"Unless some transaction is arranged, the Office Hotel building at State and Cayuga Sts., an Ithaca landmark, will be vacant after this week....
Erected in 1818 by the late Stephen Mack, a great grandfather of Fitch H. Stephens and one of the early business men of Ithaca, the building for many years was used as a general merchandise and hardware store.
Shortly before the Civil War, it was purchased by the late Richard A. Crozier and Frank P. Feeley, who conducted a grocery store under the firm name of Crozier & Feeley. A few years later Mr. Crozier bought out his partner's interest and conducted the business alone until shortly after the turn of the century when the building was completely remodeled into a hotel building and was taken over by James Lawson and William Miller, who named it the Office hotel.
According to older Ithacans, the name was created for men 'who stayed out once in a while and could truthfully tell their wives that they were at the office.'
...
During prohibition the business continued as a men's restaurant and hotel.
In the hey-day of the business, the Office Hotel was the gathering point for farmers and business men from all parts of the country, Mr. Stevenson recalled today, glancing around at the two or three customers who had dropped in for lunch.
Mr. Stevenson lays the blame for poor business to the automobile, congestion of traffic and the lack of parking facilities in the business section and last but not least, the diversion of a great deal of travel to Ithaca by the completion of the new Inlet Valley highway."

"Office Hotel Slated For Closing," Ithaca Journal, September 28, 1937, 5.