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| In the end, a complete and utter dive. A flophouse. Drunk heaven. For a few decades this street was the home of some medium-priced hotels, serving the business clientele - the Russell, the Andrews, the Milner, and the Vendome.
The Vendome took a little reflected glory from a certain sculptor named Bartoli - its cornice was topped with the head of the Statue of Liberty, which back then was as modern a reference as one could imagine. It had a good life as a decent hostelry, then underwent a modernization in the early 40s that made the interiors - like the Ritz-Minnesotan -look like a Chinatown set. This card shows the Early Days. The hotel was built in stages, adding on as business grew; the original wing was constructed in 1885.When the hotel was demolished in '59, the removal of the front-door sign revealed the words Rochester Block. Why it was so named I have no idea, yet. The postcard doesn't really make much sense - it seems to imply that a building on the other side of the block was also part of the Vendome, when it wasn't. In fact, the building that says VENDOME is probably the Dyckman. The cards lie, often. |
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