Saratoga Springs, New York, Part 4

Saratoga Springs, New York, Part 4: East Side Historic District

This final post on Saratoga Springs highlights the East Side Historic District of the city, primarily a residential neighborhood extending from Congress Park to the Saratoga Race Course. During the 19^th and early 20^th centuries the city’s well-to-do residents built their homes here, when the city was one of the country’s top resorts, and was frequented by many of the wealthiest families of the era. Primarily the owners of stores and spas, the people who built homes here wanted to live in houses that reflected their success. They gravitated to the neighborhoods where the wealthy summer residents had their homes, ending up with scaled-down versions of those homes, often by the same architects. There are 379 buildings within the district in an array of styles, from Gothic Revival to Bungalow, and are predominately faced in clapboard or brick. Only 15 of the buildings are of modern construction, and thus not considered contributing properties to the district’s historic character. This neighborhood is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. We enjoyed walking through the district taking pictures of the many beautiful and impressive properties. 

Saratoga Springs, New York, Part 3

Saratoga Springs, New York, Part 3: Congress Park and Downtown Area

One of our walking tours in Saratoga Springs was through the downtown area where we found unique shopping, art galleries, spas, boutiques, a variety of restaurants, and lots of people out enjoying the beautiful summer weather. We were delighted and intrigued with the 5-foot tall fiberglass ballet shoe sculptures that kept popping up. After we stumbled upon the first few, it became a treasure hunt, trying to discover the next shoe, and the next. Later we found out this was part of a project by The National Museum of Dance who selected 24 artists to create these fun and frivolous, and quite beautiful slippers, for a project called “Saratoga En Point”. We also explored Congress Park, 17 acres in the heart of the city, and a National Historic Landmark. At one time the park included an operating casino, the Congress Spring Bottling Plant, and a large resort hotel called Congress Hall. At the peak of its popularity this was a place where the wealthy, major gamblers and stars of the entertainment world mingled. Here are some pictures of our tour of downtown Saratoga Springs.