{"nrhp_refnum":"79001615","name":"Clifton Springs Sanitarium","other_names":["The San","The Spa Apartments and Foster Cottage"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"11 and 9 E. Main St","address_restricted":false,"city":"Clifton Springs","county":"Ontario County","state":"NY","lat":42.96119885500008,"lon":-77.13680868199998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-04-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Health/Medicine","Architecture","Philosophy","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A five-story, ell-shaped brick sanitarium building at 11 E. Main Street in Clifton Springs, Ontario County, New York, built in two stages in 1892-1893 and 1895-1896, together with the nearby Gothic-style Foster Cottage (1854) across Sulphur Creek.","why_significant":"The sanitarium was the main building of Dr. Henry Foster's water cure, which combined water, allopathic and homeopathic medicine with spiritual care and shaped the village. It is a large, fireproof, Richardsonian Romanesque design by the regional firm Pierce and Bickford and holds a Tiffany glass mosaic in its chapel. Foster Cottage is a fine example of Carpenters' Gothic and the last wood frame residence in the central business district.","narrative":"Clifton Springs Sanitarium, known locally as the \"San,\" is a five-story brick building on Main Street in Clifton Springs, New York. Built in two stages, 1892-1893 and 1895-1896, it was designed by the Elmira firm of Pierce and Bickford. Its steel frame, brick walls and masonry floors made it fireproof, and its round arches, rusticated limestone trim and corner towers reflect the Richardsonian Romanesque style. It was the third main building of the water cure founded by Dr. Henry Foster, whose program joined water treatment, allopathic and homeopathic medicine, and spiritual care. The chapel holds a Louis C. Tiffany glass mosaic of the Last Supper, given as a memorial to Foster. The building became senior housing in 1974. Nearby, across Sulphur Creek, Foster Cottage was built in 1854 as the superintendent's home. It is a Carpenters' Gothic house with elaborate bargeboards and rusticated siding, and it is the last wood frame residence in the downtown district.","period_of_significance":"1892/1896","architect_builder":"Pierce and Bickford, Architects","architectural_style":"Richardson Romanesque (Sanitarium); Carpenters' Gothic (Foster Cottage)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Converted in 1974 to senior citizens' housing (The Spa Apartments); Foster Cottage was divided into three apartments.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:39.13351-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/79001615.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001615/e5e28a9749-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001615/e5e28a9749-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clifton_Springs_Sanitarium_May_10.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clifton_Springs_Sanitarium_May_10.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75320497","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifton_Springs_Sanitarium","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5133317"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/ontario-county/clifton-springs-sanitarium-79001615/"}