Located in a handsome brick 1890s building on Field Court, Catskill Woodworking builds crafted custom kitchen cabinets, coffered ceilings, grand staircases, high-end paneling and moldings fit for a robber baron, and even entire libraries, fitted into exclusive apartments and townhouses in New York City. The company works closely with its client architects almost exclusively on residential projects, according to Bob Allen, who owns the company with partner Chris Sell. All projects are built in Kingston, shipped down to the city by truck, and installed on site by company workers.
The business, which occupies three of the four floors of the 25,000-square-foot building—it was formerly a shirt factory, and judging by an old photo, before that a dry goods store–has a staff of twenty, including draftsmen, cabinet makers, millworkers, estimators and project managers. It also sells, made to order, a finely crafted pool table—so far, 25 have been built—that’s guaranteed to improve your billards game: the piece is crafted of sturdy hardwoods topped by a piece of premium Brazilian slate which is covered with a special cloth. The rails feature ebony sights and walnut burl corners, the billiard balls are crafted and imported from Belgium, and the cues are fashioned out of fiberglass-reinforced maple.
While Catskill Woodworking’s success is based on old-world artisanship that harks back to the workshops of the Middle Ages, it’s also a cutting edge business that utilizes the latest in green technology. Its roof is covered with 135 solar panels, the key components of a 28.6-KW solar energy system that went on line in January. The system is expected to meet a third of the company’s energy needs, Allen said. The company also has a wood-burning boiler that consumes the sawdust that’s perhaps its most plentiful byproduct.
Business was a little slow over the winter due to the economic downturn, but now things are picking up. Allen said he enjoys working out of a historic building on a quiet street that’s yet near restaurants and other conveniences. Kingston’s convenient access to New York City is another advantage. So if you’ve always dreamed of a having a specially paneled room—or maybe just a beautifully designed shelving unit and bench—where you can read, entertain and loaf but never knew anyone with the skills to build it, consider Catskill Woodworking, a local business that builds world-class products.
