A reader who knows much more about Hudson history than I provided more information about 216-220 Warren Street. The building was built in 1790 and was the first brick house to be constructed on what was then called Main Street.
When Thomas Jenkins died in 1808, his brother Elisha Jenkins inherited the building. It was Elisha who subdivided the building and allowed Thomas's widow to continue living in one half of the house--the upstreet half--for the annual payment of one peppercorn.
When the downstreet half of the building became a hotel in 1894, it was not called the Howard Hotel. Its first name was Graceland, named for the owner's wife. It did not cease being called the Howard Hotel when it was sold in 1944. It continued being operated as the Howard Hotel into the 1970s. In fact, when the City fathers were agonizing about what to do with the General Worth Hotel across the street, the owner of the Howard Hotel offered to buy it for $1 and demolish it to create a parking lot for his hotel.