Fort William Henry renovating historic Carriage House into venue for weddings, events
LAKE GEORGE — Fort William Henry is beginning work on the historic Carriage House, renovating the building into a new venue for weddings, meetings, performing arts, and more.
Sam Luciano, President of Fort William Henry, said the plans date back to before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Carriage House was always on our radar,” said Luciano. “It’s a wonderful, old, beautiful building that would be very difficult to reconstruct today. … We just stepped up our game with it, we moved it ahead of some other projects we plan on doing.”
The Carriage House has been utilized for many different purposes through the years, with Luciano saying it was a playhouse when he began working for the Fort in 1984, hosting performances such as ‘Bugs Bunny Follies’ and ‘West Side Story.’
The Carriage House was then used as storage for several years, before eventually being converted into a fitness center. Luciano said the House was used as the Fort’s fitness center for about 10 years, before it underwent slight renovations to become a meeting space.
After the renovations are complete, with an expected target date of May 2023, the Carriage House will become the Fort’s main venue for weddings, banquets, and meetings, Luciano said.
“We still have the Lake George Music Festival, we’ll still host them (at the Carriage House) in August. But that will become, really, our wedding venue, and our banquet hall, and meeting facility,” said Luciano. “That’ll be one of the bigger ones. It’s one of the biggest spaces we have now to be able to hold large events.”
After the renovations, the Carriage House will have a capacity of 460 people in theater-style seating, and 300 for banquets, according to a press release. This is over double the capacity of the White Lion, where the Fort had previously held weddings, Luciano said.
“Last year, our intent was to redo our restaurant, redo our kitchen, open up a full-service dinner operation, and have the banquets on a three-season porch that wrapped around the White Lion,” said Luciano. “When we got in the middle of COVID and the renovations, the supply line crippled us. … So at that point, we pushed up against our wedding season, and we couldn’t proceed with the three-season porch at the White Lion.”
Luciano said the Fort was receiving requests for larger weddings than the White Lion can hold, leading them to the Carriage House.
“We still have the three-season porch on our radar, but we stepped up the Carriage House, and that will become our wedding palace,” said Luciano.
And the Carriage House, which Luciano referred to as “beautiful,” appears to be an ideal location for weddings and other events. The Carriage House has an outdoor patio for indoor and outdoor events, both an indoor and outdoor fireplace, and windows providing an unobstructed view of Lake George.
“We put the elegance of a high-end banquet hall, but we kept the barn destination wedding feel,” said Luciano. “That’s why we didn’t paint the ceilings, we kept them the natural wood and stuff. So you get the best of both worlds.”
HBT Architects of Rochester designed the Carriage House renovations, while BBL Construction Services Inc. of Albany will conduct the renovations, according to the press release. The Carriage House renovations are just part of a much larger project for Fort William Henry, with Luciano detailing work on other buildings at the site.
“Over 36 guest rooms were completely renovated and built to a standard of one of the high brands,” Luciano said. “Guests will be able to use their phone for a key for the door. We did 36 rooms, and we renovated our entire bar area. We expanded our kitchen out by six feet, and we did 28 guest rooms in our Grand Hotel.”
The Fort is also renovating all 64 rooms in the Standard West Motel and 30 more rooms in the Grand Hotel, said Luciano.
“So by the end of next year’s cycle, every guest room in the Fort William Henry complex – 195 of them – will be completely renovated,” said Luciano.
The Fort has also added outdoor attractions for guests and the public to enjoy, with Luciano detailing the addition of six fire pits.
“We also put in six fire pits right on the edge of the property that sit on a bluff overlooking the lake,” Luciano said. “The guests or any of the public can rent, sit out there, enjoy the views of the lake in any season, and we’ll bring you out packages of wine, cheese platters, s’mores, et cetera. Full food service out there.”
Luciano said the Fort’s goal is to be “a major destination in Warren County.”
“I think the fact that we’re able to have this 18 acres with vast lawns that have not been infiltrated by development is one big key. (Guests) can sit and enjoy the unobstructed view,” said Luciano. “We’ve got the Fort Museum that we introduced last year. … We’re putting in a new research center over there with augmented reality.
“The plans of the future developments of this property is so unique to the northeast, that it will be the destination in Warren County.”