Cartwright Inn. Photo from the office of Henrietta Historian Tina Thompson.
BY DEB AND TIM SMITH
When the Sentinel assumed the role of becoming the official newspaper for the Town of Henrietta in 2023, we began to tackle some topics related to that town. In June of 2024 we met to discuss strategy with Town Supervisor Steve Schultz and Town Historian Tina Thompson. Clearly if you’re going to seek public office in Henrietta, alliterative double initials seem to play to your advantage!
One of the issues we discussed was the plight of the historic Cartwright Inn. In its heyday, the Cartwright Inn was a Henrietta institution featuring “the gracious dining of yesteryear” which elevated it to the status of being “Upstate’s finest restaurant.” Few disputed the claim during the Inn’s glory years.
That venerable establishment is located at 5691 West Henrietta Road, but it’s been closed since 2007 and has been experiencing a gradual deterioration for almost two decades now. It had been Supervisor Schultz’s long-time goal to bring some preservation-minded investor into the picture to save the Cartwright Inn before it was too late.
That was the status of the situation when we reported on it last year. Well, we’re happy to report that this storyline has taken an upswing which we are sharing with you this week. If everything works out as planned, you might not be back in the Cartwright to eat dinner, but at least you might be back in the building!
In talking with Steve last summer, he broached the subject by saying, “Probably not something appropriate for inclusion in your book, but perhaps for an article… I thought you’d also be interested in what we’re pursuing [regarding the Cartwright Inn].” By autumn he was able to tell us that, “a developer has an accepted offer on the Cartwrights property and expects to close in December. He has met with me multiple times, including this afternoon, to discuss his plans and how they would integrate with his efforts to restore the historic Inn. He was fine with me saying there’s a buyer, but is one who prefers to stay behind the scenes.”
The former Cartwright Inn in Henrietta will undergo an extreme makeover soon, and it will be courtesy of Realtor Mike Liess. He paid a combined $535,000 for two properties, totaling 3.5 acres, on West Henrietta Road. These parcels are at 5691 (the old Cartwright Inn) and 5711 (a five-unit apartment building and parking area), two of Henrietta’s oldest buildings. As we mentioned in our article last year, the inn property on the northern part of the parcel was originally a stagecoach stop and hotel.
So what happens next? Here’s where the history kicks in… Two of the early population centers of the town would be this intersection of West Henrietta and Erie Station Roads which served as the 4 corners of the hamlet of West Henrietta, along with the intersection of East Henrietta and Lehigh Station Roads, which served as the 4 corners of the hamlet of East Henrietta. Supervisor Schultz referred to those locations as, “the closest Henrietta has to an old-fashioned, 4-corners, small-town Main Street.”
New owner Mike Liess acknowledged his goal was to maintain the historic nature of the buildings. Some renovations have already begun at the apartment building which Liess plans to maintain as a multi-family dwelling. The specifics of what will happen with the former inn building are a little bit more influx.
Liess said that he thought that the Cartwright building would probably not return as a restaurant but would more likely come back as some type of mixed-use multi-purpose establishment. Whatever is to come of this renovation is currently thought to be a two-to-four-year project.
