Broadway Row
Four row houses in Albany , New York are known as Broadway Row (also "buildings at 744–750 Broadway") . The brick houses are on the northwest side of the intersection of Broadway and Wilson Street. They emerged over four decades in the 19th century, with the different architectural styles reflecting the time in which they were built. At that time, the neighborhood known as Fifth Ward experienced rapid growth due to the construction of the Erie Canal and the subsequent industrialization of the city.
Many row houses then lined Broadway in this area. Today, after many years of demolition and urban renewal , only these four buildings remain. The four houses were jointly listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
description
The intersection of Broadway and Wilson Street is just north of the Downtown Albany Historic District. The four buildings face the Edward O'Neill Federal Building on the south side of Broadway.
All four buildings have basically the same shape. These are three-story houses with a raised basement. The facade spans over three bays . The main entrance opens to the main corridors arranged on the side.
The houses differ in their ornamentation . The two south row houses, 744 and 746, are an identical pair with a sandstone facade . Stone steps with wrought iron railings lead to the entrances. They are framed by architraves made of sandstone and shaped pilasters , above which there is a small gable triangle . Sandstone was also used to frame and decorate the windows. There are serrated cornices and a simple frieze on the eaves . On the south side, chimneys protrude from the roof in pairs.
The house 748 Broadway has a base with rustication from sandstone . The entrance is framed by Doric columns and a lot of marble was used to shape the facade . It is the only one of the four houses that does not have a flat roof , but a slightly sloping gable roof .
Sandstone also completes the basement of 750 Broadway. It has the most detailed facade of the four houses. Sandstone was used here for the balustrades of the steps that lead to a double-door entrance with a fighter window above it . The window sills rest on corbels and finials are on the lintels. A bay window above the entrance is lavishly decorated, the roof begins above the cornice supported by corbels with the decorated frieze.
history
- → See main article : Albany
When Albany was chartered in 1686, what is now Clinton Avenue was the northern city limits. Eighty years later, Stephen Van Rensselaer II , the landlord of the area, left the area directly north of the then city and laid out a grid that stretched from Clinton Avenue to the North Ferry and west from the Hudson River to Northern Boulevard. This area became the Town of Colonie in 1795 .
The population grew and in 1815 the area had a thousand inhabitants. They petitioned the government to be annexed by Albany , and the area became Albany's Fifth Ward . When the Erie Canal was built ten years later, which reaches the Hudson River just a few blocks north of Wilson Street, it boosted the city's economy and the development of Fifth Ward increased as a port and railroad facilities were expanded and built . In addition, various industrial companies settled there that took advantage of the canal. The city's population nearly doubled in a decade. Broadway became a residential area north of Clinton Avenue for the city's wealthier families. Retired Army Colonel George Talcott built 748 Broadway in 1833 in an anonymous adaptation of the Federal Style , interspersing some neoclassical decorative elements . His family lived in the house for many years. Today it is one of the most successful examples in Albany of the combination of these two architectural styles.
Eight years later, City Treasurer Sanford Cobb built houses 744 and 746 Broadway in 1841 . The neoclassical features of these houses can be seen in the entrance and the cornices of the house. Members of the Van Schaick family, one of the oldest families in Albany, later lived in house 744.
The 750 Broadway property remained vacant until 1875. Then Jacob Sager, a manufacturer of window accessories, built his house there. The house is designed in an Italian style and is typical of townhouses in the United States of the late 19th century with its expansive balustrade and corbelled cornice. His family lived in the house until the end of the 19th century.
Many of the row houses on Broadway were demolished in the mid and late 20th century, mainly for urban renewal purposes. The construction of the federal building on the south side of the street in 1969 caused another large gap.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c d Raymond Smith: National Register of Historic Places nomination, Buildings 744, 746, 748, 750 Broadway ( English ) New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation . September 1987. Archived from the original on December 10, 2011. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved July 12, 2009.
Coordinates: 42 ° 39 ′ 22 " N , 73 ° 44 ′ 55" W.