About

Barnabys Steakhouse is located in the historic Village Hall, formerly a 500-seat theater built by the New Paltz Literary Association in 1863. The building is constructed of local bricks made by the A.M. Low Brickyard, which operated as the Lowe Brick Company until 1928.

Village Hall served as the community’s cultural and social center from 1863 to 1929. Lyceum lecture courses, public and private dances, vaudeville acts, operettas, plays, church and community benefits and music recitals were all held on the upper level. It also showed both New Paltz’s first silent films, and its first talkies.

Village Hall became Barnabys in 1967, after serving variously as the first home for St. Andrews Episcopal Church, a classroom, an ice cream parlor and a barbershop.

(Historical information courtesy Village of New Paltz Reconnaissance Level Historic Resource Survey.)