Hotel Henry Perkins

1929

260 West Main Street

Narrator: Kenneth Rothwell

This is Ken Rothwell. I’m proud to be a member of the Riverhead Town Board. Good to see you here in historic downtown Riverhead.

You are standing in front of the Hotel Henry Perkins. It opened its doors with a gala event for 600 guests in August 1929 just in time for the Stock Market Crash two months later. The first hotels appeared in Riverhead in the mid-18th century when those doing business at the Suffolk County Courthouse needed a place to stay. By the late 19th century there were at least seven hotels downtown. Would you believe that?

The Perkins was the last and the grandest hotel built downtown. It was designed by August Galow, who also designed the Suffolk County Historical Society across the street, the Odd Fellow’s Building on Roanoke and the Commercial Building downtown. You’ve probably already see those?

Riverhead was really booming in the 1920s, so a bunch of the town’s leading citizens got together and formed a joint stock company to build this hotel. Would you believe it cost over a quarter million dollars? That was a whole lot of money back then – about $4 million in today’s dollars.

Galow used what he called the southern colonial style for this building. The hotel contained 100 guest rooms. It operated on the European Plan, which meant you were charged extra for your food.

Inside there was the famous Fisherman’s Bar. Not sure how they managed to have a bar. After all, it opened during Prohibition, you know.

Then there was the Hunt Room for casual dining and the elegant Windsor Room for parties and banquets. Travelers often stopped at this mecca for fine dining on their way to the Hamptons.

Over the years many gala local events were held here. After the 1938 hurricane, it served as a refuge for people evacuated from the storm-ravaged South Fork. It was even the site in 1939 for the first performance of a Benjamin Britten song cycle. Irving Berlin stayed here when he was visiting Camp Upton during World War II – no not in the first World War. It wasn’t built then and Berlin was only a private. Everyone held their events here. In its day, it was the best hotel on the East End of Long Island. Helped put Riverhead on the map. It operated as a hotel until 1974. But now new owners have repurposed and restored it.