This vintage postcard shows the Hotel Seneca in Rochester, New York circa 1910 – 1920.
The following is a news article in the New York Times about the opening of the hotel:
ROCHESTER’S NEW HOTEL.; The Seneca, a Beautiful and Modern Hostelry, Opens To-day.
Special to The New York Times.
September 14, 1908, Monday
Page 13, 281 words
ROCHESTER, Sept. 13. — Rochester’s new hotel, the Seneca, will be opened to-morrow in time for the State Democratic Convention, which meets here Tuesday. The hostelry in size will compare with the Hotel Astor in New York. Its architecture is in a general way French Renaissance. It is constructed of brick of brownish hue, trimmed with gray terra cota.
The Hotel has a frontage of 130 feet on Clinton Avenue, and is only a couple of blocks from the city’s Convention Hall. It runs back 200 feet to Cortland Street, and along the side has the advantage of a private roadway 30 feet wide.
The main entrance to the lobby of the hotel is from this private street. This provides a porte cochere, which affords protection to those alighting from carriages in inclement weather.
The decoration of the lobby follows the Renaissance Style, with wainscoting of French marble, wall panels of greenish-brown, ivory columns with Oriental caps in dull old gold, and ceilings suggestive of old illuminated Spanish leather book covers. Cornices and brackets are in old gold. Throughout the entire ground floor, in the various dining rooms and buffets, elaborate and rich decoration schemes are carried out.
The mezzanine floor of the hotel contains about one-half as much space as the hotel covers. The ballroom on the second floor, which will also be utilized as a banquet room and convention hall, will seat from 700 to 1,000.
The management of the hotel is in the hands of H. M. Gerrans and E. T. Osborn, hotel men of New York, Buffalo, and Detroit. [ Courtesy New York Times ]