Historic Elizabethtown compound to become affordable housing

Northern Forest Center to turn Robert Hale House into 5-7 housing units

By Tim Rowland

A historic compound in Elizabethtown once occupied by a wealthy U.S. Congressman will be renovated into five to seven affordable housing units by the New-Hampshire based Northern Forest Center.

Known as the Robert Hale House for its most famous resident, the complex, which includes a barn and law office, is part of Elizabethtown’s Hand-Hale historic district, named for two of its most prominent families.

Since 1980, the property has been owned by the Elizabethtown Social Center, a nonprofit community center established in 1939 by Cora Putnam Hale that provides recreation and programming to area residents, particularly youth.

But the buildings were expensive to maintain, and “we just didn’t have the resources to do it justice,” said Arin Burdo, Elizabethtown Social Center’s executive director. The organization was torn; the property was a crown jewel of town history, but without the money for maintenance it risked falling into disrepair.

When Burdo became a member of a community advisory group to the Northern Forest Center — an organization whose goals include housing and encouraging younger people to live in aging communities — she introduced herself to Leslie Karasin, NFC’s Adirondack Program Director, by saying “I’ve got a house to sell you.”

The line became a rallying point for their housing project. “They thought I was joking, but I was only half joking,” Burdo said. And she believes Cora Putname Hale, who cared deeply for the community’s health and well-being, would approve.

“The values, goals and mission of the Social Center are closely aligned with the Northern Forest Center,” Burdo said.

NFC purchased the complex for $375,000 in June, and expects to spend $2.25 million rehabbing the buildings, using its own funding, historic-property tax credits and hopefully a Restore NY grant, Karasin said. The history will be respected, and while parts of the Hale House have been used from time to time the law office is unoccupied and has a time-capsule element to it, including a large safe that will go to the Adirondack Museum.

Historic structures are typically not thought of as potential housing, but when they are underutilized and at risk of deterioration, Karasin said it makes sense — and also shows how opportunities to help alleviate the North Country’s critical housing shortage can be found in unusual places. “It’s going to take all different sorts of approaches to provide affordable housing,” she said.

Karasin said the bones of the Hale House and nearby law office are strong, but they are in need of rehabilitation and modernization. The law office, for example, has beautiful wood trim and built-in bookshelves — but no plumbing or heat. 

The library will become a single family home, while the Hale House will be fashioned into four, 1,600-square-foot units. A barn rounds out the complex and could potentially be made into two more units depending on funding, Karasin said.

Also attractive to NFC is that the homes, located in a leafy enclave with mountain views, will be within walking distance of the town center, and have access to recreational fields that the Social Center will retain. “What a wonderful place to raise a family,” Karasin said.

Because Northern Forest Center relies on its own funding, it is not tied to income restrictions of public projects. That means it will accommodate hospital or county-government employees whose pay is not enough for market-rate housing, but too high for typical public projects. Elizabethtown Community hospital officials have told NFC they can use all the housing they can get, Karasin said. 

According to a brief history in the May 10, 1968, edition of the Essex County Republican, the Hale House was built in 1818 by Jeremiah Stone, father-in-law of the prominent attorney, Robert Hale, who came to Elizabethtown in 1843. Hale has a storied career as, among other things, an Essex County judge, an elector for Abraham Lincoln and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Hale House is part of the Hale-Hand Historic District that also includes the home of another congressman and prominent jurist Augustus Hand, who built his estate in 1849 on the opposite side of a brook from Hale’s. Under ownership of the Bruce L. Crary Foundation, the Hand House remains a community meeting center. Hand went on to become a justice on New York’s highest bench, the Court  of Appeals and was patriarch of one of the state’s most notable legal families through the 19th and 20th centuries.

Karasin said NFC, which has developed seven finished projects and has 10 under development in the Northeast, hopes to begin construction next year with completion in 2026, Even with the opening still  two years away, “we’ve already gotten calls” about availability, Karasin said.