6 Warren Street
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Last modified 10/30/03
Building Name: D. H. Cowles and Co.
Building
Street Location: 6 Warren Street, Glens Falls
Use: Original: Commercial
Use: As of 1970, Commercial 1972-1982
Date of Original Construction: 1864
Architect: M. F. Cummings – Architect of Troy, NY
Builder: unknown
Historical and Architectural Importance:
Style: Queen Anne-Italianate commercial brickwork. Inspired by Italian
battlements.
Corbett: This building replaced one burned in 1864, and was the center of the Cowles business empire from 1865 - 1880. Daniel Cowles, 1810 - 1891, was a self-made man who became President of the Gas Co., Director of the Glens Falls Insurance Co., Director of the Glens Falls National Bank, and a stockholder in the Plank Road Co. In 1880, Holman, Haviland & Co. bought him out. The building was owned in 1885, by Scott & Son, and in 1892, by Cool and Finch. Some of the stores that operated there included: 1891: Harry Floyd Jewelry; 1901: Burt & Moss Cigars; later: Thorton, Tichor and Daily Cigars; Collins News Room; 1931: a fruit store. P.F. Makigan was in the building in 1898.
Youngken: This building, a local landmark, was designed by Marcus F. Cummings of Troy, NY, a regionally known architect, who produced at least 3 pattern books between 1865 and 1880 -- one of which includes elevations of this building. Cummings designed several buildings for Glens Falls clients in the mid to late 19th century including the Rockwell House Hotel (1871-72, later destroyed by fire), the Jerome Lapham House (ca. 1860, demolished), and the second Glens Falls Insurance Company building (1891, demolished). The D.H. Cowles and Co. Building is the only known entrant Cummings designed in the city. The building was commissioned by Daniel H. Cowles, a self-made man, who became one of the most influential merchants in the community to replace a brick structure built on one site, which was consumed in the Great Conflagration of 1864, a fire, which destroyed most of the community’s central business district. The site, important to the early history of the city, at one time was occupied by a large log structure built prior to the Revolution, by Abraham Wing, the city’s founder, as a store and inn known regionally by 1776, as "Wing's Tavern." " Wing's Tavern" was really the commercial heart of the pioneer settlement and provided the setting at the intersection of various trails north, to Lake George, east to Fort Edward and south to the Falls, from which, early names for the settlement would follow (such as: Wing’s Falls, Wing’s Corners, The Corners and finally Glenn’s Falls) as well as the location of the major intersection of the downtown commercial streets.
Daniel Cowles came to Glens Falls with Henry Rogers of Luzerne, in partnership by 1833, occupying the site primarily in a frame structure by 1850. "Wing’s Tavern", had by 1812, changed hands and was known as "Emmend's Hotel." By 1816, the establishment was known as "Derby’s Hotel", and had been extensively remodeled. In 1818 - 20, the tavern was managed by Alfred Terris, and in 1835, L.L. Pikley ran the business. The Cowles Co. apparently moved the frame structure on the site to Sherman Avenue (Derby Hotel House, 10 - 12 Sherman Avenue), and constructed a brick commercial building for the Cowles Co. Dry Goods retail business. This structure was destroyed in the1864 fire.
Cowles, who had in effect, taken over Rogers’ enterprise, after the latter died in 1835, with Mrs. Rogers as a partner, continued in the dry goods trade until his retirement in 1875. He became one of the community’s leading citizens during this period. He was one of the original stockholders of the internationally known Glens Falls Insurance Company and at the time of his death, in 1891, Cowles was the oldest living member of its Board of Directors. Likewise, he was one of the original directors of the Glens Falls National Bank, a trustee of the Glens Falls Academy, President of the local gas company, and of the Glens Falls and Lake George Plank Road Company.
Architecturally, the D. H. Cowles and Co. building is an outstanding example of Hudson River, Italianate brick commercial architecture north of Albany. It is the only known extant example of Marcus F. Cummings' commercial work in Glens Falls, and with the sensitive reconstructions of its first floor commercial front, the building survives with much of its original exterior integrity. Dominating Fountain Square at the major intersection of Glen, Ridge, Warren Streets and Hudson Avenue, this structure, indicative of the stature of a leading Glens Falls merchant and regional dry goods establishment, is a local landmark.
SOURCES: Corbett - Library, Crandall, City Directory, 1880, 1885, 1891, 1901: Holden’s History of Queensbury, p.p. 103, 171-72, 174, 390; Miller Map Collection.
Youngken – J, I, H, 50, F, 48, K, 309,
310, 49, R
Name of Collector: Ted & Cindy Corbett
Collected on: September 2, 1977
Organizations: Architectural Research Program
Name of Collector: Richard C. Youngken
Collected on: November 25,1980
Organization: City of Glens Falls, Community Development Office
Previous ownership:
Previous occupants: