Kingfisher Tower is a

folly In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings. Eighteenth-cent ...

, built by Edward Clark in 1876, on the eastern shore of Otsego Lake at

Point Judith Point Judith is a village and a small Cape (geography), cape, on the coast of Narragansett, Rhode Island, on the western side of Narragansett Bay where it opens out onto Rhode Island Sound. It is the location for the year-round ferry service that ...

. It is located north of

Cooperstown, New York Cooperstown is a village in and county seat of Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in the C ...

near County Highway 31. The tower was used in a scene in a movie in 1911. It is a

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

structure built by Clark "to beautify the lake" and "to provide construction jobs during an economic turndown". Clark made his fortune investing in

Isaac Singer Isaac Merritt Singer (October 27, 1811 – July 23, 1875) was an American inventor, actor, and businessman. He made important improvements in the design of the sewing machine and was the founder of what became one of the first American multi-n ...

sewing machine A sewing machine is a machine used to sew fabric and materials together with thread. Sewing machines were invented during the first Industrial Revolution to decrease the amount of manual sewing work performed in clothing companies. Since the inv ...

company, and the structure now belongs to his descendants. It is on private property and is usually approachable only from the lake. The structure was designed by architect

Henry J. Hardenbergh Henry Janeway Hardenbergh (February 6, 1847 – March 13, 1918) was an American architect, best known for his hotels and apartment buildings, and as a "master of a new building form — the skyscraper." Life and career Hardenbergh was born in ...

References

* The Freeman's Journal (Cooperstown, Otsego County, N.Y.) September 07, 1876. page 3, image3
online
at nyshistoricnewspapers.org) *http://www.startsandfits.com/hardenbergh/kingfisher.html *http://www.dupontcastle.com/castles/kingfish.htm Henry Janeway Hardenbergh buildings Towers in New York (state) Folly buildings in the United States Folly towers 1876 establishments in New York (state) Towers completed in 1876 {{NewYork-struct-stub