Guest rooms
The Cynthia Higinbotham Room
Delightfully lit by five full sized windows, the Cynthia room features a pillow top queen sized bed with a down duvet in winter or antique chenille spread in summer and four full sized down pillows. A small settee, large lamp table, mirrored dresser and writing desk make this an ultra comfortable room for sleeping, reading and watching videos. The in-room refrigerator, ironing board and iron, telephone, ceiling fan and wireless internet add convenience to the room's charming decor.
Cynthia Higinbotham was the widow of Uriah Higinbotham, one of the three Higinbotham brothers who settled Manhattan in the 1850s. When she and James Edward Shortridge married in 1871, she had three daughters from her earlier marriage. In accordance with the Victorian customs of the time, Cynthia's room was located across the hall from her new husband's, but was directly connected by a second entrance to the "dormer" room occupied by her three young daughters. This dormer room today is divided into two rooms; the bath and reading room.
The James Shortridge Room
Rich masculine shades of blue and burgundy make this quiet room stately but comfortable. Furnished with mahogany and walnut antiques, the Shortridge Room features a double pillow top mattress in the hand made 1860s walnut bed featuring a 9 foot high headboard. A mirrored mahogany dresser, reading lamps, antique walnut desk and reclining wingback chair make this room perfect for relaxing with a good book. A full range of recent-issue news and travel magazines and classic books are for guests' use. Cable tv, iron and ironing board, wireless internet and in-room refrigerator offer all the comforts of home.
J.E. Shortridge was an early Manhattan businessman with lumber interests in Manhattan and Wamego and a downtown business on Poyntz Ave. A master carpenter from Kentucky, he built the Shortridge House for his new bride Cynthia Davis Burgoyne Higinbotham based on a southern floor plan. The multiple double hung windows in each room of the house together with the second floor balcony were designed to maximize air flow throughout the house in summer and thermal heat from the sun in winter. The separate bed and sitting spaces of the Shortridge room would have allowed JE to sleep and work in privacy, away from the bustling activities of the household.
Amenities
- In-room refrigerator
- Complimentary drinks and snacks
- Free wireless internet connection
- In-room expanded cable TV
- Video and book library
- Fax and copier
- Balcony/Porch
- Garden Courtyard