Erin Cadigan and Martin Mills. (photo by Dion Ogust)
A ramshackle Victorian home is going to get a new lease on life from a couple who plan to turn it into luxury vacation suites that won’t empty your wallet.
It’s been overgrown for so long that Woodstockers may have driven past it thousands of times without realizing it’s there, but Erin Cadigan and Martin Mills, who moved from Brooklyn about a half-dozen years ago, saw some promise in the place.
The home has a detached cottage, which, “if anything is in worse condition than the house,” Cadigan said. “But it’s really solid. It’s got solid bones.”
The home at 148 Tinker Street at the corner of Orchard Lane was owned by David Atkinson and his wife, Carol. Atkinson, an accomplished actor who starred in the original Broadway production of Man of La Mancha, died in October 2012 and the home had fallen into disrepair.
Mills has a background in real estate and has run a builder-contractor firm for several years while Cadigan is an illustrator and interior designer.
Cadigan realized that Mills’ need to be in Brooklyn most of the week for business wasn’t a sustainable way to raise their young daughter, Rose, so she suggested they purchase the Woodstock home as a way to earn income and still stay local as a family.
The couple will combine their talents to transform 148 Tinker into the White Dove Rockotel, high-end boutique accommodations based on musicians that played at the original Woodstock concert. The couple already has a crew working on renovations and they hope to open by July 4 weekend.
“It’s going be very tongue-in-cheek though,” Cadigan said. “You’re not going to walk in and see some obnoxious pink-purple portrait of Jimi Hendrix. There are going to be clues within the wallpaper and the textiles and the patterns as to what was on their album covers.”
This won’t be a hotel in the traditional sense, which was little more than a quiet place to crash for the night. As Planning Secretary Therese Fernandez points out, hotels and motels are not permitted within the bounds of Woodstock. Instead, these will be vacation rental suites with all the amenities of home and many extras. “The concept is somewhat high-design, something that’s fun when you walk into it,” Cadigan said.
Still, the rooms will be priced at least on par with other places in town, if not a bit lower.
“It shouldn’t cost people a total arm and a leg to go enjoy themselves,” she said. “It’s not just a place to stay. It’s an experience in itself.”
The biggest suite, called “Experience,” is a nod toward Hendrix. It will have a full kitchen, king-size bed, full bath, screened-in porch, grille, half-bath and living room with working fireplace. The living room will sleep an extra three people.
A king-size suite with a kitchenette called “Garden” is a nod toward toward Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.
An upstairs suite is called “Heart,” referring to Janis Joplin. It will have a queen-size bedroom and a lounge with coffee pot, microwave, breakfast nook and full bath.
