Wednesday, July 13, 2016

The Essex Apartments/Hotel

The Essex Apartments building was built in 1916 according to Beaver County tax records.

postcard
Essex Apartments at 461 Maplewood
pre-1930

In the postcard above, the Essex Apartments is the three-story building with porches. You can see that the lot to the Essex's right is empty. The building that once was the Beth Samuel Synagogue, but is now used by the Maple Restaurant, wasn't built yet. However, the two-story brick building near the corner that was once the office of the Ambridge Gas Co. is there.

Maplewood Ave. was still a two-way street back then.

By 1950, the Essex Apartments had become the Essex Hotel. Growing up in the 1950s and '60s, I knew the Essex as mostly a residential hotel.

Essex Hotel ad
461 - Maplewood
Holy Trinity R. C. Croatian Church dedication program
December 17, 1950

A business for sale ad in the February 20, 1985, Beaver County Times offered the Essex Hotel with "29 rooms, and 5 room apartment" at $69,900, reduced from $120,000.

The building is now the Maplewood Personal Care Home.

Maplewood Personal Care Home
461 Maplewood Ave.
September 28, 2014
_____

Here's the reverse of the above Essex Apartments postcard for those interested in such things:

postcard, reverse

2 comments:

  1. jd aka john domansky

    great pc & comments, I see the pc has a Chicago postmark, does the back have addresses & names, sometimes the backs are more interesting than the front, can u post a pic of the back, if u have it, please.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've posted the reverse of the postcard at the end of the blog article.

      Delete