Built in 1765 by poet/naturalist Myron Benton, Troutbeck served as a country house and retreat for Benton’s friends and associates, including Mark Twain, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the naturalist John Burroughs. The next owner, Joel Spingarn, was a cofounder of the publishing house Harcourt, Brace & Co. and of the NAACP; during his residency, he used Troutbeck to entertain illustrious friends such as Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall, W.E.B. Dubois, and Theodore Roosevelt. Later the property was used as country inn and tavern and conference center, until the fourth and current owner, Anthony Champalimaud, bought the property with a plan to turn it into a subtly luxurious retreat reminiscent of Soho Farmhouse in England.
Working with his mother, Alexandra Champalimaud of Champalimaud Design, and his wife, Charlie, Anthony spent more than a year on the redesign. The goal was to modernize the sprawling estate with a subtle nod to its history; nothing too overdone or slavish to the past. For booking information, go to Troutbeck.
Here’s a look.
For more characterful interiors in upstate New York, see:
- Hudson Eclectic: An Artist’s Circa-1830 Home in Claverack, New York
- A Hotel with a Sense of Place: Rivertown Lodge in Hudson, NY
- The Artists’ Retreat: Brice and Helen Marden’s Hotel Tivoli
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