Closed since being ravaged for a third time in less than two years by flooding, Odette’s has become a symbol of the way the tide has turned in weary New Hope. But ambitious plans for its revival could spark renewed interest –and investment.
 

By Scott Edwards

Long before the Pennsylvania Impressionists discovered the Phillips’ Mill and nearby New Hope, there was the River House, which is better known today as its most recent existence, Odette’s.

The River House predates even the canal. It was built in 1794 as a private home for the Van Sant family, about 40 years before Delaware Canal came into existence and essentially converted the property that the estate sat upon into a manmade island. The stone house that comprises the core of the former Odette’s is the lone remnant of that estate, which once was comprised of several large structures.

But, as with many structures around New Hope, it wasn’t the history that tugged at the heart strings of longtime locals when the building went deep underwater during each of three major floods over a nearly two-year span between 2004 and 2006. At least not the aforementioned history, of which very few have a comprehensive knowledge. Many, however, are familiar with its more recent history and the wildly flamboyant woman who set it all in motion, Odette Myrtil.

Myrtil opened Chez Odette’s in the early sixties, a time when New Hope found itself at the center of a star-studded universe. The Bucks County Playhouse was a testing ground for potential Broadway productions, and it drew some of the biggest actors at the time to the tiny riverside town. When the shows let out, those celebrities typically headed for either the Canal House on Mechanic Street or Chez Odette’s, where the cocktails flowed freely and the sing-alongs around the piano extended deep into the night.

Odette’s became synonymous with entertainment in that moment and remained so long after Myrtil’s death thanks in large part to local piano man Bob Egan, who operated the highly regarded cabaret theater at the restaurant for nearly 20 years.

Today, though, Odette’s is more commonly referred to in the context of an ongoing debate on the cause of the recent rash of flooding. The restaurant was renovated and reopened after each of the first two floods. But the Barbone family, which had owned Odette’s since 1985, decided the third was too much to bear. It was promptly put up for sale and has sat vacant since.

In that two-year span, Odette’s, in part because of its prime location at the south end of town and because of the vibrant social scene it once was, has developed into a symbol of sorts for the state of life in New Hope. Residents and businessowners picked up the pieces relatively quickly after each flood, all determined to put the most recent catastrophe behind them and move forward. But something was off. Business seemed to rebound a little less completely each time. Residents determined to sport confident facades couldn’t help but wonder when the river would rise again. It was no longer a question of if. And there, just by the “Welcome to New Hope” sign sat Odette’s, arguably the hardest hit property on either side of the river.

For those passing through, it appeared simply to be closed for the day. But, for those who knew, it was rotting from the basement on up.

In February 2007, local innkeeper and retired corporate executive Michael Amery made an offer and ignited the first flickers of hope.

Bold Expressions

Amery’s plan is not simply to renovate and reopen Odette’s. It’s been done before, and it proved to be rather shortsighted. His perspective is settled on the long-term, though the acts that will be required to get from the present point to that day are ambitious, if not downright miraculous.

For starters, the building will be elevated 11-and-a-half feet. Two disclaimers: First, this is not a random number. Amery has become as well-researched on the nuances of flooding along the Delaware as anyone, but more on that in a bit. Second, by “building” I mean a dramatically new structure that ultimately will be 35,400 square feet, more than three-and-a-half times the size of the current Odette’s.

It would be too easy to read that and think that Amery is overreaching. But this is a man determined to do right by the town, first and foremost. The attention that’s been devoted to ensuring that even the most nondescript details are accurate is impressive. Amery has spent the better part of the last year-and-a-half uncovering photos of the property through various points in history and presenting his ideas and eventually his renderings at every opportunity, to neighbors of the property, to the chamber of commerce, to government agencies.

“The idea was to let me put up some nice stone building that maybe matches Odette’s,” Amery says. “Absolutely not. [The Pennsylvania Historic Museum Commission and other involved agencies] do not want you to do that. First of all, you can never do it so that it looks correct. Secondly, if you do it, it really takes away from the historic building. So, what they want is some sort of appropriate (replacement).”

Amery visited the Prallsville Mill in Stockton, NJ, and gleaned ideas from it because the building, he said, was built in the same year as the River House. “We’ve looked at the roof angles and the window structure,” Amery says. “So this represents something, which is why it’s big.”

As with the current arrangement, the River House comprises the heart of Amery’s plans. The historical nature of the property will be played up in the streetfront view, which includes a two-story glass-enclosed room, of which the south side of the River House comprises one of two nontransparent walls.

The riverfront side of the building, though, on which the River House is not visible, provides a completely contrasting perspective. Amery says he was encouraged by New Hope’s Historic Architectural Review Board (HARB) to be more adventurous with the design there. The look is boldly more contemporary. A large deck that spans two-thirds of the length of the building overhangs the canal. Much of the three stories of the riverfront wall is comprised of balconies and windows, including a dramatic two-story glass roof that appears to exist more as an artistic expression than as serving any functional purpose. Project designer Ian Smith of BKT Architects says they accepted HARB’s challenge as an opportunity to “respond to the river,”which, he says, was one of his leading influences for the look of the building.

“If you think about New Hope and how different it looks in different parts of the town, this is what we’re trying to achieve with that type of look,” says Ed Duffy, a nearly 30-year New Hope resident and the New Hope Borough Council HARB liaison. “Okay, let’s preserve the historical aspects, but let’s do something contemporary too that moves the property on to bigger and better things.”

The new Odette’s, which Amery plans to rename the Riverhouse at Odette’s as an homage to both aspects of the property’s history, will feature an English-style tavern, a 12-room inn and a banquet hall, which Amery says is essential – more so than the other components – to making this a financially stable if not even profitable operation. A press release he began circulating shortly after acquiring Odette’s in 2007 put the price tag for the project at around $4 million. It now appears closer to $12 million, according to Amery.

“The thing is, it’s not voodoo economics. It’s real,” Amery says. “You’ve got major costs. I’m into it for a half-million already. You have major, major costs in just getting it done, in getting the foundations in place, in elevating the building. If all you’re going to do is put in another 10,000 feet, you couldn’t do it. You couldn’t pay the bills. It’s just not economically viable. With this, it should pay back in about five years with a fairly aggressive – actually, I should say fairly conservative projections.”

Amery is, as of June, the lone investor in the project, though he plans to court others once all of the necessary approvals are in place – it was expected to go before New Hope Borough Council for final approval in June –and the economy started to show signs of ending its downward spiral. He had hoped to break ground before the end of the year. A more realistic goal, he said in June, is March. If that happens, he expects construction to be finished by the summer of 2010.

When asked how many investors he’d like to involve, Amery says, “The fewer the better.” For the time being, he’s willing to perform alone the impossible task of navigating the endless government agencies whose approvals are essential to bringing such a plan to fruition. The land on which Odette’s sits is owned by the state, which Amery already has lured into making a $1.5 to $3 million commitment to reconstruct the nearby canal and associated bridges. Amery says he would never have considered the project without the state’s willingness to rebuild the grounds. “If I couldn’t get some traction for the surrounding area, I probably would never have done the project,” he says. “Who would ever want to build a palace in the middle of a bomb site?”

 Building a buzz

Odette’s patrons were known for being a forgiving lot. The building was far from pristine even before it was ravaged by the recent flooding. Egan says a dirt craw space under the cabaret room made it a constant struggle to keep his piano in tune. Once, he was asked by then owner Rocky Barbone to discourage guests from getting up and dancing because the wood floor noticeably bowed under the pressure of some enthusiastic leg kicks. But everyone, including Egan himself, seemed willing to look past the nuances because they were part of the character of the place.

Amery understands that. He was a loyal patron of the place long before he made his first offer to buy it after the second flood (which was rejected). “Let me put it this way,” he says, “I wouldn’t be here if it didn’t have history. I’m not interested in building a restaurant. That has never been my objective. Odette’s is better known than the name New Hope. It is the basis of a cultural history. And that is the piece that I think is going to make this really happen.”

That said, this will not be the Odette’s of old. Amery is interested in capturing the essence of the famed restaurant’s vibe, of keeping it the type of place where bartenders and waitresses are encouraged to come out of the woodwork and perform. But that’s where it ends. “We need to be realistic about what it is we’re trying to restore,” Amery says. “I want to keep as much as I can of the walls and that feel in the old part, and, in many ways, to replicate it in the extensions that we’re adding on. But it’s going to be different.”

Amery already has made sure that Egan is integrally involved in the planning, though his role has yet to be specifically defined. In the vein of remaining connected with the past, but using it as a catalyst for a new age at Odette’s, Egan and Amery have begun discussing general concepts for the entertainment end of the operation. There will, of course, be cabaret, but the menu will be far more expansive than that. They see the new Odette’s as the ideal venue for a range of performances, from flamenco dancing to vaudeville acts, which is a direction that Egan says he always hoped to take Odette’

s prior to the floods but never found the opportunity.

“I always felt that we could only do so much there because of the situation. It was limited,” says Egan, who expects nothing to be lost with diversifying the acts. “I wouldn’t want to do any one type of music seven nights a week anyway. What we had at Odette’s was a mini center for entertainment. There was always a buzz, there was always something going on.”

No absolutes
The threat of future flooding is never downplayed in any conversation surrounding the future of Odette’s. In a day, however, when development is largely discouraged throughout Bucks County along the river, the overwhelmingly positive reception that Amery and his plans have been greeted with at almost every turn is also not to be downplayed. “He’s presented to HARB, to council, to everything,” Duffy says. “I mean to all of our different boards. And they all loved it and they all fully supported it. What he’s proposing should happen, as far as I am concerned.”

Amery is constantly aware of setting a dangerous precedent with this project, with potentially opening the doors to a rash of riverside development. Duffy, though, says that Amery’s plans are indicative of the direction that local officials would like to steer future construction along the river in New Hope. “His project’s going to be a definite example of how to work in a flood plane, raise a building, make it functional, but yet keep the integrity of the history and the surrounding area intact,”he says.

As I mentioned, the 11-and-a-half feet that Odette’s will be elevated is not a random figure. Ask whether that will be enough and Amery will tell you that there has been significant flooding in New Hope in eight different months, spanning all seasons. He will tell you that the flood of 1903 may have wiped out the bridge that connected New Hope to Lambertville, NJ, at the time, but it still fell far short of the flood of 1955, which is widely considered the worst to hit the region in the modern day. It exceeded the 100-year flood plane, even though, according to Amery, that designation was not defined by FEMA until some 40 years later.

So, that is his reference point, not a height singled out by the government. The first floor of the new Odette’s will sit several inches above the height at which the flood of ’55 crested at that location. “Are there any absolutes in life? No,” says Brian Tracy, the owner of BKT Architects, the firm handling the project’s design. “Do we think this is a sensible use of money and resources? Absolutely. This is Mike Amery thinking ahead, thinking bigger. Codes are minimal. Flood plane elevation requirements by FEMA are minimal. We’ve gone above and beyond. We’re not just drawing the pictures because somebody asked us to. We do believe it’s a responsible approach to developing the site.”

Amery believes the ramifications of his proposals extend far beyond the actualization of one man’s dream. Practically speaking, any number of parties both in and outside of New Hope are waiting to see whether to see he can actually pull this off. He has become their guinea pig. Should he succeed, it could open New Hope up to an influx of renewed interest – and investment. “Stepping up and looking at it from 20,000 feet, you’ve really got to look at New Hope and the way in which New Hope is evolving,” Amery says. “There’s been a lot of people holding back on the investments because of the three floods in two years. (The new Odette’s is) something that everyone realizes they need. It’s going to be a foundation for the future. It’s that big. It sounds very dramatic, but that’s the way people see it. It’s iconic.”

The consummate entrepreneur
At one point during our first meeting, Amery shares a funny aside. We’re discussing the ebb and flow of Odette’s over the years, including a rather tough stretch of several years after Myrtil died. This is not the first time that Odette’s was down and out, but the last two years, at least before Amery produced his first renderings, may have been its lowest point. Amery then confesses that he fields two to three calls for dinner reservations a day. He had the phone number for Odette’s forwarded to his BlackBerry. Even funnier, some of the calls come from locals who should know better.

Not entirely believing him, the interview moves on only to be interrupted several minutes later by his ringing BlackBerry. He answers hello and then smiles at me before launching into a brief explanation to the person on the other end as to why he would not be able to grant a 6:30 p.m. reservation, at least not tonight.

Amery takes every one of those calls, careful not to overlook a single potential customer, even, as was the case this particular time, his incredibly ambitious renderings for the New Hope institution sit before him. 

1. As a cabaret performer and member of Odette’s wonderfully diverse family of friends, I’m so grateful for Mike’s foresight and enthusiasm. This was/is a very special place to so many people, and to the town of New Hope- I can’t WAIT to sing at (The Riverhouse at)Odette’s again! Bravo, Mr. Amery!!

   Posted by Suzan Bartels | July 29, 2008, 11:00 am

2. Odett’s was an integral part of my dining life…brunch almost every Sunday before Rocky passed…many many Christmas eves there…even my retirement luncheon was at Odette’s…Mr. Amery…you are saluted for your courage, sense of history and foresight…I so look forward to opening day…I guess I’ll need a reservation…

   Dr. Ed Kiess

   Posted by Ed Kiess | July 1, 2009, 12:21 pm

3. As a former server at Oddett’s for 19 years, I have a lot of wonderful memories. I am so happy to hear that this important historical landmark is being preserved. I can not wait untill it’s re-opening! You are making a lot of people very, very happy Mr.Amery!

   Posted by Helen Shaeffer | July 17, 2009, 2:33 pm

4. Oddett’s was such a cozy and lovely place to work, dine, and be a part of. I am so fond of it and so happy it is being saved. Mr.Amery please contact me when you are ready to hire again!

   Posted by Leyna Ivins | July 17, 2009, 2:58 pm

5. I worked at Odette’s the Summer of ‘77 or ‘78. I will never forget the camaraderie among all employees, from dishwasher to head chef. We still had our daily visit from the swan back then. Wasn’t I surprised to discover that Tally, the maitre d’(in resplendent pink silk suit jacket,) crewed a U.S. supply ship on the Pacific with my stepfather during the Korean War! Small world. Good luck Mr. Avery.

   Posted by Lauren Jacober | January 18, 2010, 9:13 pm