LB2007.1.27713

LB2007.1.27713

"Birk's" "Birk's Swiss Chalet was operated by Manhattan restauranteur Frank Birk as the River Mount Inn starting in 1923; Birk had come to Saranac Lake in 1911 for the "cure". He bought the adjoining property and built a house there, completed in 1927. By 1935 he had enlarged and remodeled the structure and renamed it Birk's Swiss Chalet. With his wife, Louise, he ran the Swiss Chalet until 1943, when the shortage of food and gasoline caused by World War II necessitated the closing of the Chalet. The Chalet had the reputation for excellent service and some of the finest dining in the North Country. Jazz pianist Marian McPartland was among the many fine musicians who performed there. After the war, the Chalet was sold due to Frank Birk's poor health; he died in 1952. His wife stayed on until in the house until the year before her death in 1979. The house was sold in 1978. They are both buried in St. Paul's cemetery in Bloomingdale. In 1949, it reopened as the Swiss Chalet, operated by Mrs. Mary Coldiron." More at http://hsl.wikispot.org/Birk's_Swiss_Chalet -- Marc Wanner 2012