Hopkins Cottage
Why it's listed
Built in 1923 at 5 Birch Street in Saranac Lake, this two-story, three-bay house with a hipped roof was designed from the start for treating tuberculosis patients. Margaret Hopkins, a Licensed Practical Nurse, bought the lot in February 1923 and opened a private nursing establishment that September, with room for five patients. The first floor has narrow clapboard and the upper floor staggered shingles. Glazed sleeping porches with sliding panels wrap the house, and each of the four upstairs bedrooms has its own cure porch reached by wide French doors without high sills. Gouges in the door frames show where beds were pushed outdoors. Hopkins died before 1940, and the house was sold in April of that year and has been a single-family home since. It is considered significant as an unusually intact example of a purpose-built cure cottage, retaining its porches, floors, doors and moldings, and its setting and location.
Significance in brief: The cottage is described as an unusually intact example of a building constructed exclusively for tuberculosis curing. Its original sleeping porches and other curing features survive, giving it high architectural and design integrity. It also reflects the health and medicine history of Saranac Lake as a tuberculosis treatment center.
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 92001448, listed November 6, 1992. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 5 Birch St., Saranac Lake |
|---|---|
| County | Franklin County |
| Listed | November 6, 1992 |
| Reference number | 92001448 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1923 - 1940 |
| Architect / builder | Built by Margaret Hopkins, a Licensed Practical Nurse; architect unknown |
| Architectural style | Late 19th & Early 20th Century American Movements: Bungalow/Craftsman |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Health/Medicine, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Used as a single-family residence since 1940; sleeping porches and original floors, doors and moldings remain intact. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Within district | New York Central Railroad Adirondack Division Historic District |
| Coordinates | 44.31457, -73.79196 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
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 92001448.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q5900650
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.