A New Option In The Fingerlakes

There’s a new hotel and restaurant in Seneca Falls worthy of your consideration.  It’s the Hotel Clarence on 108 Fall Street smack in the middle of town.  Long time Central New Yorkers might remember it as the old Gould Hotel, named for the defunct Gould Manufacturing Company,  but developers chose a different inspiration for the place. They named the facility after the angel who earns his wings in the 1946 film “It’s a Wonderful Life”.  Seneca Falls is widely accepted as the location which inspired director Frank Capra’s fictitious Bedford Falls.

Images courtesy of: Hotel Clarence

I enjoyed lunch recently in the hotel restaurant “DiVine” before touring the nearby wineries.  It’s the perfect stop before you begin your drive south on Seneca Lake.  If you are expecting a trip back in time to the building’s early days of the 1920s, or you seek a 1940′s vibe, you’ll be surprised.  Nothing except the imposing silver door framed in black prepares you for what you will see inside.

The Hotel Clarence is more SoHo than Seneca.  Walls are white, furniture is sparse and tailored, and accessories are virtually non-existent.  The essential design feature of the lobby is a subtle video wall approximately 30 x 30 feet featuring the classic black and white film projected softly onto the entire space.  The juxtaposition of the familiar “feel good” movie with the silvery modern edge makes you wonder if you’ve arrived in the future, or you’ve returned to the Golden Age of Hollywood glamour.

The cocktail lounge, also on the first floor, pays homage to the roots of the building with the magnificent bar running the length of the room.  Gleaming from the renovation which was completed in July, the bar invites you to take a seat and be enveloped by the darker colors and rich texture of the fabrics.

The restaurant is the true star of the first floor.  Predominately black, white and gray, it is lined with windows overlooking Genesee Street in Seneca Falls which lures pedestrians and encourages them to walk this pretty village by the river.  You can people-watch from your warm perch indoors.  Chef Ed Moro’s creations are fresh, inventive and nutritious.

Chef Ed Moro prepares healthy, nouvelle cuisine

The desk clerk kindly gave me a tour of one of the hotel rooms upstairs, and again, it is not what you’d expect, even after you’ve been primed with a walk through the lobby.  Rooms are white, crisp, tailored and modern; not a single cherry federal armoire in sight.  Flat screen TVs, WiFi and white tiled bathrooms are so clean, you might not feel the need for a shower for a week afterward.  It’s heavenly.

There are 48 rooms in this historic building located in the cradle of the national women’s rights movement.  I’m sure rooms fill quickly for Women’s Hall of Fame events, and also during Parent’s Weekend and Commencement at the colleges nearby.  But that leaves plenty of opportunity for a spontaneous getaway from Syracuse and Rochester and points in between.

I have not received compensation for this article.  It’s just a nice place I thought I would share with readers of the blog.  If you go, please let me know if you agree we’re lucky to have this unique option in our area.

http://hotelclarence.com/index.html

Tagged as: Hotel, Hotel Clarence, restaurant, Seneca Falls, Women's Hall of Fame