AURORA, N.Y. — The Inns of Aurora has opened the Taylor House Conference Center, which it describes as the “resort’s capstone restoration to a collection of premier hospitality offerings.” The project is part of a 20-year effort focused on “restoration, preservation, and adaptive reuse of historic buildings” in the village of Aurora. The organization declined […]
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AURORA, N.Y. — The Inns of Aurora has opened the Taylor House Conference Center, which it describes as the “resort’s capstone restoration to a collection of premier hospitality offerings.”
The project is part of a 20-year effort focused on “restoration, preservation, and adaptive reuse of historic buildings” in the village of Aurora.
The organization declined to share a project cost, per an email response to a CNYBJ inquiry from Alex Schloop, director of marketing & creative director for the Inns of Aurora. Hueber-Breuer Construction Co. Inc. of Syracuse handled the renovation work, and Holmes King Kallquist & Associates, Architects, also of Syracuse, was the designer, Schloop tells CNYBJ.
On its first floor, the Taylor House Conference Center has 2,000 square feet of indoor space with maximum capacity of 50 guests, including three grand parlors for social gatherings and breakout meetings.
It also has a dining room that accommodates up to 30 guests. Adjacent to the dining room, an outdoor patio with firepit offers seating for up to 50 guests.
The first floor also has a dedicated parking area with an electric-vehicle charging station.
The center’s second floor has 1,500 square feet of boardroom space. The amenities include seven 65” television screens, magnetic walls for brainstorming and presentations, airwalls to create up to three separate meeting spaces, wireless microphones, automatic light, and a projection system.
The primary boardroom table accommodates up to 36 guests, and two additional breakout meeting spaces accommodating eight guests each.
About The Inns of Aurora
The Inns of Aurora describes itself as a “luxury lakeside boutique resort in the Finger Lakes region” in the Cayuga County village.
Situated in the center of Aurora, Taylor House Conference Center is a Greek revival building built in 1838 that offers two floors of modern meeting and event space.
Several pieces of original modern art from the collection of Pleasant Rowland, founder of the Inns of Aurora, “enhance the interiors.”
In 2001, Wells College graduate Pleasant Rowland — noted textbook author, educator, and creator of American Girl doll company — returned to Aurora to find that many of the grand buildings in the National Historic District were in a “state of disrepair and neglect.” Rowland “made it her mission to revitalize the village to its original grandeur,” restoring and renovating over a dozen properties, per the news release.
Many of those buildings now make up the Inns of Aurora, which include five boutique inns, two restaurants, a demonstration kitchen, programming center, world-class spa, and, now, the Taylor House Conference Center.
“After 20 years dedicated to the restoration and ongoing preservation of these historic properties, we are honored to introduce the capstone restoration project to the Inns of Aurora,” Sue Edinger, COO at the Inns of Aurora, said. “We deeply admire Aurora’s incredible entrepreneurial spirit, from the early settlers who created a bustling hub along the Erie Canal to the successful entrepreneurs, diligent scholars, and progressive thinkers — including Pleasant Rowland — who have shaped Aurora into the jewel it is today.”
The village of Aurora, located alongside Cayuga Lake, was once a “bustling center of commerce and trade” along the Erie Canal and the home of notable residents Henry Wells, founder of American Express, Wells Fargo, and Wells College, and Colonel E.B. Morgan, founding investor in The New York Times.