Elston Hall, formerly the Hotel Van Curler, is located on Washington Street in the city of Schenectady, New York, United States.

Its construction was partially financed by local employers General Electric and the American Locomotive Company, which needed space for new workers to live and wanted an architecturally distinctive building comparable with large city hotels of the era.

One block to the west, State crosses the Mohawk River via the Western Gateway Bridge to Scotia.

It is H-shaped, with the north wing shorter than the south due to an extension of the main dining room, topped by a gabled roof with wooden eaves shingled in slate.

Its entablature, with the words "SCHENECTADY COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE" on it in metal lettering, is topped by a dentilled cornice and flat roof with balustrade.

The central five bays of the main block are further set off by rusticated stone quoins at the corner and five brick pilasters supporting a pediment and balustrade on the roofline.

The south side's main entrance is a domed portico with classical detail, matched on the north wing by Ionic columns supporting a flat, dentilled entablature.

The fanlights on the exterior doors are also original but they have been covered with shells on the inside to conceal indirect interior lighting.

The Colonial Hotel in Gardner, Massachusetts, also has a similar design except for the projecting wings and the Federal style decoration at the top.

[1] To facilitate it use as a center for local functions, it was designed so that the ballrooms could be entered without having to cross the lobby, seen as the space for commercial travelers.

[1] In the 35 years leading up to the hotel's 1925 construction, Schenectady's population quintupled, making it the fastest-growing city in New York.

Both of these developments were a result of the city becoming the headquarters of General Electric (GE) and the American Locomotive Company (ALCO).

[1] In addition to the many local functions it hosted, it became a popular lunch spot for workers at the nearby GE plant.

Among its many notable guests over the years were then-governor Franklin D. Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor, John Philip Sousa, Clement Attlee and Robert F.

Schenectady County bought the building at the ensuing public auction for $710,000 ($6.22 million in contemporary dollars), and converted it for its current use by the college.