Cash infusion for Phila Street renovation in Saratoga Springs
The Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation has nearly $150,000 to repair 65 Phila St. this week after a $50,000 donation from the Texas-based Carruth Foundation. That amounts to about half of the predicted funds needed for renovations.
The preservation foundation bought the dilapidated house in May for $235,000 after a protracted fight with the previous owners to save the historic property. The Italianate-style home was built in 1851 and has been empty since 2002. It is in bad shape, but the city's Design Review Committee turned down a request by the previous owners to demolish it and the preservation foundation stepped up to save it.
The latest donation comes from Zane and Brady Carruth, who live in Texas but started visiting Saratoga Springs for the horse racing.
"The Carruth Foundation does not normally make donations to out-of-state projects. But, we believe the Phila Street rehabilitation is very important to maintaining the history and integrity of Saratoga Springs and all it represents," they said in a statement.
The preservation foundation is raising $300,000 to pay for environmental remediation, structural stabilization and to restore the exterior. The plan then is to sell the house to someone who will complete the interior and serve as a good steward of the property. Proceeds will be reinvested in a future preservation project.
The first owner of the house was Alexander A. Patterson, an Irish immigrant whose listed professions included builder, architect, and later owner of the Patterson Mineral Spring Pavilion located at 22, 24, and 26 Phila Street. The Patterson family remained in the home for 90 years. Later, the Congregation Bais Moishe, Inc. in Brooklyn owned 65 Phila Street for more than 30 years and used it as a summer residence. Previous studies of the home discovered a mikveh — a
Jewish ritual bath — on the property.
The Design Review Committee approved a plan drawn by architect Matt Hurff to restore the clapboard siding, windows, doors, roof, decorative details, and the porch, using the original columns and balustrades that were found inside the house.
Samantha Bosshart, executive director of the preservation foundation, said she hopes to start work on the house in the spring.