Ralph Robins Memorial Cottage, right. Undated.
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, September 8, 1990 
Ralph Robins Memorial Cottage, c. 1920s. Courtesy of Lynn Newman. Trudeau Sanatorium Historic District, Reference Number 5
Year built: 1902
Architect: William L. Coulter
Robins Cottage 1 is a near duplicate of Phoenix Cottage, built the same year. Both are frame, four-patient cottages, set on cobblestone foundations, substantial at the rear because both are built on a steep slope of Mt. Pisgah. Robins has been altered by the enclosure of both the front and rear porches with clapboard and the addition of one-over-one windows after 1957. (See Phoenix Cottage for further description.)
History: Without identification as a building at the Saranac Lake sanatorium, but in the only photo with snow on the roof, one of these cottages appeared in Country Life in America in May, 1909. Illustrating an article titled "Sleeping Outdoors for Health: I. Outdoor Sleeping for the Well Man," the photo was captioned, "There is nothing so invigorating as porch life in winter — with warm clothing."
Robins Cottage was built on the site of Spruce Cottage. The architect W. L. Coulter wrote a contract with Dr. Trudeau for its plumbing and heating on May 17, 1902. The young W. G. Distin, Coulter's protege, who later became an important Adirondack architect himself, was a witness to the contract. Scopes and Feustmann published a floor plan of this cottage in their article, "Evolution of Sanatorium Construction", captioning it "Robins Cottage providing access for the beds from patients' bedrooms to porches." John N. Robins had a camp at Loon Lake that W. L. Coulter may also have designed.
Source
See also: Trudeau Sanatorium Historic District
Comments
Footnotes
1. Sometimes rendered "Robbins". This is probably due to a confusion with the "Robbin Cottage" at 9 Church Street, also known as the Northwoods Sanatorium
