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Clinton Avenue Historic District (Albany, New York)
Encyclopedia
The Clinton Avenue Historic District in Albany
, New York, United States, is a 70 acres (28.3 ha) area along that street (part of which is also US 9) between North Pearl (NY 32
) and Quail streets. It also includes some blocks
along neighboring streets such as Lark and Lexington.
It originated with the city's creation of Clinton Square at its east end, shortly after the opening of the Erie Canal
. Herman Melville
lived for a year in one of the early rowhouses on the square. The rowhouse became the standard form as development continued to the west in later decades as the city industrialized. Today 92% of its nearly 600 buildings are 19th-century rowhouses in different architectural style
s, predominantly Italianate
, many built as speculative housing for the city's middle class. This is the greatest concentration of such houses in the city of Albany. All but 20 buildings are contributing properties
.
Many remain intact both outside and in, and in 1981 it was recognized as a historic district
by the city, and seven years later, in 1988, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
(NRHP). Urban decay
still affects the district, and the city has spent federal grant money on revitalization and stabilization efforts.
to the plains of the city's western neighborhoods, first steeply up the side of the bluff known as Sheridan Hollow, then more gently to the Quail intersection, a total climb of 190 feet (57.9 m). Through here, Clinton remains unusually wide for Albany (briefly divided at its eastern end, where it receives traffic off Interstate 787
from the nearby Dunn Memorial Bridge
.
It is just north of downtown and the state buildings of Empire State Plaza
. Other historic districts, such as Arbor Hill, Broadway-Livingston Avenue and Ten Broeck Triangle, abut it on the north.
Its boundaries were precisely drawn to follow the rear lot
lines along both side of Clinton Avenue. There are extrusions taking in some sections of side streets where similar housing was built.
On its east end, starting at the Palace, it includes the west side of North Pearl Street (NY 32
) and the east side north of the modern Leo O'Brien Federal Office Building. Three rowhouses along the south side of Livingston are included; the rest of this neighborhood is part of the Arbor Hill-Ten Broeck Triangle historic district. The area to the east of the intersection is included in the Broadway-Livingston Avenue Historic District
.
South of the Clinton-North Pearl intersection, the boundary takes in the two remaining rowhouses on Clinton Place, the oldest extant buildings in the district. After excluding the properties on either side of the Ten Broeck Street intersection, it continues westward along Clinton's rear property lines until the southern Lark Street
intersection, where US 9W
branches off to the south from Route 9, the beginning of a highway to the George Washington Bridge
in Fort Lee, New Jersey
. Here it extends down the street for several blocks, all the way to Elk Street, taking in the nine-house row along the north side to the east of the intersection.
At the next intersection west along Clinton, Henry Johnson Boulevard, US 9 leaves Clinton Avenue for the latter. The district continues to follow the Clinton property lines to Lexington Avenue, where it includes the houses along the west side to midway between First and Second streets, and short rows along either side of First Street west of the Lexington intersection. From there the district returns to Clinton all the rest of the way to Quail, including 2 Judson Street only because it fronts on Clinton and is part of a row in that area.
The 70 acres (28 ha) delineated by this boundary are urban and mostly developed, with a few vacant lots. There are 576 buildings in it. Only 20 of them are considered non-contributing
, most of them modern commercial intrusions like supermarkets and gas stations. Of the 556 contributing buildings, 530 (or 92% of the total) are two- or three-story brick rowhouses, built over a century and reflecting different architectural style
s. The remaining historic buildings include the theater, churches, an old police station and two schools.
from the British, the future route of Clinton was set as the city's northern boundary, at this time the street's name was Patroon Street. To its north were the lands of the van Rensselaer family's patroon
ship. A decade before the Revolution
, Stephen van Rensselaer II
had the area just north of the city surveyed and laid out a grid plan
for future growth. On March 7, 1788 the state of New York divided the entire state into towns eliminating districts as administrative units. This transformed the Western District of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck into the town of Watervliet
, which incorporated the lands north of Patroon Street. The neighborhood in this town along the north edge of Patroon Street would be incorporated as a municipality under the name of Colonie in 1791 but would stay within Watervliet. Colonie would become incorporated again, this time as a district in 1801, and a village in 1804, then a separate town in 1808. In 1815 Colonie would be split between the city of Albany and the town of Watervliet.
The area began to grow and the planned streets became reality. In 1815, with a thousand people already living between the river and Knox Street (which later became Northern Boulevard and then changed again to Henry Johnson Boulevard) it was annexed
to Albany. It became the city's Fifth Ward. It was in 1815 after the annexation that Albany renamed Patroon Street to Clinton Avenue.
Development in the area began to increase when the Erie Canal
, which connected to the Hudson at the Albany Basin, was completed in 1825. On December 29, 1828 notable residents Israel Smith and Samuel Pruyn, among others, petitioned the Common Council to improve the junction of Clinton and North Pearl streets, an area increasingly visible to visitors to the city. It wasn't until a month later, on January 26, 1829, that the Common Council's committee on the subject reported in favor of the improvement and recommended that the square be named Clinton Square. It was on August 17, 1829 that the Common Council declared North Pearl Street between Orange Street and Clinton Avenue to be widened and renamed Clinton Square, and the park to be roughly 200 by 60 feet. A small park, it was considered one of the city's major achievements of the time. It was considered the first city improvement north of downtown, the city being focused on the southern section prior to this. The creation of Clinton Square marks the beginning of the district's development and history. By March 1831, however, the opening of the square was denounced as "a monument of the stupidity of its originators" and "had a tendency to reduce rents in that quarter". By 1914 the few trees that were there were in poor shape and the square was a grassy area with a single diagonal path.
reflecting the contemporary Greek Revival
style, built on Clinton Place overlooking the park, along with a church. Only two houses, 3 and 5 Clinton Place, survive. Herman Melville
lived in the former during 1843.
The Clinton Place rowhouses set that form as the standard for the rest of the district as the century progressed. It was a convergence of the building traditions
of the city's early Dutch settlers
, where a long and narrow lot was almost completely covered by the house, with the more English-influenced buildings preferred by the Albanians of the early 19th century, many of whom had emigrated west from New England
.
North Pearl Street was completed to Livingston Avenue at this time, and the first railroads were built into the city. The Mohawk and Hudson's tracks came into the city a half-mile (1 km) north of Clinton Avenue, primarily delivering lumber
from the vast forests in the northern
and western
regions of the state to the nearby Albany Lumber District
along the Erie Canal. This triggered a building boom along Clinton in the 1840s. The oldest rowhouses along the street, the three buildings between 65 and 75, were part of a group of six built as speculative housing by local landowner Thomas Ludlow in 1845.
In the 1850s the street was gradually built out between North Pearl and Swan streets. Houses built during this time reflected the early adoption of the Italianate
mode and its preference for the bracketed
cornice
. These elements were usually made of sandstone
before the Civil War
but of wood afterwards. The Italianate style dominated in rowhouses on Clinton Avenue until 1880; today it still accounts for the majority of rowhouses in the district. The houses at 133–143 Clinton, dating to 1851, exemplify the prewar Italianate rowhouses. The unbroken row from 250–272 Clinton, dating to the 1870s, demonstrates the postwar application of the style.
The population grew enough that School 5, now a church, was built at 226-228 North Pearl. Development pressure on the west end of Clinton Avenue came later in the 1850s when Erastus Corning
combined many of the state's railroads into the New York Central
. To handle the new road's maintenance needs, he began building a yard north of Clinton Avenue west of Northern Boulevard. The facility also had the largest stockyard
east of Chicago. The city expanded its horsecar
lines to run further west along the former Schenectady Turnpike, now Central Avenue, in the 1860s. This made possible the development of the blocks at the west end of the district. Many of the clapboard
-sided
homes there were filled by German immigrants
.
at 126 Clinton Avenue. This increase in services prefigured the 1870 annexation of the land on the west of Northern Boulevard, putting the entirety of Clinton Avenue within Albany city limits. Two years later, in 1872, the city established a horsecar line along Clinton from North Pearl to Lexington, bringing the city's downtown within reach of the neighborhood. This made it more desirable and housing began to supplant the brickyard
s that had previously been located there.
The decades of the Gilded Age
were marked by a building boom along Clinton. Many of the remaining undeveloped lots, particularly along the western section of the street, were bought and speculative rowhouses built. Most were rented to the various laborers and craftsmen moving into the area. Construction began to come up Lark Street, the first one west of downtown Albany that crossed the Sheridan Hollow ravine (since filled in) at grade. Following the annexation, Lexington Street was extended northward a few blocks, and brick rowhouses were built there as well.
Development continued in the 1880s, with some earlier construction being demolished to make way for newer houses. Builders began moving beyond the Italianate style, experimenting with the Richardsonian Romanesque
and Queen Anne
styles. Hope Baptist Church, at the west end of the McPherson Terrace row on the north side of Clinton west of Judson, is the foremost Romanesque building in the district. The Queen Anne style is responsible for the oriel window
s found at 5 Wilson Street (on the North Pearl corner), the row of 152½, 154 and 154½ (identical buildings with arched windows on the first story) and 168 Clinton, with a projecting gable
d pavilion. The two styles blend in a row faced in stone between Lexington and Robin streets. The Gothic Revival style made an appearance in 1883 when the former St. Luke's Methodist Church was built at the northwest corner of the Lexington intersection.
Building finally slowed down in the 1890s, since most of the district had been developed. What new construction took place was primarily the infill of the remaining vacant lots. The most significant of this was the completion of the eastern end of McPherson Terrace.
was built at the southwest corner of Clinton and Lexington in 1905, and a few more stone and brick rowhouses were built on North Pearl in that decade. Most buildings in early 20th century styles were public ones, like the Classical Revival
police station built at 222 Pearl Street in 1911. The 1931 opening of the Palace Theatre
at Clinton and North Pearl, where its history began, gave the district its newest contributing property and ended its period of significance.
The Clinton Street area remained a thriving middle-class residential neighborhood throughout the first half of the century. After World War II
, suburb
anization began and many of the residents moved out of the city. The poorer residents who replaced them, particularly west of Northern Boulevard, could not get mortgages or home improvement
loans, and in the 1960s and 1970s the area began to show the signs of early urban decay
, as buildings began to be abandoned and crumbled.
The district was never targeted for wholesale urban renewal
, and after some demolitions in the east end it became eligible for Community Development Block Grant
s (CDBGs) in the late 1970s. The city, which had bought the Palace in 1969, designated the Clinton-North Pearl area a historic district in 1981. Several years later it targeted 82 rowhouses between North Pearl and Northern Boulevard for a neighborhood stabilization program, work which culminated in the Register listing for the district three years later.
appointed by the mayor. The HRC also considers new city landmark designations. The area also comes under the purview of several of Albany's neighborhood associations.
The neighborhood stabilization efforts have not yet affected the entire district. In some blocks, particularly west of Northern, houses continue to deteriorate and storefronts remain vacant. The city's Community Development Agency continues to seek CDBG monies to rehabilitate abandoned rowhouses along Clinton Avenue and continue to keep them affordable
.
Clinton Ave at Ontario Street is also the location of the oldest firehouse in the city of Albany, built in 1874, refurbished in the 1930s and in 1998.
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, is a 70 acres (28.3 ha) area along that street (part of which is also US 9) between North Pearl (NY 32
New York State Route 32
New York State Route 32 is a north–south state highway that extends for through the Hudson Valley and Capital District regions of the U.S. state of New York. It is a two-lane surface road for nearly its entire length, with few divided and no limited-access sections. From Harriman to Albany,...
) and Quail streets. It also includes some blocks
City 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...
along neighboring streets such as Lark and Lexington.
It originated with the city's creation of Clinton Square at its east end, shortly after the opening of the Erie Canal
Erie 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...
. Herman Melville
Herman Melville
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....
lived for a year in one of the early rowhouses on the square. The rowhouse became the standard form as development continued to the west in later decades as the city industrialized. Today 92% of its nearly 600 buildings are 19th-century rowhouses in different 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...
s, predominantly Italianate
Italianate architecture
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
, many built as speculative housing for the city's middle class. This is the greatest concentration of such houses in the city of Albany. All but 20 buildings are contributing properties
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...
.
Many remain intact both outside and in, and in 1981 it was recognized as a 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...
by the city, and seven years later, in 1988, 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...
(NRHP). Urban decay
Urban decay
Urban decay is the process whereby a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude...
still affects the district, and the city has spent federal grant money on revitalization and stabilization efforts.
Geography
The district centers along the 1.5 miles (2.4 km) stretch of Clinton between Broadway and North Quail. This stretch of the road rises from the flatlands next to the Hudson RiverHudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
to the plains of the city's western neighborhoods, first steeply up the side of the bluff known as Sheridan Hollow, then more gently to the Quail intersection, a total climb of 190 feet (57.9 m). Through here, Clinton remains unusually wide for Albany (briefly divided at its eastern end, where it receives traffic off Interstate 787
Interstate 787
Interstate 787 is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of New York. I-787 is the main highway for those traveling into and out of downtown Albany. The southern terminus is at the Interstate 87/New York State Thruway exit 23 toll plaza southwest of downtown Albany...
from the nearby Dunn Memorial Bridge
Dunn Memorial Bridge
The Dunn Memorial Bridge, officially known as the Private Parker F. Dunn Memorial Bridge, carries US 9 and US 20 across the Hudson River between Albany, New York and Rensselaer, New York. Completed in 1967 to replace an earlier span bearing the same name, the highway bridge has a steel girder...
.
It is just north of downtown and the state buildings of Empire State Plaza
Empire State Plaza
The Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza is a complex of several state government buildings in downtown Albany, New York....
. Other historic districts, such as Arbor Hill, Broadway-Livingston Avenue and Ten Broeck Triangle, abut it on the north.
Its boundaries were precisely drawn to follow the rear lot
Lot (real estate)
In real estate, a lot or plot is a tract or parcel of land owned or meant to be owned by some owner. A lot is essentially considered a parcel of real property in some countries or immovable property in other countries...
lines along both side of Clinton Avenue. There are extrusions taking in some sections of side streets where similar housing was built.
On its east end, starting at the Palace, it includes the west side of North Pearl Street (NY 32
New York State Route 32
New York State Route 32 is a north–south state highway that extends for through the Hudson Valley and Capital District regions of the U.S. state of New York. It is a two-lane surface road for nearly its entire length, with few divided and no limited-access sections. From Harriman to Albany,...
) and the east side north of the modern Leo O'Brien Federal Office Building. Three rowhouses along the south side of Livingston are included; the rest of this neighborhood is part of the Arbor Hill-Ten Broeck Triangle historic district. The area to the east of the intersection is included in the Broadway-Livingston Avenue Historic District
Broadway-Livingston Avenue Historic District
Broadway-Livingston Avenue Historic District is a national historic district located at Albany in Albany County, New York. The district includes 20 contributing buildings and a Warren Truss railroad bridge. It encompasses a collection of two- and three-story rowhouses interspersed with brick...
.
South of the Clinton-North Pearl intersection, the boundary takes in the two remaining rowhouses on Clinton Place, the oldest extant buildings in the district. After excluding the properties on either side of the Ten Broeck Street intersection, it continues westward along Clinton's rear property lines until the southern Lark Street
Lark Street
Lark Street is a historic street in Albany, New York. It is part of the "Arbor Hill, "Center Square", "Park South", and "Hudson/Park" neighborhoods, and is located one block east of Washington Park. Lark Street is home to many independently owned shops, coffee houses, restaurants, art galleries,...
intersection, where US 9W
U.S. Route 9W
U.S. Route 9W is a north–south U.S. Highway in the states of New Jersey and New York. It begins on Fletcher Avenue in Fort Lee, New Jersey as it crosses the US 1 & 9, US 46, and the Interstate 95 approaches to the George Washington Bridge, where it heads north up the west...
branches off to the south from Route 9, the beginning of a highway to the George Washington Bridge
George Washington Bridge
The George Washington Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting the Washington Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City to Fort Lee, Bergen County, New Jersey. Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1/9 cross the river via the bridge. U.S...
in Fort Lee, New Jersey
Fort Lee, New Jersey
Fort Lee is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 35,345. Located atop the Hudson Palisades, the borough is the western terminus of the George Washington Bridge...
. Here it extends down the street for several blocks, all the way to Elk Street, taking in the nine-house row along the north side to the east of the intersection.
At the next intersection west along Clinton, Henry Johnson Boulevard, US 9 leaves Clinton Avenue for the latter. The district continues to follow the Clinton property lines to Lexington Avenue, where it includes the houses along the west side to midway between First and Second streets, and short rows along either side of First Street west of the Lexington intersection. From there the district returns to Clinton all the rest of the way to Quail, including 2 Judson Street only because it fronts on Clinton and is part of a row in that area.
The 70 acres (28 ha) delineated by this boundary are urban and mostly developed, with a few vacant lots. There are 576 buildings in it. Only 20 of them are considered non-contributing
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...
, most of them modern commercial intrusions like supermarkets and gas stations. Of the 556 contributing buildings, 530 (or 92% of the total) are two- or three-story brick rowhouses, built over a century and reflecting different 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...
s. The remaining historic buildings include the theater, churches, an old police station and two schools.
History
The development of Clinton Avenue from northern boundary of the city of Albany to densely developed urban residential area closely parallels the city's growth during the district's period of significance (1820–1931) in response to changes in its economy. It begins with the creation of Clinton Square and ends with the construction of the Palace Theatre at that same intersection.Colonial and Revolutionary periods
In 1686, when Albany received the Dongan CharterDongan Charter
The Dongan Charter is the 1686 document incorporating Albany, New York as a city. Albany's charter was issued by Governor Thomas Dongan of the Province of New York, a few months after Governor Dongan issued a similarly worded, but less detailed charter for the city of New York. The city of Albany...
from the British, the future route of Clinton was set as the city's northern boundary, at this time the street's name was Patroon Street. To its north were the lands of the van Rensselaer family's 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...
ship. A decade before the Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, Stephen van Rensselaer II
Stephen van Rensselaer II
Stephen van Rensselaer II Was the son of Stephen van Rensselaer I and Elizabeth Groesbeck. He was the eighth patroon of Rensselaerwyck from 1747 to 1769. He was also the fifth Lord of Rensselaerwyck...
had the area just north of the city surveyed and laid out a grid plan
Grid plan
The grid plan, grid street plan or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid...
for future growth. On March 7, 1788 the state of New York divided the entire state into towns eliminating districts as administrative units. This transformed the Western District of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck into the town of Watervliet
Watervliet (town), New York
For the Shaker village, see Watervliet Shaker Historic District.The town of Watervliet was a town that at its height encompassed most of present-day Albany County and the majority of the current town of Niskayuna in neighboring Schenectady County, in the state of New York, United States...
, which incorporated the lands north of Patroon Street. The neighborhood in this town along the north edge of Patroon Street would be incorporated as a municipality under the name of Colonie in 1791 but would stay within Watervliet. Colonie would become incorporated again, this time as a district in 1801, and a village in 1804, then a separate town in 1808. In 1815 Colonie would be split between the city of Albany and the town of Watervliet.
The area began to grow and the planned streets became reality. In 1815, with a thousand people already living between the river and Knox Street (which later became Northern Boulevard and then changed again to Henry Johnson Boulevard) it was annexed
Annexation
Annexation is the de jure incorporation of some territory into another geo-political entity . Usually, it is implied that the territory and population being annexed is the smaller, more peripheral, and weaker of the two merging entities, barring physical size...
to Albany. It became the city's Fifth Ward. It was in 1815 after the annexation that Albany renamed Patroon Street to Clinton Avenue.
Erie 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...
, which connected to the Hudson at the Albany Basin, was completed in 1825. On December 29, 1828 notable residents Israel Smith and Samuel Pruyn, among others, petitioned the Common Council to improve the junction of Clinton and North Pearl streets, an area increasingly visible to visitors to the city. It wasn't until a month later, on January 26, 1829, that the Common Council's committee on the subject reported in favor of the improvement and recommended that the square be named Clinton Square. It was on August 17, 1829 that the Common Council declared North Pearl Street between Orange Street and Clinton Avenue to be widened and renamed Clinton Square, and the park to be roughly 200 by 60 feet. A small park, it was considered one of the city's major achievements of the time. It was considered the first city improvement north of downtown, the city being focused on the southern section prior to this. The creation of Clinton Square marks the beginning of the district's development and history. By March 1831, however, the opening of the square was denounced as "a monument of the stupidity of its originators" and "had a tendency to reduce rents in that quarter". By 1914 the few trees that were there were in poor shape and the square was a grassy area with a single diagonal path.
Early 19th century
During the 1830s, many of the dilapidated colonial-era houses around the square were demolished and the first rowhouses, their decorationOrnament (architecture)
In architecture and decorative art, ornament is a decoration used to embellish parts of a building or object. Large figurative elements such as monumental sculpture and their equivalents in decorative art are excluded from the term; most ornament does not include human figures, and if present they...
reflecting the contemporary Greek Revival
Greek Revival architecture
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...
style, built on Clinton Place overlooking the park, along with a church. Only two houses, 3 and 5 Clinton Place, survive. Herman Melville
Herman Melville
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....
lived in the former during 1843.
The Clinton Place rowhouses set that form as the standard for the rest of the district as the century progressed. It was a convergence of the building traditions
Vernacular architecture
Vernacular architecture is a term used to categorize methods of construction which use locally available resources and traditions to address local needs and circumstances. Vernacular architecture tends to evolve over time to reflect the environmental, cultural and historical context in which it...
of the city's early Dutch settlers
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...
, where a long and narrow lot was almost completely covered by the house, with the more English-influenced buildings preferred by the Albanians of the early 19th century, many of whom had emigrated west from New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
.
North Pearl Street was completed to Livingston Avenue at this time, and the first railroads were built into the city. The Mohawk and Hudson's tracks came into the city a half-mile (1 km) north of Clinton Avenue, primarily delivering lumber
Lumber
Lumber or timber is wood in any of its stages from felling through readiness for use as structural material for construction, or wood pulp for paper production....
from the vast forests in the northern
Adirondack Mountains
The Adirondack Mountains are a mountain range located in the northeastern part of New York, that runs through Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Saint Lawrence, Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties....
and western
Western New York
Western New York is the westernmost region of the state of New York. It includes the cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Niagara Falls, the surrounding suburbs, as well as the outlying rural areas of the Great Lakes lowlands, the Genesee Valley, and the Southern Tier. Some historians, scholars and others...
regions of the state to the nearby Albany Lumber District
Albany Lumber District
The lumber district of Albany, New York was relatively small in the 1830s with around six wholesale lumber merchants, but by the 1870s Albany was the largest lumber district in the United States by value, though by that time it had recently been outstripped in feet sold by Chicago...
along the Erie Canal. This triggered a building boom along Clinton in the 1840s. The oldest rowhouses along the street, the three buildings between 65 and 75, were part of a group of six built as speculative housing by local landowner Thomas Ludlow in 1845.
In the 1850s the street was gradually built out between North Pearl and Swan streets. Houses built during this time reflected the early adoption of the Italianate
Italianate architecture
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
mode and its preference for the 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...
. These elements were usually made of sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
before the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
but of wood afterwards. The Italianate style dominated in rowhouses on Clinton Avenue until 1880; today it still accounts for the majority of rowhouses in the district. The houses at 133–143 Clinton, dating to 1851, exemplify the prewar Italianate rowhouses. The unbroken row from 250–272 Clinton, dating to the 1870s, demonstrates the postwar application of the style.
The population grew enough that School 5, now a church, was built at 226-228 North Pearl. Development pressure on the west end of Clinton Avenue came later in the 1850s when Erastus Corning
Erastus Corning
Erastus Corning I , American businessman and politician, was born in Norwich, Connecticut. Corning moved to Troy, New York at the age of 13 to clerk in the hardware store of an uncle; six years later he moved to Albany, New York, where he joined the mercantile business under James Spencer...
combined many of the state's railroads into the New York Central
New York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...
. To handle the new road's maintenance needs, he began building a yard north of Clinton Avenue west of Northern Boulevard. The facility also had the largest stockyard
Feedlot
A feedlot or feedyard is a type of animal feeding operation which is used in factory farming for finishing livestock, notably beef cattle, but also swine, horses, sheep, turkeys, chickens or ducks, prior to slaughter. Large beef feedlots are called Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations . They...
east of Chicago. The city expanded its horsecar
Horsecar
A horsecar or horse-drawn tram is an animal-powered streetcar or tram.These early forms of public transport developed out of industrial haulage routes that had long been in existence, and from the omnibus routes that first ran on public streets in the 1820s, using the newly improved iron or steel...
lines to run further west along the former Schenectady Turnpike, now Central Avenue, in the 1860s. This made possible the development of the blocks at the west end of the district. Many of the clapboard
Clapboard (architecture)
Clapboard, also known as bevel siding or lap siding or weather-board , is a board used typically for exterior horizontal siding that has one edge thicker than the other and where the board above laps over the one below...
-sided
Siding
Siding is the outer covering or cladding of a house meant to shed water and protect from the effects of weather. On a building that uses siding, it may act as a key element in the aesthetic beauty of the structure and directly influence its property value....
homes there were filled by German immigrants
German American
German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
.
Late 19th century
In 1867 the city built a fire stationFire station
A fire station is a structure or other area set aside for storage of firefighting apparatus , personal protective equipment, fire hose, fire extinguishers, and other fire extinguishing equipment...
at 126 Clinton Avenue. This increase in services prefigured the 1870 annexation of the land on the west of Northern Boulevard, putting the entirety of Clinton Avenue within Albany city limits. Two years later, in 1872, the city established a horsecar line along Clinton from North Pearl to Lexington, bringing the city's downtown within reach of the neighborhood. This made it more desirable and housing began to supplant the brickyard
Brickyard
A brickyard is a place or yard where the earthen building material called bricks are made, fired, and stored, or sometimes sold or otherwise distributed from.-See also:...
s that had previously been located there.
Gilded Age
In United States history, the Gilded Age refers to the era of rapid economic and population growth in the United States during the post–Civil War and post-Reconstruction eras of the late 19th century. The term "Gilded Age" was coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their book The Gilded...
were marked by a building boom along Clinton. Many of the remaining undeveloped lots, particularly along the western section of the street, were bought and speculative rowhouses built. Most were rented to the various laborers and craftsmen moving into the area. Construction began to come up Lark Street, the first one west of downtown Albany that crossed the Sheridan Hollow ravine (since filled in) at grade. Following the annexation, Lexington Street was extended northward a few blocks, and brick rowhouses were built there as well.
Development continued in the 1880s, with some earlier construction being demolished to make way for newer houses. Builders began moving beyond the Italianate style, experimenting with the Richardsonian Romanesque
Richardsonian Romanesque
Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after architect Henry Hobson Richardson, whose masterpiece is Trinity Church, Boston , designated a National Historic Landmark...
and Queen Anne
Queen Anne Style architecture
The Queen Anne Style in Britain means either the English Baroque architectural style roughly of the reign of Queen Anne , or a revived form that was popular in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century...
styles. Hope Baptist Church, at the west end of the McPherson Terrace row on the north side of Clinton west of Judson, is the foremost Romanesque building in the district. The Queen Anne style is responsible for the oriel window
Oriel window
Oriel windows are a form of bay window commonly found in Gothic architecture, which project from the main wall of the building but do not reach to the ground. Corbels or brackets are often used to support this kind of window. They are seen in combination with the Tudor arch. This type of window was...
s found at 5 Wilson Street (on the North Pearl corner), the row of 152½, 154 and 154½ (identical buildings with arched windows on the first story) and 168 Clinton, with a projecting gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
d pavilion. The two styles blend in a row faced in stone between Lexington and Robin streets. The Gothic Revival style made an appearance in 1883 when the former St. Luke's Methodist Church was built at the northwest corner of the Lexington intersection.
Building finally slowed down in the 1890s, since most of the district had been developed. What new construction took place was primarily the infill of the remaining vacant lots. The most significant of this was the completion of the eastern end of McPherson Terrace.
20th century
Since the district had been almost built out by 1890, the architectural movements of the early 20th century made little impact on it. An American FoursquareAmerican Foursquare
The American Foursquare or American Four Square is an American house style popular from the mid-1890s to the late 1930s. A reaction to the ornate and mass produced elements of the Victorian and other Revival styles popular throughout the last half of the 19th century, the American Foursquare was...
was built at the southwest corner of Clinton and Lexington in 1905, and a few more stone and brick rowhouses were built on North Pearl in that decade. Most buildings in early 20th century styles were public ones, like the Classical Revival
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
police station built at 222 Pearl Street in 1911. The 1931 opening of the Palace Theatre
Palace Theatre (Albany, New York)
The Palace Theatre is an entertainment venue, in downtown Albany, New York, located on the corner of Clinton Avenue and North Pearl Street . The 2,844 seat theater is owned by the City of Albany and presents various music, drama, film and comedy performances...
at Clinton and North Pearl, where its history began, gave the district its newest contributing property and ended its period of significance.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
anization began and many of the residents moved out of the city. The poorer residents who replaced them, particularly west of Northern Boulevard, could not get mortgages or home improvement
Home improvement
Home improvement, home renovation or remodeling is the process of renovating or making additions to one's home.-Types of home improvement:...
loans, and in the 1960s and 1970s the area began to show the signs of early urban decay
Urban decay
Urban decay is the process whereby a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude...
, as buildings began to be abandoned and crumbled.
The district was never targeted for wholesale urban renewal
Urban renewal
Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...
, and after some demolitions in the east end it became eligible for Community Development Block Grant
Community Development Block Grant
The Community Development Block Grant , one of the longest-running programs of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, funds local community development activities such as affordable housing, anti-poverty programs, and infrastructure development...
s (CDBGs) in the late 1970s. The city, which had bought the Palace in 1969, designated the Clinton-North Pearl area a historic district in 1981. Several years later it targeted 82 rowhouses between North Pearl and Northern Boulevard for a neighborhood stabilization program, work which culminated in the Register listing for the district three years later.
Clinton Avenue today
New construction or expansion within the district is reviewed by the city's Historic Resources Commission (HRC), a group of nine citizens with an interest in architecture, history or historic preservationHistoric preservation
Historic preservation is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance...
appointed by the mayor. The HRC also considers new city landmark designations. The area also comes under the purview of several of Albany's neighborhood associations.
Affordable housing
Affordable housing is a term used to describe dwelling units whose total housing costs are deemed "affordable" to those that have a median income. Although the term is often applied to rental housing that is within the financial means of those in the lower income ranges of a geographical area, the...
.
Clinton Ave at Ontario Street is also the location of the oldest firehouse in the city of Albany, built in 1874, refurbished in the 1930s and in 1998.
See also
- List of streets in Albany, New York
- 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...