preserving
SARATOGA SARATO GA From Summer Residence to Skidmore’s Jewel:
The Surrey-Williamson Inn WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY (UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
SAMANTHA BOSSHART, SARATOGA SPRINGS PRESERVATION FOUNDATION
S
pring always brings flowers and the anticipation and excitement of the Historic Homes Tour, the largest fundraising event of the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation. On Saturday of Mother’s Day weekend, May 9, Skidmore College was graciously going to open its doors of the historic Surrey-Williamson Inn to those on the tour and host our Buildings & Breakfast and Lunch & Learn events. Unfortunately, due to the Coronavirus, the event was postponed. However, there is no reason to delay sharing the history of this stucco English style building until the tour can take place! Skidmore College made the decision to move to its current campus on North Broadway in 1961 when Board of Trustees
70 | SIMPLY SARATOGA | MAY/JUNE 2020
member Erik Jonsson and his wife Margaret donated the former Henry Hilton estate, Woodlawn. Prior to that, the Skidmore College campus was comprised of nearly 90 buildings located along Union Avenue and adjacent streets. The college was faced with the need to grow and the increased costs of maintaining and operating a variety of historic buildings that included former mansions and associated carriage houses, a sanitarium, small hotels, and a church. The 650 acres of Woodlawn gave the college the opportunity to build a new, larger campus. Construction started in October of 1963. The first buildings, a residential and dining complex and the Lucy Scribner Library, were completed in 1966. Building of the new campus and the transition from the downtown campus continued for several years.
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