Buffalo, New York
The Richardson Hotel
A National Historic Landmark asylum complex, reborn as an independent boutique hotel after its first brand-name conversion closed
Open · September 2023
The Richardson Hotel occupies the same 88 rooms that first opened as Hotel Henry in 2017, inside H.H. Richardson's landmarked former psychiatric hospital on Buffalo's Olmsted-designed campus. It reopened independently in 2023 after Hotel Henry's 2021 closure, and changed operators again in July 2025, when the non-profit campus owner brought in Buffalo Lodging Associates.
The essentials
- Group
- Independent — operated by Buffalo Lodging Associates (Benderson Development's hotel arm) on behalf of the non-profit Richardson Center Corporation since July 2025
- Opening
- September 2023
- Rooms & suites
- 88 rooms
- Segment
- Upscale boutique
- Designer
- Deborah Berke Partners, carried over from the building's original 2017 adaptive-reuse conversion
- Entry rate
- NC
The place
444 Forest Avenue, on the Richardson Olmsted Campus — a National Historic Landmark 1870s former psychiatric hospital designed by H.H. Richardson, with grounds laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted.
The concept
The Richardson-designed asylum buildings first became a hotel in 2017 as Hotel Henry, Curio Collection by Hilton, which closed for good in February 2021. Developer Douglas Jemal took over the ground lease in 2022 and reopened the same 88 rooms under a new independent identity and new management, quietly in March 2023 and with a full opening that September. In July 2025 the non-profit Richardson Center Corporation, which owns the campus, took operations back from Jemal — who cited the strain of rent and maintenance payments — and appointed Buffalo Lodging Associates, the hotel division of Benderson Development, as the new operator. The hotel has continued operating without interruption through the change.
Dining & wellness
A ground-floor café sits alongside the Buffalo Architecture Center; a second-floor farm-to-table restaurant nods to Frederick Law Olmsted's original agricultural vision for the grounds. The Richardson Bar serves a limited menu — poutine, wagyu smash burgers, Caesar salads — alongside drinks.
