Berkeley Square Historic District (Boundary Increase)
No coordinates published for this listing.
Why it's listed
Berkeley Square is the historic commercial heart of Saranac Lake, a village in the Adirondack Park of northern New York. The district runs along Main Street and Broadway and contains a 1926-28 town hall plus twenty-six commercial buildings built between 1867 and 1932. Its attached, closely spaced brick blocks create an urban streetscape that is unusual in the Adirondacks. The oldest building is the 1867 Milo Miller Store in the French Second Empire style, and later blocks reflect Colonial Revival, Italian Renaissance Revival and Art Deco influences. Much of the district's growth followed the arrival of Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau in 1876 and the rise of Saranac Lake as a tuberculosis treatment center. Several buildings have recessed balconies or galleries where patients rested in the fresh air, and upper floors were rented to patients. The Beaux-Arts Harrietstown Town Hall, with its domed clock tower, anchors the southern end of the district.
Significance in brief: The district preserves the intact urban commercial core of a village that grew as a tuberculosis health resort after Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau arrived in 1876. Its buildings, several with balconies or galleries built for patients, show the economic boom of the cure industry. The Beaux-Arts town hall is highly unusual for the Adirondacks and acts as the district's architectural anchor.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 100010618, listed August 9, 2024. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | Blocks roughly bounded by Broadway, Main, Olive, and Woodruff Sts, Saranac Lake |
|---|---|
| County | Franklin County |
| Listed | August 9, 2024 |
| Reference number | 100010618 |
| Resource type | District |
| Architect / builder | Scopes and Feustmann (Harrietstown Town Hall, Haase Block); William G. Distin, Sr.; William L. Coulter; Paul Jacquet; William Scopes; builder Milo Miller |
| Architectural style | French Second Empire, Colonial Revival, Italian Renaissance Revival, Art Deco and Beaux-Arts Classicism |
| Areas of significance | Health/Medicine, Architecture, Commerce |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | The district retains a high degree of integrity, with mixed commercial, office and residential use. The Harrietstown Town Hall still houses offices, meeting rooms and an auditorium. |
| Acreage | 9.53 |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 100010618.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.