Medina Armory
Encyclopedia
The Medina Armory is located on Pearl Street in Medina
, New York, United States. It is a large stone building constructed at the beginning of the 20th century.
State architect George Heins designed it for what was at the time the 29th Separate Company of the New York Army National Guard
. It was his first armory
for the state. The 29th was later absorbed into other New York-based Guard and Reserve
units. After closing in 1977, it is now the local YMCA
. In 1995 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
along with other New York armories.
) a few blocks northeast of downtown Medina
. The surrounding properties are all residential, with the exception of a large former school building to the west on Catherine Street. The terrain is level.
The building itself is a two-story structure of Medina sandstone
laid in a random ashlar
pattern with a raised foundation
. It consists of two sections: the main administration building, facing south to Prospect Street, and an attached drill shed on the north. A modern flat-roofed garage is attached to the northeast of the drill shed, projecting eastward. The southeast portion of the lot is given over to a large lawn with some planted shrubs surrounding the flagpole.
In the center of the south (front) facade
of the administration building is the projecting entrance pavilion. On either side two engaged octagonal towers rise to crenelated parapet
s. The entrance itself is a recessed segmental arched sally port
with a pair of paneled oak doors below a tripartite transom. Stepped gable
d ends project from the hipped roof
shingled in asphalt with standing seam metal. The tall, narrow windows have iron grilles on the first story, matched in the rectangular basement windows.
On the side elevations of the nine-bay
drill shed are paired narrow flat-arched windows set off by buttress
es. Secondary entrances on both sides have four-paneled doors with similar transoms to the front entrance. The north (rear) has three groups of tall, narrow windows with buttresses.
Inside, most of the original finishings remains. The entrance hall has a large oak staircase, the company meeting room a tin ceiling. The walls have their original oak baseboard
and plaster; many of the oak doors are original. At the time of the armory's listing on the Register, many rooms had been partitioned. The drill shed has exposed steel truss
es, wainscoted ceilings, a balcony and wooden floors.
in Maine
, which threatened to start a third war between the United States and Britain. Hostilities were avoided and the unit was never deployed, but it survived for several years afterwards. Later another unit, Linus Beecher's Light Guards, replaced them although it was primarily a social organization. That unit eventually became the Pitts Light Guards.
In late 1891, the 29th was formally mustered
under the command of Capt. A.S. Ross. Two other officers commanded 55 enlisted men. At first they used the floors of a Main Street building, but soon the community began to agitate for the construction of an armory. Assemblyman
Fred Downs lobbied the state government, and later in the decade the project was approved. The 29th soon saw its first action during the Spanish-American War
.
The present lot was acquired in 1899, and by September of that year the foundations
were being dug. The state approved the completed building late in 1901, two years later. The land and construction together had cost $57,160 ($ in contemporary dollars).
It was the first of seven extant armories designed by George Heins, who had replaced Isaac Perry as New York's state architect. Like his predecessor, Heins used many features of medieval military architecture such as towers, crenelation, parapet
s and sally port
s, for an overall Gothic effect. His interpretations of those forms and details differ by being more modern and stylized than Perry's. A distinctive touch in Medina was the use of locally quarried Medina sandstone
, at the time a highly popular material that was the county's major non-agricultural product.
Originally the armory had a flat roof. Renovations in 1912 gave it the current hip-gable combination. The following year the unit was called up to help suppress the streetcar strike in Buffalo
. By then it would be known as Company F of the New York National Guard's Third Regiment.
In April 1917, the unit was deployed into World War I
as part of the 27th Division, drawn entirely from the New York National Guard. A Buffalo unit was stationed in the armory in their absence as a home guard. In 1919, after the war, the unit became Company F of the 108th Infantry. During World War II
, it was Company L of the 65th Regiment
.
The Medina Armory is located on Pearl Street in Medina
, New York, United States. It is a large stone building constructed at the beginning of the 20th century.
State architect George Heins designed it for what was at the time the 29th Separate Company of the New York Army National Guard
. It was his first armory
for the state. The 29th was later absorbed into other New York-based Guard and Reserve
units. After closing in 1977, it is now the local YMCA
. In 1995 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
along with other New York armories.
) a few blocks northeast of downtown Medina
. The surrounding properties are all residential, with the exception of a large former school building to the west on Catherine Street. The terrain is level.
The building itself is a two-story structure of Medina sandstone
laid in a random ashlar
pattern with a raised foundation
. It consists of two sections: the main administration building, facing south to Prospect Street, and an attached drill shed on the north. A modern flat-roofed garage is attached to the northeast of the drill shed, projecting eastward. The southeast portion of the lot is given over to a large lawn with some planted shrubs surrounding the flagpole.
In the center of the south (front) facade
of the administration building is the projecting entrance pavilion. On either side two engaged octagonal towers rise to crenelated parapet
s. The entrance itself is a recessed segmental arched sally port
with a pair of paneled oak doors below a tripartite transom. Stepped gable
d ends project from the hipped roof
shingled in asphalt with standing seam metal. The tall, narrow windows have iron grilles on the first story, matched in the rectangular basement windows.
On the side elevations of the nine-bay
drill shed are paired narrow flat-arched windows set off by buttress
es. Secondary entrances on both sides have four-paneled doors with similar transoms to the front entrance. The north (rear) has three groups of tall, narrow windows with buttresses.
Inside, most of the original finishings remains. The entrance hall has a large oak staircase, the company meeting room a tin ceiling. The walls have their original oak baseboard
and plaster; many of the oak doors are original. At the time of the armory's listing on the Register, many rooms had been partitioned. The drill shed has exposed steel truss
es, wainscoted ceilings, a balcony and wooden floors.
in Maine
, which threatened to start a third war between the United States and Britain. Hostilities were avoided and the unit was never deployed, but it survived for several years afterwards. Later another unit, Linus Beecher's Light Guards, replaced them although it was primarily a social organization. That unit eventually became the Pitts Light Guards.
In late 1891, the 29th was formally mustered
under the command of Capt. A.S. Ross. Two other officers commanded 55 enlisted men. At first they used the floors of a Main Street building, but soon the community began to agitate for the construction of an armory. Assemblyman
Fred Downs lobbied the state government, and later in the decade the project was approved. The 29th soon saw its first action during the Spanish-American War
.
The present lot was acquired in 1899, and by September of that year the foundations
were being dug. The state approved the completed building late in 1901, two years later. The land and construction together had cost $57,160 ($ in contemporary dollars).
It was the first of seven extant armories designed by George Heins, who had replaced Isaac Perry as New York's state architect. Like his predecessor, Heins used many features of medieval military architecture such as towers, crenelation, parapet
s and sally port
s, for an overall Gothic effect. His interpretations of those forms and details differ by being more modern and stylized than Perry's. A distinctive touch in Medina was the use of locally quarried Medina sandstone
, at the time a highly popular material that was the county's major non-agricultural product.
Originally the armory had a flat roof. Renovations in 1912 gave it the current hip-gable combination. The following year the unit was called up to help suppress the streetcar strike in Buffalo
. By then it would be known as Company F of the New York National Guard's Third Regiment.
In April 1917, the unit was deployed into World War I
as part of the 27th Division, drawn entirely from the New York National Guard. A Buffalo unit was stationed in the armory in their absence as a home guard. In 1919, after the war, the unit became Company F of the 108th Infantry. During World War II
, it was Company L of the 65th Regiment
.
The Medina Armory is located on Pearl Street in Medina
, New York, United States. It is a large stone building constructed at the beginning of the 20th century.
State architect George Heins designed it for what was at the time the 29th Separate Company of the New York Army National Guard
. It was his first armory
for the state. The 29th was later absorbed into other New York-based Guard and Reserve
units. After closing in 1977, it is now the local YMCA
. In 1995 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
along with other New York armories.
) a few blocks northeast of downtown Medina
. The surrounding properties are all residential, with the exception of a large former school building to the west on Catherine Street. The terrain is level.
The building itself is a two-story structure of Medina sandstone
laid in a random ashlar
pattern with a raised foundation
. It consists of two sections: the main administration building, facing south to Prospect Street, and an attached drill shed on the north. A modern flat-roofed garage is attached to the northeast of the drill shed, projecting eastward. The southeast portion of the lot is given over to a large lawn with some planted shrubs surrounding the flagpole.
In the center of the south (front) facade
of the administration building is the projecting entrance pavilion. On either side two engaged octagonal towers rise to crenelated parapet
s. The entrance itself is a recessed segmental arched sally port
with a pair of paneled oak doors below a tripartite transom. Stepped gable
d ends project from the hipped roof
shingled in asphalt with standing seam metal. The tall, narrow windows have iron grilles on the first story, matched in the rectangular basement windows.
On the side elevations of the nine-bay
drill shed are paired narrow flat-arched windows set off by buttress
es. Secondary entrances on both sides have four-paneled doors with similar transoms to the front entrance. The north (rear) has three groups of tall, narrow windows with buttresses.
Inside, most of the original finishings remains. The entrance hall has a large oak staircase, the company meeting room a tin ceiling. The walls have their original oak baseboard
and plaster; many of the oak doors are original. At the time of the armory's listing on the Register, many rooms had been partitioned. The drill shed has exposed steel truss
es, wainscoted ceilings, a balcony and wooden floors.
in Maine
, which threatened to start a third war between the United States and Britain. Hostilities were avoided and the unit was never deployed, but it survived for several years afterwards. Later another unit, Linus Beecher's Light Guards, replaced them although it was primarily a social organization. That unit eventually became the Pitts Light Guards.
In late 1891, the 29th was formally mustered
under the command of Capt. A.S. Ross. Two other officers commanded 55 enlisted men. At first they used the floors of a Main Street building, but soon the community began to agitate for the construction of an armory. Assemblyman
Fred Downs lobbied the state government, and later in the decade the project was approved. The 29th soon saw its first action during the Spanish-American War
.
The present lot was acquired in 1899, and by September of that year the foundations
were being dug. The state approved the completed building late in 1901, two years later. The land and construction together had cost $57,160 ($ in contemporary dollars).
It was the first of seven extant armories designed by George Heins, who had replaced Isaac Perry as New York's state architect. Like his predecessor, Heins used many features of medieval military architecture such as towers, crenelation, parapet
s and sally port
s, for an overall Gothic effect. His interpretations of those forms and details differ by being more modern and stylized than Perry's. A distinctive touch in Medina was the use of locally quarried Medina sandstone
, at the time a highly popular material that was the county's major non-agricultural product.
Originally the armory had a flat roof. Renovations in 1912 gave it the current hip-gable combination. The following year the unit was called up to help suppress the streetcar strike in Buffalo
. By then it would be known as Company F of the New York National Guard's Third Regiment.
In April 1917, the unit was deployed into World War I
as part of the 27th Division, drawn entirely from the New York National Guard. A Buffalo unit was stationed in the armory in their absence as a home guard. In 1919, after the war, the unit became Company F of the 108th Infantry. During World War II
, it was Company L of the 65th Regiment
.
For the last three years of the Guard's use of the armory, the unit was Company C of the 174th Infantry
. In 1977, the state announced it would be closed and its units moved to other locations. The Medina community, not wanting to see the building become neglected, formed the Armory Action Committee. It worked to adapt
the armory for local recreational use, partitioning the office space in the process. After 20 years the Lake Plains YMCA, which bought the building from the state. was fully established in the building. It continues to operate, with over a thousand members and a wide range of programs.
Medina, New York
Medina is a village in the towns of Shelby and Ridgeway in Orleans County, New York, United States. The population was 6,415 at the 2000 census, making it the second most populous municipality in the county after Albion, the county seat. The village was named by its surveyor...
, New York, United States. It is a large stone building constructed at the beginning of the 20th century.
State architect George Heins designed it for what was at the time the 29th Separate Company of the New York Army National Guard
New York Army National Guard
The New York Army National Guard is a component of the New York National Guard and the Army National Guard. Nationwide, the Army National Guard comprises approximately one half of the US Army's available combat forces and approximately one third of its support organization...
. It was his first armory
Armory (military)
An armory or armoury is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, issued to authorized users, or any combination of those...
for the state. The 29th was later absorbed into other New York-based Guard and Reserve
United States Army Reserve
The United States Army Reserve is the federal reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the reserve components of the United States Army....
units. After closing in 1977, it is now the local YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
. In 1995 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...
along with other New York armories.
Building
The armory is located on a 1.1 acres (4,451.5 m²) lot that takes up the eastern half of the block formed by Lee Place, Pearl Street and Prospect Avenue (NY 63New York State Route 63
New York State Route 63 is a state highway in the western part of New York in the United States. The southern terminus of the route is at an intersection with NY 15 and NY 21 in the village of Wayland in Steuben County. Its northern end is at a junction with NY 18 in the town...
) a few blocks northeast of downtown Medina
Main Street Historic District (Medina, New York)
The Main Street Historic District in Medina, New York, United States, is the downtown commercial core of the village. It is a area stretching south along Main Street from the Erie Canal to the railroad tracks....
. The surrounding properties are all residential, with the exception of a large former school building to the west on Catherine Street. The terrain is level.
The building itself is a two-story structure of Medina 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,...
laid in a random ashlar
Ashlar
Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...
pattern with a raised 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 consists of two sections: the main administration building, facing south to Prospect Street, and an attached drill shed on the north. A modern flat-roofed garage is attached to the northeast of the drill shed, projecting eastward. The southeast portion of the lot is given over to a large lawn with some planted shrubs surrounding the flagpole.
In the center of the south (front) 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"....
of the administration building is the projecting entrance pavilion. On either side two engaged octagonal towers rise to crenelated parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
s. The entrance itself is a recessed segmental arched sally port
Sally port
The primary modern meaning for sally port is a secure, controlled entryway, as at a fortification or a prison. The entrance is usually protected in some way, such as with a fixed wall blocking the door which must be circumvented before entering, but which prevents direct enemy fire from a distance...
with a pair of paneled oak doors below a tripartite transom. Stepped 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 ends project from the hipped roof
Hip roof
A hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on the houses could have two triangular side...
shingled in asphalt with standing seam metal. The tall, narrow windows have iron grilles on the first story, matched in the rectangular basement windows.
On the side elevations of the nine-bay
Bay (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:...
drill shed are paired narrow flat-arched windows set off by buttress
Buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall...
es. Secondary entrances on both sides have four-paneled doors with similar transoms to the front entrance. The north (rear) has three groups of tall, narrow windows with buttresses.
Inside, most of the original finishings remains. The entrance hall has a large oak staircase, the company meeting room a tin ceiling. The walls have their original oak baseboard
Baseboard
In architecture, a baseboard is a board covering the lowest part of an interior wall...
and plaster; many of the oak doors are original. At the time of the armory's listing on the Register, many rooms had been partitioned. The drill shed has exposed steel truss
Truss
In architecture and structural engineering, a truss is a structure comprising one or more triangular units constructed with straight members whose ends are connected at joints referred to as nodes. External forces and reactions to those forces are considered to act only at the nodes and result in...
es, wainscoted ceilings, a balcony and wooden floors.
History
Col. Hesikiah Bowen raised Bowen's Rifles, the precursor unit to the 29th, in 1838 in response to the escalating tensions of the Aroostook WarAroostook War
The Aroostook War was an undeclared nonviolent confrontation in 1838/1839 between the United States and Great Britain over the international boundary between British North America and Maine. The compromise resolution win a mutually accepted border between the state of Maine and the provinces of...
in Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, which threatened to start a third war between the United States and Britain. Hostilities were avoided and the unit was never deployed, but it survived for several years afterwards. Later another unit, Linus Beecher's Light Guards, replaced them although it was primarily a social organization. That unit eventually became the Pitts Light Guards.
In late 1891, the 29th was formally mustered
Muster (military)
The term muster designates the process or event for the of accounting for members in a military unit. Within the United States Army Reserve, it is an annual event used for screening purposes.-Historical:...
under the command of Capt. A.S. Ross. Two other officers commanded 55 enlisted men. At first they used the floors of a Main Street building, but soon the community began to agitate for the construction of an armory. Assemblyman
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652...
Fred Downs lobbied the state government, and later in the decade the project was approved. The 29th soon saw its first action during the Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
.
The present lot was acquired in 1899, and by September of that year the foundations
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:...
were being dug. The state approved the completed building late in 1901, two years later. The land and construction together had cost $57,160 ($ in contemporary dollars).
It was the first of seven extant armories designed by George Heins, who had replaced Isaac Perry as New York's state architect. Like his predecessor, Heins used many features of medieval military architecture such as towers, crenelation, parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
s and sally port
Sally port
The primary modern meaning for sally port is a secure, controlled entryway, as at a fortification or a prison. The entrance is usually protected in some way, such as with a fixed wall blocking the door which must be circumvented before entering, but which prevents direct enemy fire from a distance...
s, for an overall Gothic effect. His interpretations of those forms and details differ by being more modern and stylized than Perry's. A distinctive touch in Medina was the use of locally quarried Medina 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,...
, at the time a highly popular material that was the county's major non-agricultural product.
Originally the armory had a flat roof. Renovations in 1912 gave it the current hip-gable combination. The following year the unit was called up to help suppress the streetcar strike in Buffalo
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
. By then it would be known as Company F of the New York National Guard's Third Regiment.
In April 1917, the unit was deployed into World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
as part of the 27th Division, drawn entirely from the New York National Guard. A Buffalo unit was stationed in the armory in their absence as a home guard. In 1919, after the war, the unit became Company F of the 108th Infantry. During World War II
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...
, it was Company L of the 65th Regiment
65th Infantry Regiment (United States)
The 65th Infantry Regiment, nicknamed "The Borinqueneers," was an all-volunteer Puerto Rican regiment of the United States Army. Its motto was Honor et Fidelitas, Latin for Honor and Fidelity. It participated in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War...
.
The Medina Armory is located on Pearl Street in Medina
Medina, New York
Medina is a village in the towns of Shelby and Ridgeway in Orleans County, New York, United States. The population was 6,415 at the 2000 census, making it the second most populous municipality in the county after Albion, the county seat. The village was named by its surveyor...
, New York, United States. It is a large stone building constructed at the beginning of the 20th century.
State architect George Heins designed it for what was at the time the 29th Separate Company of the New York Army National Guard
New York Army National Guard
The New York Army National Guard is a component of the New York National Guard and the Army National Guard. Nationwide, the Army National Guard comprises approximately one half of the US Army's available combat forces and approximately one third of its support organization...
. It was his first armory
Armory (military)
An armory or armoury is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, issued to authorized users, or any combination of those...
for the state. The 29th was later absorbed into other New York-based Guard and Reserve
United States Army Reserve
The United States Army Reserve is the federal reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the reserve components of the United States Army....
units. After closing in 1977, it is now the local YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
. In 1995 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...
along with other New York armories.
Building
The armory is located on a 1.1 acres (4,451.5 m²) lot that takes up the eastern half of the block formed by Lee Place, Pearl Street and Prospect Avenue (NY 63New York State Route 63
New York State Route 63 is a state highway in the western part of New York in the United States. The southern terminus of the route is at an intersection with NY 15 and NY 21 in the village of Wayland in Steuben County. Its northern end is at a junction with NY 18 in the town...
) a few blocks northeast of downtown Medina
Main Street Historic District (Medina, New York)
The Main Street Historic District in Medina, New York, United States, is the downtown commercial core of the village. It is a area stretching south along Main Street from the Erie Canal to the railroad tracks....
. The surrounding properties are all residential, with the exception of a large former school building to the west on Catherine Street. The terrain is level.
The building itself is a two-story structure of Medina 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,...
laid in a random ashlar
Ashlar
Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...
pattern with a raised 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 consists of two sections: the main administration building, facing south to Prospect Street, and an attached drill shed on the north. A modern flat-roofed garage is attached to the northeast of the drill shed, projecting eastward. The southeast portion of the lot is given over to a large lawn with some planted shrubs surrounding the flagpole.
In the center of the south (front) 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"....
of the administration building is the projecting entrance pavilion. On either side two engaged octagonal towers rise to crenelated parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
s. The entrance itself is a recessed segmental arched sally port
Sally port
The primary modern meaning for sally port is a secure, controlled entryway, as at a fortification or a prison. The entrance is usually protected in some way, such as with a fixed wall blocking the door which must be circumvented before entering, but which prevents direct enemy fire from a distance...
with a pair of paneled oak doors below a tripartite transom. Stepped 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 ends project from the hipped roof
Hip roof
A hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on the houses could have two triangular side...
shingled in asphalt with standing seam metal. The tall, narrow windows have iron grilles on the first story, matched in the rectangular basement windows.
On the side elevations of the nine-bay
Bay (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:...
drill shed are paired narrow flat-arched windows set off by buttress
Buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall...
es. Secondary entrances on both sides have four-paneled doors with similar transoms to the front entrance. The north (rear) has three groups of tall, narrow windows with buttresses.
Inside, most of the original finishings remains. The entrance hall has a large oak staircase, the company meeting room a tin ceiling. The walls have their original oak baseboard
Baseboard
In architecture, a baseboard is a board covering the lowest part of an interior wall...
and plaster; many of the oak doors are original. At the time of the armory's listing on the Register, many rooms had been partitioned. The drill shed has exposed steel truss
Truss
In architecture and structural engineering, a truss is a structure comprising one or more triangular units constructed with straight members whose ends are connected at joints referred to as nodes. External forces and reactions to those forces are considered to act only at the nodes and result in...
es, wainscoted ceilings, a balcony and wooden floors.
History
Col. Hesikiah Bowen raised Bowen's Rifles, the precursor unit to the 29th, in 1838 in response to the escalating tensions of the Aroostook WarAroostook War
The Aroostook War was an undeclared nonviolent confrontation in 1838/1839 between the United States and Great Britain over the international boundary between British North America and Maine. The compromise resolution win a mutually accepted border between the state of Maine and the provinces of...
in Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, which threatened to start a third war between the United States and Britain. Hostilities were avoided and the unit was never deployed, but it survived for several years afterwards. Later another unit, Linus Beecher's Light Guards, replaced them although it was primarily a social organization. That unit eventually became the Pitts Light Guards.
In late 1891, the 29th was formally mustered
Muster (military)
The term muster designates the process or event for the of accounting for members in a military unit. Within the United States Army Reserve, it is an annual event used for screening purposes.-Historical:...
under the command of Capt. A.S. Ross. Two other officers commanded 55 enlisted men. At first they used the floors of a Main Street building, but soon the community began to agitate for the construction of an armory. Assemblyman
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652...
Fred Downs lobbied the state government, and later in the decade the project was approved. The 29th soon saw its first action during the Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
.
The present lot was acquired in 1899, and by September of that year the foundations
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:...
were being dug. The state approved the completed building late in 1901, two years later. The land and construction together had cost $57,160 ($ in contemporary dollars).
It was the first of seven extant armories designed by George Heins, who had replaced Isaac Perry as New York's state architect. Like his predecessor, Heins used many features of medieval military architecture such as towers, crenelation, parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
s and sally port
Sally port
The primary modern meaning for sally port is a secure, controlled entryway, as at a fortification or a prison. The entrance is usually protected in some way, such as with a fixed wall blocking the door which must be circumvented before entering, but which prevents direct enemy fire from a distance...
s, for an overall Gothic effect. His interpretations of those forms and details differ by being more modern and stylized than Perry's. A distinctive touch in Medina was the use of locally quarried Medina 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,...
, at the time a highly popular material that was the county's major non-agricultural product.
Originally the armory had a flat roof. Renovations in 1912 gave it the current hip-gable combination. The following year the unit was called up to help suppress the streetcar strike in Buffalo
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
. By then it would be known as Company F of the New York National Guard's Third Regiment.
In April 1917, the unit was deployed into World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
as part of the 27th Division, drawn entirely from the New York National Guard. A Buffalo unit was stationed in the armory in their absence as a home guard. In 1919, after the war, the unit became Company F of the 108th Infantry. During World War II
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...
, it was Company L of the 65th Regiment
65th Infantry Regiment (United States)
The 65th Infantry Regiment, nicknamed "The Borinqueneers," was an all-volunteer Puerto Rican regiment of the United States Army. Its motto was Honor et Fidelitas, Latin for Honor and Fidelity. It participated in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War...
.
The Medina Armory is located on Pearl Street in Medina
Medina, New York
Medina is a village in the towns of Shelby and Ridgeway in Orleans County, New York, United States. The population was 6,415 at the 2000 census, making it the second most populous municipality in the county after Albion, the county seat. The village was named by its surveyor...
, New York, United States. It is a large stone building constructed at the beginning of the 20th century.
State architect George Heins designed it for what was at the time the 29th Separate Company of the New York Army National Guard
New York Army National Guard
The New York Army National Guard is a component of the New York National Guard and the Army National Guard. Nationwide, the Army National Guard comprises approximately one half of the US Army's available combat forces and approximately one third of its support organization...
. It was his first armory
Armory (military)
An armory or armoury is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, issued to authorized users, or any combination of those...
for the state. The 29th was later absorbed into other New York-based Guard and Reserve
United States Army Reserve
The United States Army Reserve is the federal reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the reserve components of the United States Army....
units. After closing in 1977, it is now the local YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
. In 1995 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...
along with other New York armories.
Building
The armory is located on a 1.1 acres (4,451.5 m²) lot that takes up the eastern half of the block formed by Lee Place, Pearl Street and Prospect Avenue (NY 63New York State Route 63
New York State Route 63 is a state highway in the western part of New York in the United States. The southern terminus of the route is at an intersection with NY 15 and NY 21 in the village of Wayland in Steuben County. Its northern end is at a junction with NY 18 in the town...
) a few blocks northeast of downtown Medina
Main Street Historic District (Medina, New York)
The Main Street Historic District in Medina, New York, United States, is the downtown commercial core of the village. It is a area stretching south along Main Street from the Erie Canal to the railroad tracks....
. The surrounding properties are all residential, with the exception of a large former school building to the west on Catherine Street. The terrain is level.
The building itself is a two-story structure of Medina 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,...
laid in a random ashlar
Ashlar
Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...
pattern with a raised 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 consists of two sections: the main administration building, facing south to Prospect Street, and an attached drill shed on the north. A modern flat-roofed garage is attached to the northeast of the drill shed, projecting eastward. The southeast portion of the lot is given over to a large lawn with some planted shrubs surrounding the flagpole.
In the center of the south (front) 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"....
of the administration building is the projecting entrance pavilion. On either side two engaged octagonal towers rise to crenelated parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
s. The entrance itself is a recessed segmental arched sally port
Sally port
The primary modern meaning for sally port is a secure, controlled entryway, as at a fortification or a prison. The entrance is usually protected in some way, such as with a fixed wall blocking the door which must be circumvented before entering, but which prevents direct enemy fire from a distance...
with a pair of paneled oak doors below a tripartite transom. Stepped 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 ends project from the hipped roof
Hip roof
A hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on the houses could have two triangular side...
shingled in asphalt with standing seam metal. The tall, narrow windows have iron grilles on the first story, matched in the rectangular basement windows.
On the side elevations of the nine-bay
Bay (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:...
drill shed are paired narrow flat-arched windows set off by buttress
Buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall...
es. Secondary entrances on both sides have four-paneled doors with similar transoms to the front entrance. The north (rear) has three groups of tall, narrow windows with buttresses.
Inside, most of the original finishings remains. The entrance hall has a large oak staircase, the company meeting room a tin ceiling. The walls have their original oak baseboard
Baseboard
In architecture, a baseboard is a board covering the lowest part of an interior wall...
and plaster; many of the oak doors are original. At the time of the armory's listing on the Register, many rooms had been partitioned. The drill shed has exposed steel truss
Truss
In architecture and structural engineering, a truss is a structure comprising one or more triangular units constructed with straight members whose ends are connected at joints referred to as nodes. External forces and reactions to those forces are considered to act only at the nodes and result in...
es, wainscoted ceilings, a balcony and wooden floors.
History
Col. Hesikiah Bowen raised Bowen's Rifles, the precursor unit to the 29th, in 1838 in response to the escalating tensions of the Aroostook WarAroostook War
The Aroostook War was an undeclared nonviolent confrontation in 1838/1839 between the United States and Great Britain over the international boundary between British North America and Maine. The compromise resolution win a mutually accepted border between the state of Maine and the provinces of...
in Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, which threatened to start a third war between the United States and Britain. Hostilities were avoided and the unit was never deployed, but it survived for several years afterwards. Later another unit, Linus Beecher's Light Guards, replaced them although it was primarily a social organization. That unit eventually became the Pitts Light Guards.
In late 1891, the 29th was formally mustered
Muster (military)
The term muster designates the process or event for the of accounting for members in a military unit. Within the United States Army Reserve, it is an annual event used for screening purposes.-Historical:...
under the command of Capt. A.S. Ross. Two other officers commanded 55 enlisted men. At first they used the floors of a Main Street building, but soon the community began to agitate for the construction of an armory. Assemblyman
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652...
Fred Downs lobbied the state government, and later in the decade the project was approved. The 29th soon saw its first action during the Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
.
The present lot was acquired in 1899, and by September of that year the foundations
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:...
were being dug. The state approved the completed building late in 1901, two years later. The land and construction together had cost $57,160 ($ in contemporary dollars).
It was the first of seven extant armories designed by George Heins, who had replaced Isaac Perry as New York's state architect. Like his predecessor, Heins used many features of medieval military architecture such as towers, crenelation, parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
s and sally port
Sally port
The primary modern meaning for sally port is a secure, controlled entryway, as at a fortification or a prison. The entrance is usually protected in some way, such as with a fixed wall blocking the door which must be circumvented before entering, but which prevents direct enemy fire from a distance...
s, for an overall Gothic effect. His interpretations of those forms and details differ by being more modern and stylized than Perry's. A distinctive touch in Medina was the use of locally quarried Medina 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,...
, at the time a highly popular material that was the county's major non-agricultural product.
Originally the armory had a flat roof. Renovations in 1912 gave it the current hip-gable combination. The following year the unit was called up to help suppress the streetcar strike in Buffalo
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
. By then it would be known as Company F of the New York National Guard's Third Regiment.
In April 1917, the unit was deployed into World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
as part of the 27th Division, drawn entirely from the New York National Guard. A Buffalo unit was stationed in the armory in their absence as a home guard. In 1919, after the war, the unit became Company F of the 108th Infantry. During World War II
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...
, it was Company L of the 65th Regiment
65th Infantry Regiment (United States)
The 65th Infantry Regiment, nicknamed "The Borinqueneers," was an all-volunteer Puerto Rican regiment of the United States Army. Its motto was Honor et Fidelitas, Latin for Honor and Fidelity. It participated in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War...
.
For the last three years of the Guard's use of the armory, the unit was Company C of the 174th Infantry
174th Infantry Brigade (United States)
The 174th Infantry Brigade is an infantry brigade of the United States Army based at Fort Drum, New York. A U.S. Army Reserve training unit, the brigade provides operational training readiness for units in the First Army....
. In 1977, the state announced it would be closed and its units moved to other locations. The Medina community, not wanting to see the building become neglected, formed the Armory Action Committee. It worked to adapt
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...
the armory for local recreational use, partitioning the office space in the process. After 20 years the Lake Plains YMCA, which bought the building from the state. was fully established in the building. It continues to operate, with over a thousand members and a wide range of programs.