Canfield Casino and Congress Park
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Front (south) elevation and west profile, 2008
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Location | Saratoga Springs, NY |
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Coordinates | 43°4′44.68″N 73°46′56.28″W / 43.0790778°N 73.7823000°WCoordinates: 43°4′44.68″N 73°46′56.28″W / 43.0790778°N 73.7823000°W |
Area | 17 acres (6.9 ha) |
Built | 1825 |
Architectural style | Renaissance Revival |
NRHP Reference # | 72000910, 87000904 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | 1972 |
Designated NHLD | February 27, 1987 |
Congress Park | |
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Type | Public park |
Location | Saratoga Springs, New York |
Area | 17 acres (6.9 ha) |
Created | 1913 |
Operated by | City of Saratoga Springs |
Open | Year round |
Website | [1] |
Canfield Casino and Congress Park is a 17-acre (6.9 ha) site in Saratoga Springs, New York, United States. It was the site of the former Congress Spring Bottling Plant and the former Congress Hall, a large resort hotel, which together brought Saratoga Springs international fame as a health spa and gambling site. At the peak of its popularity it was a place where the wealthy, major gamblers and stars of the entertainment world mingled. The park's artwork includes a statue by Daniel Chester French and a landscape design by Frederick Law Olmsted, among others.
It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987 after having originally been submitted and listed as the Casino-Congress Park-Circular Street Historic District in 1972. The later listing excluded some of the property outside the park and halved the overall size of the district.
Congress Park is currently operated by the City of Saratoga Springs as a park, bounded by Broadway, Spring Street, and Circular Street in Saratoga Springs. The Canfield Casino building, built in 1870, houses the Saratoga Springs History Museum. Gambling was ended by reformers in 1907.
The district boundaries are curved and irregular, generally following those of the park itself. It is bordered by Spring Street on the north and Circular Street (both part of NY 9P), down to its intersection with Park Place. It follows the 300-foot (91 m) elevation contour line on the west, excluding some of the buildings on Broadway (US 9/NY 50) southwest of the park and then joins Broadway south of Union Avenue, back to its northwest corner at Spring Street.
The original historic district included some houses on Circular and Spring streets and Whitney Place. Their removal from it made the district about 16 acres (6.5 ha) smaller