Benjamin Walworth Arnold House and Carriage House
Encyclopedia
The Benjamin Walworth Arnold House and Carriage House are located on State Street and Washington Avenue in Albany
, New York, United States. They are brick structures dating to the beginning of the 20th century. In 1972 they were included as a contributing property
to the Washington Park
Historic District
when it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
. In 1982 they were listed individually as well.
Stanford White
designed the buildings, which would be his only work in the city, for a local lumber magnate. They attracted considerable attention when they were completed as the first Colonial Revival buildings
in Albany, and its first fully electrified
house. The house is today the offices of the New York State Catholic Conference, and the carriage house
an architectural firm's office.
at the northwest corner of the intersection of State and Sprague opposite the park. The carriage house is on the north side of Washington where it forks to the north from Western Avenue, opposite the intersection of those two streets with Sprague. The surrounding neighborhood is densely developed and urban, with most buildings from the same era, originally designed for residential use. Some mature trees are planted among them, making the transition to the large park to the south less abrupt.
structure of brick laid in Flemish bond, with corner quoin
s, on an exposed white marble
foundation
. It is topped by a flat roof pierced by three brick chimneys. On the east (front) facade the two bays flanking the center are on rounded projections. An iron fence with brick posts topped by wooden spheres sets it off from the streets on the south and east.
On the first floor of both facade
s windows are six-over-six double-hung sash
. They have marble trim with consoles supporting bracketed
cornice
s and entablature
s. Small iron railings are attached to the sills. The second and third floor windows are less elaborate, with marble sills and keystone
d lintels. On the east facade, the central window has two narrow flanking windows with the same treatment, and the window above it has a small balcony
with iron railing and two small keystoned round windows. To the south, where the middle three bays form a slightly projecting pavilion, the end windows on the second story have narrow flanking windows, and the central windows on the upper stories have balconies. At the roofline is a classically-inspired cornice with modillion blocks and gutta
e topped with a wooden balustrade. The north facade, otherwise similar to the south, has a projecting conservatory in the center. On the west there is no facade as the building is joined to the one next to it along State Street.
Marble steps lead up to the main entrance and a marble porch with paired fluted
Ionic
columns supporting a marble entabulature. Above the porch is an iron balustrade forming a balcony. The doorway, in a marble surround, is flanked by two narrow keystoned windows similar to those on the second story. A modern glass and steel door with a transom opens into a central hallway with wooden wainscoting. Decorated lintels are atop the doorways, bridged by a Doric
frieze
below the ceiling. Its west end is a wooden staircase with three types of Georgian
turned balusters.
The southeast room is decorated in an Adamesque style, featuring an onyx
mantelpiece. To its west is the library, now used as a conference room. Its oak flooring is laid out in a herringbone
pattern. Mahogany
moldings
, chimney breasts and cornice complete the room. The dining room, opposite, is paneled in darker mahogany, complemented by a green marble mantelpiece. Its north wall opens into the conservatory. Next to the dining room is a small breakfast room with mirrors and wooden latticework on its walls. The northeast corner room is done in dark paneling and hand-tooled leather. Another room in the house has a strapped plaster ceiling. The rooms on the second and third stories are more modest, with some having mantelpieces of their own. The billiards room on the third floor has dark paneling and a large fireplace.
cornice and balustrade
. The door and six-over-one double-hung sash windows are capped with flat marble arches. Like the main house, bricks on the south (front) facade are laid in Flemish bond, the other three are in common bond. The north and east facades have windows while the west is blind as it once abutted a neighboring building. Inside its walls were historically unfinished brick and the floor partially paved, with minimal decoration, although that has been changed by the building's adaption
for office use.
. A thousand employees worked in their mills, and the firm had a large portion of dock space on Albany's waterfront. Benjamin Walworth Arnold succeeded his father upon his 1891 death and continued to expand the business. He eventually became president of the Duluth and Northern Minnesota Railroad, and married into the Van Rensselaer family, descendants of the patroon
s of the area during Dutch Colonial
times.
By the turn of the century the lumber business in Albany was declining as forests and markets opened up further west. Arnold turned his attentions to more local industries, such as banking, and began giving away money to local causes. In 1904 he commissioned Stanford White
, who had worked for Henry Hobson Richardson
as a draftsman thirty years earlier on the state capitol
but had not built anything of his own in the city, to design a house on the site of an old chapel that was demolished to make way for it, along with a carriage house
on a nearby block. It used the new Colonial Revival
architectural style
, very different from the homes of other wealthy Albany residents built in the area at the time, making it the subject of extended commentary in local newspapers of the time. It was also the first fully electrified
home in the city. White, who did not remain in Albany to oversee the cosntruction, was murdered by Harry Thaw two years later, leaving Arnold's buildings as his only work in Albany.
Arnold himself died in 1932, after spending the later years of his life as a trustee of many local colleges and a director of local banks. His widow remained in the property until her death in 1945. The estate
sold the house to the New York State College for Teachers (now part of the State University of New York at Albany
), which used it as a fraternity
house and dormitory
. Two local auto mechanics bought the carriage house and converted it into an auto repair shop.
In 1956 the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany
bought the house and converted its second floor to office space. A decade later they renovated the first floor, and it served as the bishop's residence for some time after that. It is currently the offices of the New York State Catholic Conference. A local insurance company bought the carriage house in 1977 and converted it for office use. It is now used by an architectural firm.
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
, New York, United States. They are brick structures dating to the beginning of the 20th century. In 1972 they were included as a contributing property
Contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
to the Washington Park
Washington Park Historic District (Albany, New York)
Washington Park in Albany, New York is the city's premier park and the site of many festivals and gatherings. As public property it dates back to the city charter in 1686, and has seen many uses including that of gunpowder storage, square/parade grounds, and cemetery...
Historic District
Historic district (United States)
In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...
when it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. In 1982 they were listed individually as well.
Stanford White
Stanford White
Stanford White was an American architect and partner in the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White, the frontrunner among Beaux-Arts firms. He designed a long series of houses for the rich and the very rich, and various public, institutional, and religious buildings, some of which can be found...
designed the buildings, which would be his only work in the city, for a local lumber magnate. They attracted considerable attention when they were completed as the first Colonial Revival buildings
Colonial Revival architecture
The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...
in Albany, and its first fully electrified
Mains electricity
Mains is the general-purpose alternating current electric power supply. In the US, electric power is referred to by several names including household power, household electricity, powerline, domestic power, wall power, line power, AC power, city power, street power, and grid power...
house. The house is today the offices of the New York State Catholic Conference, and the carriage house
Carriage house
A carriage house, also called remise or coach house, is an outbuilding which was originally built to house horse-drawn carriages and the related tack.In Great Britain the farm building was called a Cart Shed...
an architectural firm's office.
Buildings
Both buildings are near Sprague Place, a short north-south street that connects State and Washington just north of the 81 acres (32.8 ha) Washington Park. The house is on a one-acre (4,000 m²) lot taking up, along with a parking lot to the north, the entire west side of the blockCity block
A city block, urban block or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design. A city block is the smallest area that is surrounded by streets. City blocks are the space for buildings within the street pattern of a city, they form the basic unit of a city's urban fabric...
at the northwest corner of the intersection of State and Sprague opposite the park. The carriage house is on the north side of Washington where it forks to the north from Western Avenue, opposite the intersection of those two streets with Sprague. The surrounding neighborhood is densely developed and urban, with most buildings from the same era, originally designed for residential use. Some mature trees are planted among them, making the transition to the large park to the south less abrupt.
House
The house is a three-story five-by-five-bayBay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
structure of brick laid in Flemish bond, with corner quoin
Quoin (architecture)
Quoins are the cornerstones of brick or stone walls. Quoins may be either structural or decorative. Architects and builders use quoins to give the impression of strength and firmness to the outline of a building...
s, on an exposed white marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
foundation
Foundation (architecture)
A foundation is the lowest and supporting layer of a structure. Foundations are generally divided into two categories: shallow foundations and deep foundations.-Shallow foundations:...
. It is topped by a flat roof pierced by three brick chimneys. On the east (front) facade the two bays flanking the center are on rounded projections. An iron fence with brick posts topped by wooden spheres sets it off from the streets on the south and east.
On the first floor of both facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
s windows are six-over-six double-hung sash
Sash window
A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels or "sashes" that form a frame to hold panes of glass, which are often separated from other panes by narrow muntins...
. They have marble trim with consoles supporting bracketed
Bracket (architecture)
A bracket is an architectural member made of wood, stone, or metal that overhangs a wall to support or carry weight. It may also support a statue, the spring of an arch, a beam, or a shelf. Brackets are often in the form of scrolls, and can be carved, cast, or molded. They can be entirely...
cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
s and entablature
Entablature
An entablature refers to the superstructure of moldings and bands which lie horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and are commonly divided into the architrave , the frieze ,...
s. Small iron railings are attached to the sills. The second and third floor windows are less elaborate, with marble sills and keystone
Keystone (architecture)
A keystone is the wedge-shaped stone piece at the apex of a masonry vault or arch, which is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allowing the arch to bear weight. This makes a keystone very important structurally...
d lintels. On the east facade, the central window has two narrow flanking windows with the same treatment, and the window above it has a small balcony
Balcony
Balcony , a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade.-Types:The traditional Maltese balcony is a wooden closed balcony projecting from a...
with iron railing and two small keystoned round windows. To the south, where the middle three bays form a slightly projecting pavilion, the end windows on the second story have narrow flanking windows, and the central windows on the upper stories have balconies. At the roofline is a classically-inspired cornice with modillion blocks and gutta
Gutta
A gutta is a small water-repelling, cone-shaped projection used in the architrave of the Doric order in classical architecture. At the top of the architrave blocks, a row of six guttae below the narrow projection of the taenia and cymatium formed an element called a regula...
e topped with a wooden balustrade. The north facade, otherwise similar to the south, has a projecting conservatory in the center. On the west there is no facade as the building is joined to the one next to it along State Street.
Marble steps lead up to the main entrance and a marble porch with paired fluted
Fluting (architecture)
Fluting in architecture refers to the shallow grooves running vertically along a surface.It typically refers to the grooves running on a column shaft or a pilaster, but need not necessarily be restricted to those two applications...
Ionic
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
columns supporting a marble entabulature. Above the porch is an iron balustrade forming a balcony. The doorway, in a marble surround, is flanked by two narrow keystoned windows similar to those on the second story. A modern glass and steel door with a transom opens into a central hallway with wooden wainscoting. Decorated lintels are atop the doorways, bridged by a Doric
Doric order
The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...
frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
below the ceiling. Its west end is a wooden staircase with three types of Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
turned balusters.
The southeast room is decorated in an Adamesque style, featuring an onyx
Onyx
Onyx is a banded variety of chalcedony. The colors of its bands range from white to almost every color . Commonly, specimens of onyx contain bands of black and/or white.-Etymology:...
mantelpiece. To its west is the library, now used as a conference room. Its oak flooring is laid out in a herringbone
Herringbone
Herringbone can refer to:*A layout of airline seating – see Herringbone seating*A bonding pattern of brickwork, also known as opus spicatum*A weaving pattern of tweed or twill cloth – see Herringbone *A cross-stitch pattern...
pattern. Mahogany
Mahogany
The name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored hardwood. It is a native American word originally used for the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban mahogany....
moldings
Molding (decorative)
Molding or moulding is a strip of material with various profiles used to cover transitions between surfaces or for decoration. It is traditionally made from solid milled wood or plaster but may be made from plastic or reformed wood...
, chimney breasts and cornice complete the room. The dining room, opposite, is paneled in darker mahogany, complemented by a green marble mantelpiece. Its north wall opens into the conservatory. Next to the dining room is a small breakfast room with mirrors and wooden latticework on its walls. The northeast corner room is done in dark paneling and hand-tooled leather. Another room in the house has a strapped plaster ceiling. The rooms on the second and third stories are more modest, with some having mantelpieces of their own. The billiards room on the third floor has dark paneling and a large fireplace.
Carriage house
Like the house, the carriage house is of brick on a marble foundation, with marble trim. It is two stories tall. At its roofline is a DoricDoric order
The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...
cornice and balustrade
Baluster
A baluster is a moulded shaft, square or of lathe-turned form, one of various forms of spindle in woodwork, made of stone or wood and sometimes of metal, standing on a unifying footing, and supporting the coping of a parapet or the handrail of a staircase. Multiplied in this way, they form a...
. The door and six-over-one double-hung sash windows are capped with flat marble arches. Like the main house, bricks on the south (front) facade are laid in Flemish bond, the other three are in common bond. The north and east facades have windows while the west is blind as it once abutted a neighboring building. Inside its walls were historically unfinished brick and the floor partially paved, with minimal decoration, although that has been changed by the building's adaption
Adaptive reuse
Adaptive reuse refers to the process of reusing an old site or building for a purpose other than which it was built or designed for. Along with brownfield reclamation, adaptive reuse is seen by many as a key factor in land conservation and the reduction of urban sprawl...
for office use.
History
In 1853, Benjamin W. Arnold of Albany had established his lumber business in partnership with a Michigan man. By the 1880s they were selling lumber from all over the Great Lakes via the Erie CanalErie Canal
The Erie Canal is a waterway in New York that runs about from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of...
. A thousand employees worked in their mills, and the firm had a large portion of dock space on Albany's waterfront. Benjamin Walworth Arnold succeeded his father upon his 1891 death and continued to expand the business. He eventually became president of the Duluth and Northern Minnesota Railroad, and married into the Van Rensselaer family, descendants of the patroon
Patroon
In the United States, a patroon was a landholder with manorial rights to large tracts of land in the 17th century Dutch colony of New Netherland in North America...
s of the area during Dutch Colonial
Dutch colonization of the Americas
Dutch trading posts and plantations in the Americas precede the much wider known colonization activities of the Dutch in Asia. Whereas the first Dutch fort in Asia was built in 1600 , the first forts and settlements on the Essequibo river in Guyana and on the Amazon date from the 1590s...
times.
By the turn of the century the lumber business in Albany was declining as forests and markets opened up further west. Arnold turned his attentions to more local industries, such as banking, and began giving away money to local causes. In 1904 he commissioned Stanford White
Stanford White
Stanford White was an American architect and partner in the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White, the frontrunner among Beaux-Arts firms. He designed a long series of houses for the rich and the very rich, and various public, institutional, and religious buildings, some of which can be found...
, who had worked for Henry Hobson Richardson
Henry Hobson Richardson
Henry Hobson Richardson was a prominent American architect who designed buildings in Albany, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and other cities. The style he popularized is named for him: Richardsonian Romanesque...
as a draftsman thirty years earlier on the state capitol
New York State Capitol
The New York State Capitol is the capitol building of the U.S. state of New York. Housing the New York State Legislature, it is located in the state capital city Albany, on State Street in Capitol Park. The building, completed in 1899 at a cost of $25 million , was the most expensive government...
but had not built anything of his own in the city, to design a house on the site of an old chapel that was demolished to make way for it, along with a carriage house
Carriage house
A carriage house, also called remise or coach house, is an outbuilding which was originally built to house horse-drawn carriages and the related tack.In Great Britain the farm building was called a Cart Shed...
on a nearby block. It used the new Colonial Revival
Colonial Revival architecture
The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...
architectural style
Architectural style
Architectural styles classify architecture in terms of the use of form, techniques, materials, time period, region and other stylistic influences. It overlaps with, and emerges from the study of the evolution and history of architecture...
, very different from the homes of other wealthy Albany residents built in the area at the time, making it the subject of extended commentary in local newspapers of the time. It was also the first fully electrified
Mains electricity
Mains is the general-purpose alternating current electric power supply. In the US, electric power is referred to by several names including household power, household electricity, powerline, domestic power, wall power, line power, AC power, city power, street power, and grid power...
home in the city. White, who did not remain in Albany to oversee the cosntruction, was murdered by Harry Thaw two years later, leaving Arnold's buildings as his only work in Albany.
Arnold himself died in 1932, after spending the later years of his life as a trustee of many local colleges and a director of local banks. His widow remained in the property until her death in 1945. The estate
Estate (law)
An estate is the net worth of a person at any point in time. It is the sum of a person's assets - legal rights, interests and entitlements to property of any kind - less all liabilities at that time. The issue is of special legal significance on a question of bankruptcy and death of the person...
sold the house to the New York State College for Teachers (now part of the State University of New York at Albany
University at Albany, SUNY
The State University of New York at Albany, also known as University at Albany, State University of New York, SUNY Albany or simply UAlbany, is a public university located in Albany, Guilderland, and East Greenbush, New York, United States; is the senior campus of the State University of New York ...
), which used it as a fraternity
Fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
house and dormitory
Dormitory
A dormitory, often shortened to dorm, in the United States is a residence hall consisting of sleeping quarters or entire buildings primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people, often boarding school, college or university students...
. Two local auto mechanics bought the carriage house and converted it into an auto repair shop.
In 1956 the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany
Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany covers all or part of 14 counties in Eastern New York...
bought the house and converted its second floor to office space. A decade later they renovated the first floor, and it served as the bishop's residence for some time after that. It is currently the offices of the New York State Catholic Conference. A local insurance company bought the carriage house in 1977 and converted it for office use. It is now used by an architectural firm.
See also
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New YorkNational Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New YorkThe National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York represent the history of Albany from the Dutch colonial era, through the British colonial era, the American Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, and World War II, in addition to various periods of immigration into New York's...