked there for more than 20 years, Bradley said.
The Hoffman House’s history is lush, she said. “We always say, ‘If these walls could talk .... ’”
The Hoffman House’s website says the original structure is largely intact.
The website says not much is known about the house and its occupants between 1679 and 1707, other than the first recorded owner being Edward Whittaker, an English solider in the employ of the Duke of York.
Starting in 1707, when Nicholas Hoffman became the owner of the residence, all transactions and information pertinent to the building were recorded.
The most notable member of the Hoffman family was Nicholas’ son, Anthony, who was a blacksmith by trade, the online history says.
He served for many years as a trustee of Kingston, owned large estates in Ulster and Dutchess counties and was elected to the Provincial Congress of New York City in 1774. He was a signer of the Articles of Confederation in 1775, was appointed a judge of Dutchess County in 1777 and was one of the regents of the University of New York in 1780.
Besides being a home for the Hoffman family, it is believed the Uptown building served as an early fortification and lookout site. This is evidenced not only by its location in Kingston’s Stockade area but also by certain structural features, including steps in the attic leading to the roof of the building.
The Hoffman House was severely damaged when the British burned Kingston in October 1777, during the Revolutionary War, but it was restored by the family soon after. Char marks still can be seen in the attic.
The Hoffman family owned and occupied the house for 201 years. In 1908, the building was given to the Salvation Army; and during the mid-1900s, it was used as a warehouse and storage facility before falling into disrepair.
The Kingston Urban Renewal Agency purchased the building in 1973 and restored the exterior.
The Bradleys bought it in 1975 and began a full restoration. The restaurant opened in June 1977.
Original wrought-iron door handles still exist on several doors in the building, and the top of the restaurant’s bar is made of wood from a 200-year-old barn.