1907 commercial arcade and mixed-use building on Broadway, rebuilt after the 1902 'Great Fire' that killed five people on this block of downtown Saratoga Springs.
376-390 Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Public sidewalk and limited public-facing retail; most upper floors are private offices.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Downtown sidewalk with curb cuts.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1907 · 1902 'Saratoga's Great Fire' Site · Early 20th-Century Commercial Arcade · Downtown Broadway Streetscape · Saratoga Springs Historic District
The Arcade Building occupies the 376-390 block of Broadway, the central commercial corridor of Saratoga Springs. The current building opened in 1907, two blocks north of Congress Park and across the street from the Adelphi Hotel and other Gilded Age commercial buildings.
The 1907 structure replaced an earlier building on the same parcel that burned on June 9, 1902, in what local press described as 'Saratoga's Great Fire.' The pre-fire building housed The Saratogian newspaper, the United States Post Office, a bank, and a theater. Five people died in the fire and damage was estimated at $200,000 — equivalent to approximately $4.1 million in today's dollars. The Saratogian lost all of its records in the blaze. The fire is still regarded as one of the worst in Saratoga Springs' history.
The replacement 1907 Arcade Building was designed as an early commercial 'arcade' or mall, with retail at street level and offices on the upper floors. The building has remained in continuous mixed commercial use since opening and is a contributing structure to the Saratoga Springs historic district. It is currently managed locally and houses a mix of retail, professional offices, and small businesses.
The building has also been featured by Roohan Realty and other regional architectural-history writers as one of the better-preserved early twentieth-century commercial buildings on Broadway.
Sources
The Arcade Building's haunted reputation is rooted in the 1902 fire that killed five people on the site. According to local ghost-tour operators and regional reporting, tenants on upper floors describe a phantom cat brushing against their legs — a reference to a couple reportedly found in the wreckage having died in each other's arms alongside their pet.
In a 2022 Spectrum News feature on Saratoga's ghost tours, tour guide Joe Haedrich described the building as having 'burned down three times, with the one in 1902 being one of the worst fires in the city's history,' adding that 'four people died in the fire. Two people died in each other's arms and their cat died next to them.' Haedrich said tenants 'have reported feeling an invisible cat brush against their ankle,' a sensation strong enough that 'a few tenants' relocated to other locations. Saratoga Living's 'Do You Believe In Ghosts?' tour writeup independently corroborates the account, noting a woman who operated a business in the building 'experienced repeated sensations of something brushing against her leg' and chose to relocate after learning about the fire deaths.
Additional accounts describe the apparition of a woman who is believed to have died in the fire. The Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce's self-guided haunted history tour and regional articles in TheTravel.com and WanderCuse include the building among the city's notable paranormal sites.
The building remains an active commercial property with private tenants, and identifications of specific victims from the 1902 fire are largely not corroborated in primary historical records — accounts referring to victims by ethnicity should be treated as folkloric framing rather than verified history.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
View the 1907 commercial arcade facade on the 376-390 block of Broadway, in the heart of downtown Saratoga Springs. The building replaced the structure that burned in the 1902 'Saratoga's Great Fire.'
The Arcade Building is included on the Saratoga County Chamber's self-guided haunted history walking tour through downtown.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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