{"nrhp_refnum":"82001172","name":"Van Ornam & Murdock Block","other_names":["Lee House Block"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Port Henry","county":"Essex County","state":"NY","lat":44.04840699700003,"lon":-73.45946835399997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-11-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A row of four attached Italianate commercial buildings on the east side of South Main Street in Port Henry, Essex County, New York, built between 1874 and about 1880. The block includes the Van Ornam building, the Lee House Hotel, the National Bell Store building and the Harlan building.","why_significant":"The block is the commercial center of Port Henry and an unusual surviving example of late nineteenth century commercial architecture in the Adirondack-Champlain region. It retains a high degree of architectural integrity and reflects the town's prosperity in the last quarter of the century. The Lee House Hotel was for many years an important local center of entertainment and social activity.","narrative":"Four attached commercial buildings on South Main Street form the core of Port Henry's business district. Built between 1874 and about 1880 in the Italianate style, they include the three-and-one-half-story brick Van Ornam building, the four-story brick Lee House Hotel, a two-story wood-frame store with a stamped metal facade, and the two-story brick Harlan building. The Van Ornam building has a bracketed wood cornice, round-arched windows and brick belt courses. The Lee House began as John A. Lee's brick house and became a hotel and restaurant that drew summer visitors, political figures and travelers to the Adirondack region. J.E. McNaulty added a fourth story and a south extension in 1911. The block reflects the prosperity that iron mining, sawmills and other industries brought to Port Henry in the late nineteenth century. Fires and alterations have affected nearby commercial buildings, so the surviving block is a rare intact example. The hotel stood vacant at the time of listing after the county seized it in 1981.","period_of_significance":"1874-1899","architect_builder":"Unknown","architectural_style":"Italianate","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The Lee House Hotel was seized by the county in 1981 for nonpayment of taxes and presently stands vacant. The form describes the block as slightly deteriorated with minor storefront alterations.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:42.276927-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/82001172.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001172/3423ddfb40-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001172/3423ddfb40-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Alex Scrodin","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Van_Orman_and_Murdoch_Block.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Alex Scrodin</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Van_Orman_and_Murdoch_Block.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75317801","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Ornam_%26_Murdock_Block","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7913572"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/essex-county/van-ornam-and-murdock-block-82001172/"}