RECONNAISSANCE-LEVEL SURVEY OF THE DELAWARE AVENUE NEIGHBORHOOD 2011-2013

SPONSORED BY The Preservation League of New York State Delaware Area Neighborhood Association & Historic Albany Foundation

PRODUCED BY

Kimberly Konrad Alvarez, Landmark Consulting LLC 83 Grove Avenue, Albany, NY 12208  www.landmarkconsulting.net

Produced March 2013

This project is funded by Preserve New York (2011), a grant program of the Preservation League of New York State and the New York State Council on the Arts. A reconnaissance-level historic resource survey is the most basic approach for systematically documenting and evaluating historic buildings. The primary purpose is to provide a "first cut" of buildings in a given area that appear by their age and integrity to be eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Reconnaissance survey involves only a visual evaluation of properties, not an assessment of significance based on associated historical events or individuals. Properties are evaluated and identified as "eligible" in a reconnaissance survey based on criteria of age (must meet National Register age threshold) and integrity requirements. In other words, this means they should retain most of their original appearance and be at least 50 years old.

It typically includes an historic overview of the community derived from a cursory review of available sources and a brief discussion of the buildings in the area based on a “windshield” survey. The survey work also involves documenting each site in the survey area, with digital photography, mapping, property identification information and a preliminary eligibility evaluation.

Produced March 2013

Kimberly Konrad Alvarez Landmark Consulting LLC 83 Grove Avenue, Albany, NY 12208 518-45-8942  [email protected]

With assistance by SUNYAB Planning Student Intern Megan Dawson 3 St. James Street, Albany, NY 12209 612-205-2372  [email protected]

This project is funded by Preserve New York (2011), a grant program of the Preservation League of New York State and the New York State Council on the Arts. Reconnaissance-Level Survey of the Delaware Avenue Neighborhood

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

I. SURVEY REPORT • Summary of Project • Established Survey Area Boundaries • Historic Context • Bibliography of Research Sources • Survey Results • Recommended Next Steps for Further Study

II. APPENDIX - HISTORIC RESOURCE INVENTORY FORMS • Barclay Street • Catalpa Drive • Delaware Avenue • Federal Street • Marinello Terrace • St. James Place • Summit Avenue

III. APPENDIX – PHOTOGRAPHS • Property Photo Thumbnails • Historic Photos (ACHOR Engineering Photo Files)

IV. APPENDIX - HISTORIC MAPS AND DRAWINGS

V. APPENDIX - DATABASE • Color Coded Survey Map • Database Spreadsheets

SUMMARY OF PROJECT In May of 2010, at the request of Historic Albany Foundation (HAF) and the Dana Area Neighborhood Association (DANA), Landmark Consulting provided a proposed scope of work to survey a portion of the combined commercial and residential streets within the Delaware Avenue neighborhood. The proposed project was to conduct a reconnaissance level survey which is considered the most basic approach for systematically documenting and evaluating historic buildings by providing a "first cut" of buildings in a given area that appear by their age and integrity to be eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. This proposed scope of work was the basis of a grant application to the Preservation League of New York State for a PreserveNY grant. In September of 2011, DANA was awarded a $5000 grant for this project, substantially less than requested and the project scope and survey boundaries were revised. This survey project began in November of 2011 and spanned through February 2013.

This work was conducted by Kimberly Konrad Alvarez, preservation consultant for Landmark Consulting LLC. Research and survey assistance was provided by SUNY Albany Planning student intern, Megan Dawson.

Survey Project Objectives & Goals This particular survey project sought to fulfill the following objectives: 1. Identify those individual properties and district boundaries which on the basis of age and retention of integrity warrant further study for possible inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. This process also included determining representative properties already listed on the Register or Local Landmarks Inventory. The identification of these resources involved minimal documentation and data compilation, from which the properties are evaluated and identified as "eligible" based on age and integrity criteria. Specifically this means they should retain most of their original context, appearance and be at least 50 years old (the National Register age threshold). The justifications for these determinations were noted on the individual inventory forms. 2. The identification and characterization of properties documented during the survey deemed ineligible for the National Register and therefore not worthy of further study. The justification for a property’s exclusion were based primarily on the loss of historic integrity, no known historical associations, a lack of uniqueness, age or its status as a non-contributing resource in a potential National Register district. Again individual determinations and their justification were noted in the Inventory forms. 3. The last objective was the identification of reference materials required to complete a future National Register nominations of individual properties or potential districts deemed worthy of future study. Many of these sources were noted while preparing the historic narrative. A bibliography of these materials comprises a separate section of this report.

This project’s research design followed professional methodological standards as well as Secretary of the Interior Standards and National Register Survey Guidelines. It intended for each step in the process to build upon the results of the previous task, thus making for a time & cost-effective effort. This report, together with the accompanying individual property files and database, was intended to facilitate land-use management, community development and city and neighborhood planning efforts within and around the study area.

Methodology The methodology applied to this study involved an initial phase centered on research of the history of this portion of the City of Albany. The historic narrative of the Delaware neighborhood’s development focused on a period ranging from 1800 to 1940. This narrative provided the context necessary to evaluate the

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historic significance of these properties. In total, 180 properties were minimally documented of which 175 property warrant further study for possible NR inclusion. Prior to commencing the survey, the general level of historic information on the neighborhood was limited to its few landmark buildings (Hook & Ladder 4 and St. James Church) and connection with its main transportation route, Delaware Avenue, which began as a 19th century turnpike, later was a streetcar line and today remains as a State & Federal route (Rte. 443 and 9W). There remains some visual evidence of the 19th century-era farmsteads that once populated the rural lands along the turnpike and outside the city limits. A portion of the current neighborhood lay outside the city line in the Town of Bethlehem in the mid-1800s and even still with expansion in the late 19th century. In the early 20th century as much of the city was experiencing a great population and housing boom and expansion westward, the streets in this area were being laid out and systematically developed, particularly with the expansion and increased popularity of the newly introduced trolley/street car line. Many of the side residential streets appear to have been developed by real estate speculators, rather than custom architect designed. It was anticipated that the survey project would shed greater light on development of the neighborhood and this research served two primary purposes; first to help identify property types and specific historic resources, while also facilitating the determination of significance of any individual resource in relationship to the broad patterns of Albany’s historic, architectural, and engineering heritage. In short it provided the link between a property as it exists today and the past which gives it meaning.

With preliminary research begun, the actual field survey efforts were commenced by initially conducting a “windshield survey” and notation of basic building styles and materials to document the properties within the survey area dating to before 1940. This cursory documentation involved the completion of individual New York State Historic Resource Inventory forms for each building and photography of at minimum the front, partial side view and streetscape view of the properties involved. Current tax assessment records were consulted to understand both the property ownership status and the zoning categories (commercial, institutional, single or multiple family use). In addition to this existing condition information, the cursory research involved the review of late 19th and 20th century insurance and tax maps of the area, and minimal historic tax assessment records to identify date of construction and builder/architect information, review of city directories and published city histories.

The final phase of the project entailed compiling the survey data into its final database as well as final revisions to Resource Inventory Forms, preparing maps, compiling individual property files and composing the final report. Overall the survey forms and database, allowed us to identify areas of unified building periods, ownership, building types, or site planning & development and evaluate individual properties as well as the prospective district as potentially eligible. The objective was to gather the necessary information to assist DANA, Historic Albany Foundation and the City of Albany in identifying future areas of study for nominating historic districts or individually significant city, state or national landmarks.

The fundamental reason for undertaking a survey to identify a community's historic resources is the growing recognition, by citizens, preservation organizations and governments at all levels, that such resources have value and should be retained as functional parts of modern life. The historic resources of a community or neighborhood give it its special character and cultural depth. Some historic resources contain information whose study can provide unique insights into a community's past, and help answer broader questions about history. In more basic, functional terms, each historic building and structure represents an investment that should not be discarded lightly since maintaining and rehabilitating older buildings and neighborhoods can mean savings in energy, time, money, and raw materials. To make effective use of historic resources, to respect their value and extend their lives, it is necessary to integrate historic preservation into community planning. This is the immediate reason for undertaking a local historic resources survey: to gather the information needed to plan for the wise use of a community's resources. A

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historic resources survey can define the historic character of a community or a particular area and can provide the basis for making sound judgments in community planning.

Conducting historic resources surveys can also facilitate cooperation among local, State, and Federal government agencies in both preservation and community development activities. Integration of survey information into a community-wide comprehensive and/or preservation plan can help a local municipality qualify to participate in Federal historic preservation grants-in-aid programs, particularly with Certified Local Governments. To be certified or remain so, a local government program must enforce appropriate State and local preservation legislation, establish and maintain a qualified historic preservation review commission, provide for adequate public participation in its activities, perform other functions delegated to it by the SHPO, and maintain a system for the survey and inventory of historic properties, consistent with guidelines provided by the SHPO. Thus the ongoing preparation of survey work is a required obligation for the SHPO's and the Secretary's certification of a community's preservation program for participation in activities under the National Historic Preservation Act.

A historic resources survey is often the basis for designation of historic districts to the National Register of Historic Places, which can facilitate the use of Federal Investment Tax Credits to stimulate rehabilitation of historic buildings and revitalization efforts of a community. It can help a local government carry out the historic preservation review responsibilities delegated to it by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the administration of Community Development Block Grants and certain other grant programs, and it can simplify environmental review of Federal agency projects and assistance programs in the community. Finally, it can provide the basis for designing preservation projects that can receive funding assistance from the State Historic Preservation Office, the Federal government, and other sources.

Present and Future Uses of Survey Project In summary, this reconnaissance level survey, the resulting survey data and recommended future survey work can be used to:

1. Identify properties that contribute to the neighborhood’s character, or that illustrate its historical and architectural development, and as a result deserve consideration in planning. 2. Identify properties or areas whose study can provide new information about the community's past, and contribute to scholarship, or which should be preserved. 3. Establish priorities for conservation, restoration and rehabilitation efforts within the community. 4. Provide the basis for using legal and financial tools to protect and enhance historic resources. 5. Provide planners with a data base from which to monitor and influence new development. 6. Increase awareness in the public and private sectors of the built environment and the need for preservation efforts. 7. Enable local governments and Federal agencies to meet their planning and review responsibilities under existing Federal legislation and procedures.

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ESTABLISHED SURVEY AREA BOUNDARIES The Delaware Area neighborhood is located along the southern edge of the city of Albany and spans on either side of Delaware Avenue as it heads southwest beyond Morton & Holland Avenue and Lincoln Park to the NY State Thruway. Like other uptown neighborhoods, it owes its existence to the development first of the turnpikes or toll roads that stretched west, north and south from the city center along the Hudson River and later to the arrival of the street car lines. The Delaware Area Neighborhood Association (DANA) is a not-for-profit organization that was organized to protect and improve the friendly, vibrant, diverse, walkable and convenient neighborhood. It is a very active neighborhood association with a mission that includes such goals as: • To protect and improve the residential and business characteristics of the area • To provide a forum for expression of general concerns • To address issues of concern to residents and neighborhood businesses • To advocate effectively for interests and needs of the neighborhood, and • To promote friendship, unity, and cooperation in the neighborhood

Delaware Avenue is a main entrance to the city from the south, specifically from the Town of Bethlehem & Delmar Community. The neighborhood is located southwest of the Empire State Plaza and south of the University Heights/Albany Medical Center area. Delaware Avenue is also the western border of the South End neighborhood. In recent years, Federal stimulus money was invested into the neighborhood to rebuild the street, and upgrading the traffic and street lighting, trees, sidewalks, furniture and improving pedestrian and bicycle safety.

Description and Rational for Boundaries The initial proposed boundary for the survey project spanned approximately from Hackett Blvd to the north, Marinello Terrace & Stanwix Street at the west boundary, Second Avenue and Garden Street at the south boundary and Holland Avenue to the east which would have included approximately 520 properties. This proposed scope of work was the basis of a grant application to the Preservation League of New York State for a PreserveNY grant. In September of 2011, DANA was awarded a $5000 grant for this project, roughly a third of that requested and the project scope and survey boundaries needed to be revised. The revised scope included approximately 180 properties along the north and south sides of Delaware Avenue from Marinello Terrace and Stanwix Street east to Barclay Street, then the residential side streets including Marinello Terrace, St. James Place, Federal Street, Catalpa Drive, Barclay Street and Summit Avenue that connects them all. This targeted survey area contains a combination of residential, commercial and institutional buildings and thus would offer a sufficient snapshot of the building types and development patterns in the larger neighborhood.

Specifically the addresses are: • 290-400 (south side) & 309-419 (north side) Delaware Avenue: 57 properties • 1-71 (north side) & 2-70 (south side) Summit Avenue: 59 properties • 4-44 (west side) & 5-41 (east side) Barclay Street: 28 properties • 1-7 (east side) & 2-20 (west side) Marinello Terrace: 13 properties • 1-7 (east side) & 16 (west side) St. James Place: 5 properties • 1-7, 17 (east side) & 2-8 (west side) Federal Street: 9 properties • 3-15 (east side) & 4-12 (west side) Catalpa Drive: 9 properties

The northwestern boundary of the survey area along Marinello Terrace stops at the parcels that align with Summit Avenue as they would have historically. Between #20 and #22 Marinello there is a visible shift in building eras with the housing in the northern block having been built at least 20 years after those in the

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first south-most block. This is similarly the case on the northern block of St. James Place. For this reason, these later structures have been omitted from the survey area. The western blocks of Catalpa Drive and Barclay Street, however both were developed and built in the first two decades of the 20th century and the buildings are within the period of significance of this survey project. The structure at the end of Federal Street (#17) was built c.1935 as the Talmed Tarah B’Nai Israel Synagogue and later occupied by Congregation of the Sons of Israel Synagogue. In the 1970s, a large elevator and stair addition was added to the Hackett Boulevard façade along with a new entryway and the Federal Street entry was closed off when the address was changed to 66 Hackett Boulevard. Because it is no longer associated with the Delaware Area neighborhood having a Federal Street address, it was not included in the survey.

From the beginning of the survey, it was acknowledged that there were a few parcels and structures within the surveyed streets that were deemed “non-contributing” given their late-20th century construction date and/or architectural style or their major alterations. As a result, these properties were singled out and omitted from the survey efforts. They include: • 314 Delaware Avenue (originally built c. 1870 as residential building, substantially altered and converted to a commercial building, late 20th century) • 399 Delaware Avenue (vacant parcel, surface parking lot) • 403-407 Delaware Avenue (Key Bank commercial building, c. 1970s) • 16 St. James Place (Former St. James School, c. 1957) • 17 Federal Street (now 66 Hackett Blvd, c. 1935)

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NON-CONTRIBUTING BUILDINGS

314 Delaware Avenue 399 Delaware Avenue 403-407 Delaware Avenue

16 St. James Place 17 Federal Street

Included in the survey area are several significant institutional buildings. Located at 360 Delaware Avenue is the Albany Hook & Ladder #4 building which was designed by prominent Albany architect, Marcus T. Reynolds and constructed in 1910-12. Across the street at 389 Delaware Avenue is the Roman Catholic Church formerly known as St. James Church, and currently named St. Francis of Assisi Church. This religious structure was designed by the Boston-based architectural firm of Maginnis & Walsh in 1927-29, who were prominently known for their ecclesiastical work and leading architects in the American Roman Catholic tradition from 1900 to World War II with more than 200 individual commissions for churches, convents and monasteries. Located at 331 Delaware Avenue is the current Delaware branch of the Albany Public Library which opened in 2010 in the adaptively reused Prairie Style building originally constructed as a funeral home. This building was built in 1964 for Arthur P. Fargnoli, owner of the Chicorelli Funeral Home. Unfortunately it is unknown who the architect or designer of this building was. Another large structure on Delaware Avenue which is more of a cultural or commercial institution is the Spectrum Theatre which was originally built in the 1940s as a single-screen, art-deco style theatre. The current owners of this locally-owned, independent movie theatre purchased the property in 1983 and have gradually expanded it.

ARCHITECTURAL & CULTURAL LANDMARK BUILDINGS

360 Delaware Ave. 389 Delaware Ave. 331 Delaware Ave. 290 Delaware Ave.

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HISTORIC CONTEXT The main street for which the neighborhood is named was originally called the Delaware Turnpike which was built over a Native American trail. The Delaware Avenue Neighborhood, similar to so many of Albany’s early streetcar neighborhoods and 20th century residential developments, grew along this important transportation corridor. Settlement here was pushed by the growing population in the central city as much as it was pulled by transportation and utility improvements, and the promotional activities of real estate speculators.

Transportation History Albany has been a center of transportation for much of its history. In the late 18th century and early 19th century, Albany witnessed the development of the turnpike starting with the Great Western Turnpike (Rt. 20) in 1799. The development of Simeon De Witt's gridded block system in 1794, which gave Albany its original bird and mammal street names, was intersected as these important arterials or turnpikes began to radiate out from downtown Albany into the countryside and also formed long distance routes across the state. Often they were built by private corporations with state charters, originally having tolls, then over time they would be bought out by the city, become city streets, and even be designated as state and Federal highways. By 1815 Albany was the turnpike center of the state. In 1849 many of the older turnpikes are planked and newer ones incorporated as plank roads, such as the Great Western Turnpike, Old Cherry Valley Turnpike, Albany and Mohawk Plank Road, and the Albany, Rensselaerville, and Schoharie Plank Road. Along with the advent of the turnpike, the canal and railroad systems made Albany the hub of transportation for pioneers going to Buffalo and the Michigan Territory in the early and mid-19th century.

The Albany & Delaware Turnpike Company was granted a charter on March 2 1805 to build grade and construct a road from Albany to Otego in Delaware County. The capital stock was 6,000 shares of $25 each. On April 18, at a meeting of the stockholders of the new Albany & Delaware Turnpike Company held at Lewis’s Tavern, S. Van Rensselaer, Samuel Lansing, H. Guest, Abraham Hun, Jacob Ten Eyck, R. Westerlo, G. Banyar Jr. were elected the first directors.1 This road began at the crossing of Lydius (now Madison Avenue) and Lark streets from Delaware Square and through the Town of Bethlehem passing through the Upper Hollow and then onward to Adamsville, across the Town of New Scotland, through Unionville and Clarksville, across the southeast corner of Berne and the northwest corner of Westerlo to Rensselaerville. The road bed was finished with macadam on the sand and clay but the hills were many and not properly graded.2 When built, it passed across the ravine and over the creek on a wood bridge 100 or more feet long. For many years the road was extensively traveled but with other roads and railroads coming in and creating competition, it was abandoned in 1868 when the wood bridge was taken away by a freshet, or flash flood as a result of heavy rain or spring thaw. An iron bridge of two spans was put in its place in 1869 by the town of Bethlehem as the turnpike company had abandoned the road. At the west end of the bridge stood the old toll gate house built when the road was first constructed and from which Peter Esmay gathered tolls for half a century. His familiar smiling face and happy greeting are remembered by many. The construction of the turnpike induced a spirit of enterprise and Isaac Stiles opened a tavern for the accommodation of travelers on this road soon after. An article in the Times Union Newspaper states, “young folk in the Victorian era liked the Delaware pike for a horseback cantor out past Whitehall to the Normanskill. It was not too heavy with traffic and was the nicest road out of Albany for a pleasure ride. Although it was planked on one side, it was sometime rutted and muddy from wagons hauling flagstone down from the Helderbergs for Albany’s lengthening sidewalks.”3

1 Joel Munsell, Annals of Albany. Volumes 4, Albany: Munsell & Rowland, Printers, 1869 2 George Rogers Howell & Jonathan Tenney, editors. Bi-centennial History of Albany: History of the county of Albany, N.Y. from 1609-1886, Volumes 2, New York: WW. Munsell & Co, Publishers, 1886. 3 Times Union Newspaper, “Whitehall Area was British Army Headquarters: Forgotten Manse of the Hudson” April 29, 1951, p.1

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Albany also has significant history with rail transportation, as the location of two major regional railroad headquarters. The Delaware & Hudson Railway (D&HR) was headquartered in Albany. In 1853, Erastus Corning, a noted industrialist and Albany's mayor from 1834 to 1837, consolidated ten railroads stretching from Albany to Buffalo into the New York Central Railroad (NYCRR), headquartered in Albany until Cornelius Vanderbilt moved it to New York City in 1867. One of the ten companies that formed the NYCRR was the Mohawk & Hudson Railroad, which was the first railroad in the state and the first successful steam railroad running regularly scheduled service in the country.

Horse-drawn trolley service provided by the Albany Railway Company began on the Albany & Delaware Turnpike in Albany in 1864. Shortly thereafter in 1868 when the turnpike company had abandoned the road, the name was changed to Delaware Avenue. The Albany Railway Company began to introduce electric trolleys in 1890 and by 1899 changed its name to the United Traction Company. United Traction introduced the line electric trolley service along Delaware Avenue in 1903. As a result, the area between Lincoln Park and the southern city line was transformed quickly from a rural setting into a densely built-up neighborhood of single & two-family homes, apartment buildings, and commercial and institutional buildings intended to serve the new residents.4 The construction of streetcar lines was one of the most important influences on the development of the uptown neighborhoods. For many residents, streetcars were the primary means of transportation to their employers and services in downtown Albany up through the 1940s. The quick rise of the automobile eventually led to the decline of trolley systems nationwide and in the 1930s, United Traction gradually began to switch from electric trolleys on rails to motorized buses. Ultimately the last trolley was taken out of service in 1946.

City’s Expansion Along with the introduction of the turnpikes, the city boundaries of Albany were occasionally being expanded as the city lines were pushed to the west, south and north. In 1870, parts of Bethlehem to the south and Watervliet to the north were annexed to Albany, extending the City's boundaries.5 This specific territorial change in the City of Albany was made by State laws passed April 6 1870 Chapter 139 and April 26 1871 Chapter 727 and are described as follows:

“All that part of the town of Bethlehem in the County of Albany embraced within the following limits is hereby annexed to and made part of the City of Albany. Beginning at the northwesterly corner of the east abutment of the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad Bridge over the Albany and Bethlehem Turnpike and running thence northwesterly parallel with the present south bounds of the City of Albany to a point ten chains west of the west line of the Delaware Turnpike thence northeasterly at right angles with the last named line to a point three fourths of one mile from the present south bounds of the City of Albany measured at right angles with the city line thence northwesterly and parallel with the present south bounds of the city to a point two chains west of the west range of Allen street produced thence northeasterly three fourths of one mile to a point in the south bounds in the City of Albany two chains west of the west line of Allen street thence southeasterly along the present south bounds of the City of Albany to the Rensselaer County line thence southerly along said line two hundred and sixty four feet thence northwesterly to the face of the dock on the south side of the island creek thence northwesterly along the face of said dock to a point opposite the west range of Green street thence westerly and southerly along the east low water line of the island creek to a point in range of the first boundary line produced southeasterly to the island creek thence northwesterly along said line to the northwesterly corner of the east abutment of the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad Bridge the place of beginning.”

4 Diana S. Waite, Albany Architecture: A Guide to the City. Albany, NY: Mount Ida Press, 1993. p.152 5 Common Council, City of Albany, proceedings for the Year 1871. (Albany, N.Y.: Argus Co. Printers, 1871) p.154.

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Prior to 1870 and the annexation of the southern lands of the Town of Bethlehem, much of what is part of the Delaware Area Neighborhood (as well as the South End Neighborhood) was located in the village of Groesbeckville. Beginning in 1790, a gridiron street plan was imposed on areas of Albany’s floodplain and on the neighboring gentle hillsides. By 1850 the street grid was in place from the southern line of the city at Gansevoort Street in the town of Bethlehem, yet the streets were not yet densely settled. The most distinguished building in the South End/Groesbeckville neighborhood is the Schuyler Mansion which was built by General Philip Schuyler in 1761 on a bluff overlooking the southern portion of the city’s common pastures. The Schuyler property is intimately tied to the history and development of the neighborhood. It was the subdivision of the larger Schuyler estate into building lots after the General’s death in 1804 which stimulated the initial growth and development of the area. Much of the area was populated after 1820 as the residential and commercial center for the city’s growing immigrant population. The unincorporated village of Groesbeckville which lay just south of the city line in the town of Bethlehem was shown on the 1866 Stone & Stewart map of Albany County as well as the excerpt from the 1866 Bethlehem map, as a fully developed street grid. Beginning in 1858, the Albany City Directories included residents of the Groesbeckville area, listing their addresses as Bethlehem. According to a study by John Kite6, Groesbeckville at this period “looked like Albany, was really an extension of Albany, but was not lawfully within the city’s boundaries.” By the early 1860s, residents of this area were petitioning to be included in the city arguing that the character of their neighborhood was identical to that of the adjacent area and therefore they should receive the benefits of inclusion. In 1870, the city boundary was expanded a mile to the south and Groesbeckville became Albany’s First Ward.7

Delaware Turnpike

Portion of the 1866 Stone & Stewart map of Bethlehem showing Groesbeckville & the development along Delaware Turnpike beyond Albany City line.

6 John T. Kite, "Groesbeckville, 1845-1875: A Neighborhood Study" (unpublished paper, 1982), p.3. 7 C. L. Sweat, South End Improvement Corp., and Lucy A. Breyer, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, South End/Groesbeckville Historic District, nomination document, 1984, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places, Washington, D.C.

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City of Albany 1866 Stone & Stewart map of Bethlehem showing Groesbeckville in the lower right corner just beyond Albany City line.

Population Growth & Twentieth-Century Municipal Improvements In addition to the expanding city boundaries and advancements in transportation, municipal projects especially street improvements and the installation of utilities also influenced growth in the city and in particular changed the early character of the Delaware neighborhood. The first national census was taken in 1790 and the city was shown to have 3,498 people. By 1810 Albany, with 10,763 people, was the 10th largest city in the nation. The city continues to prosper and grow, adding new buildings, institutions, and people. However much of the population is concentrated downtown near the river. For example, in the 1830s less than a handful of streets are opened as far west as Swan Street, some have been expanded out to Hawk, and most streets don't go past Eagle, except on paper. Even Eagle Street is not open from Hudson to Madison avenues. The house that is farthest south in the city limits at this point is at the corner of Grand and Hamilton streets.8 1840 census shows the breakdown of the population of Albany as 15,729 white males, 17,021 white females, 378 black males, and 499 black females. Albany's population nearly doubled between the years 1840 and 1860. The growth and diversification which was to characterize much of the City throughout the last half of the nineteenth century was in response to an expanding immigrant population to the west and a burgeoning industrial district along the riverfront. As the 19th century surveyor ward maps illustrate with the laying out of gridded streets, the city was beginning to think about and plan for the community’s continued growth. Elsewhere in the city as early as 1840, city officials were planning improvements to the water system with reservoirs, water works and pumping stations built by the 1880s. Gas and sewer lines were also laid.

8 House standing as an outpost at northeast corner of Grand & Hamilton streets was owned by Abram Koonz. Common Council ordered the paving of Hallenbake (Grand) street from Hudson Avenue to Lydius (Madison) on petition of Koonz. May 8, 1838. Cuyler Reynolds, Albany Chronicles: A History of the City Arranged Chronologically. Albany, NY: J.B. Lyon Company, 1906, p. 526.

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Real Estate Speculation & Housing Reform These civic projects of the late 19th century were paralleled by a growing city-wide interest in real estate speculation and the building of large housing projects. Beginning in 1876, the city atlas ward maps delineate many subdivisions that were planned on the sites of large family farms and estates in areas south, west and north of downtown. Lots of uniform size were laid out and numbered. In some instances families independently built homes on lots that they purchased, while in other cases, developers put up several speculative houses or constructed rental housing. It was very common for developers to acquire large parcels of land and constructed tracts of houses that would ultimately define the character of a particular street.

New subdivisions provided utilities and amenities not available elsewhere. In many places, they benefited from the street improvements, park and boulevard systems, and public utility systems that resulted from the national “City Beautiful” movement and an emerging interest in city planning as the means for Progressive reform. These new subdivisions and the expansion of streetcar transportation in American cities also coincided with fundamental changes in the perception of the ideal family and a revision of what constituted the best sub-urban home. Progressive ideals emphasized simplicity and efficiency thus calling for house designs that reflected less hierarchical relationships, technological innovations, and a more informal and relaxed lifestyle. However, just as new technology and utility infrastructure was being offered in the layout of new streets and neighborhoods, technological innovations were also introduced to improve household life on the interior—central heating, gas hot water heaters, indoor plumbing, and electricity. However, these expensive mechanical systems if designed and furnished in a singular home would significantly increase the cost of construction. To help offset the rising cost of home construction and put home ownership within reach of more Americans, builders reduced the overall floor space with more efficient layouts and repeatedly used standardized plans. First appearing in the 1890s, the American Bungalow with its open plan reflected the desire for an affordable single-family house for households without servants. These

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popular houses, and the somewhat larger home known as the foursquare, were often sold by catalog and became the first mass-produced houses in the United States.

Widespread speculative building was occurring during this period in and around large cities across the country. These speculative developments provided the first testing ground for new multiple-family housing designs and garden suburb planning. In urban areas and streetcar suburbs, a new vernacular building type known as the duplex or triple-decker apartment house was widely adopted by speculative builders. This style of multi-family housing with separate “flats” on each floor, were built of masonry and wood and allowed for the mixing of different social levels. Occupants were referred to as “flat-dwellers” and provided opportunities for quality rental housing for urban wage earners.9

Building permit indices and tax assessment rolls for the turn of the 20th century indicate that this type of speculative building was indeed occurring In the Delaware Avenue neighborhood southwest of Lincoln Park. Large blocks of land were bought, subdivided into individual housing lots on which new homes were built and then sold. The city and state leaders were encouraging this development. An example of this is on March 12, 1902 Senator McEwan proposed a bill to remove bodies from St. John’s Cemetery, a burial ground that dated to before 1870 on the east side of Delaware Avenue. In July of 1903, the cemetery was officially abandoned and bodies removed to provide more advantageous building sites. Today this area is approximately lots 190-224 Delaware Avenue which is the area today between Catherine and Mona Terrace.10

This is just one way in which the government and media called on the private sector to devote their energies to housing reform needs in the same way they had with the automobile industry. As a result in the early twentieth century an increased number of Americans obtained significant improvements in the quality of housing, particularly those of the working-class who hadn’t before had such opportunity. The multi-family housing type was emerging in city neighborhoods around the county as a product of a nation-wide initiative in the first quarter of the 20th century that called for the creation for a larger supply of modest, yet well-built homes that would increase the percentage of home-ownership.

It was during this period between 1900 and 1930 that the large divide between the working- and the middle-class with regard to domestic space and housing standards, was significantly reduced. This was referred to as the “Progressive Movement,” a turn-of-the-century broad political and social reform effort influenced not only by the Panic of 1893, but also by changes experienced & caused by immigration and population growth, increased urbanization and the rapid expansion of commerce and industrialization in the post-Civil war era. By 1900, the labor demographics had shifted such that only 35% of the labor force was employed in agriculture and thus living on farms. Issues with crime, urban housing shortages, and developments in mass transportation had fueled migration to the suburbs. The depression that followed the Panic of 1893 was the catalyst for the development of the Progressive Movement through which white, middle-class social reformers including clergy, academics, and lawyers shared widespread concern and advocated for social change. By the turn of the century, the various reform movements had coalesced into what is known as the Progressive Movement. Progressives claimed that social problems could be prevented if experts could understand and manipulate the basic institutions of work, politics, social life, and family, including the American home. Reformers and architects of the time believed that reform would result from the merger of modern needs and traditional elements of the past. It was generally agreed that the

9 “Early Twentieth-Century Reform Housing” by Kilham & Hopkins, Architects of Boston. Richard Candee & Greer Hardwicke, Winterthur Portfolio, Vol. 22, No. 1 (Spring 1987). 10 Reynolds, Cuyler. Albany Chronicles: A History of the City Arranged Chronologically. Albany, NY: J.B. Lyon Company, 1906, p. 526.

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home of the 1890s was outdated. The ornamented opulent design of the Victorian home was considered decadent, associated with the upper class and thus was replaced by a new standard of beauty: a simplified aesthetic emphasizing practicality, efficiency, honesty and craftsmanship.

At the same time during the Progressive Movement, there was a crusade against unsanitary conditions based upon the discovery of germs and new information on the dangers of epidemics. Expanded industrial production had reduced the price of consumer goods while a new national advertising effort created a new consumer culture. New domestic technology made it possible for new housing plan configurations and even simplified housekeeping and the role of the house wife. This further facilitated the entrance of women into the labor force. Therefore, there were four principles of reform that were advanced by Progressive reformers and manifested in the architectural expression of the homes built between 1900 and 1930. These principles included: 1) a new theory of aesthetics; 2) a crusade for a sanitary and healthy home environment; 3) the incorporation of new technology; 4) and efficient planning.11

The development of much of the Delaware neighborhood, particularly within the boundaries of this survey project, coincides with the Progressive Movement. Between 1909 and 1930, the paper streets were being built up by real estate speculators and were primarily the work of one of two builders. The most common residential building type built here during the first quarter of the 20th century was the two-family house, usually constructed of wood, with identical apartment units or flats, stacked one on top of the other. Other common building types were the single family American Bungalow or the Four-Square. Many buildings featured Colonial Revival architectural embellishments common for the period such as a mixture of clapboards and wood shingle siding, brick or stucco, Palladian, bay, dormer and/or multi-paned windows, and prominent front porches. Along Delaware, there remained a commercial character with most two-story buildings having a mixed use function. Here single- and multi-family dwellings were intermingled, creating a diverse socio-economic population.

According to Cuyler Reynold’s Albany Chronicles, the population of the city in January 1900 was 94,151 suggesting that population growth was indeed a factor in the development of many of the uptown neighborhoods. Another factor that was recorded in that year and likely influenced the movement into the Delaware neighborhood in particular was the flash flooding on Feb. 14, 1900 which was the biggest flood since 1857, being 20 feet above normal level. This caused great damage and suffering in the southern section of the city like the South End and the Pastures Neighborhood which lie in a flood plain. This most certainly must have made the prospect of moving to higher elevations directly to the west very appealing. Also, Albany residents were starting to experience a sense freedom from the central city not only with the introduction of the street cars but also the automobile. The first automobile owned in this city which was steam motor powered arrived on Dec. 26th 1900, for a Mr. for Archibald M. Dederick.

The Delaware Avenue Community & Alphonso Marinello As the 1876 Hopkins City Atlas Ward Maps (Plate V, Ward 1) shows, very little if any of the land on the north side of Delaware Avenue was platted and developed. In fact, much of this land today which is part of the survey area was outside of the City boundaries and was located in the town of Bethlehem. This is not to say that no houses or farms existed, it simply suggests that very little documentation on paper and maps exists. What we know from the maps, are that along the southern side of Delaware Avenue from Morton Avenue to McCarthy Avenue large tracts of land were owned by J. Clarke, Jacob Kaffenburg, the Trustees of St. John’s Blind Asylum (Burial Ground), J. Mielke, J. Christian, Louis Wurker, C. Riehl, C. Scharff, J. Rourk and Judge E. P. Hurlbut. Other large land owners were J. H. Sand and W. H. Slingerland, J.C.

11 “The Spirit of Progressive Reform: The “Ladies’ Home Journal” House Plans, 1900-1902.” By Kathryn Dethier, Journal of Design History, Vo. 6, No 4. (1993).

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Moore and Peter & L. G. Ten Eyck. Not shown on the map but noted in the tax assessment rolls of 1900 and 1918 were John H. Sheridan, Thomas Donahue, and Jacob & Walter W. Stein. Many of the properties on the south side of Delaware stayed in family ownership for several generations. The north side of Delaware, much of which initially was owned by the Stein family is primarily the focus of this study.

The 1900 tax assessment rolls do not note any buildings located on the north or odd side of Delaware Avenue despite the fact that the 1866 maps indicate there being houses there. The south or even side however, was gradually being developed as a western extension of the South End or the former village of Groesbeckville. Additionally, historic Sanborn maps confirm that this side of Delaware and much of the area north of the Avenue with the exception of Delaware Terrace was not yet laid out or built on before 1909. By 1923, ward maps begin show the first of many side streets laid out on the north side of Delaware such as Besch, Magnolia, Carroll, Barclay, Catalpa, Federal, Summit (Doane) and St. James (Revere) coinciding with the city line dividing Albany from Bethlehem having been moved once again. A small handful of houses on the north side of Delaware show up on the 1909 Sanborn maps and are worthy of note. While outside the boundaries of our survey area, the houses at 267, 281, 283, 287 Delaware as well as 2 Magnolia appear to date to before 1909. Also #5 Barclay Street and numbers 329, 335, 395, 399, 403, 405, 411 and 413 Delaware stood between what is now Barclay Street and Marinello Terrace on lots with uniform setbacks on Delaware Avenue. Several pre-existing houses are set further back from the Avenue and likely date to before 1900. Many were located where eventual streets were laid. For example a 1-story house at 353 Delaware existed where now St. James Place lies. The house at 419 Delaware which included barns and was owned by Jacob Stein’s widow, Emma Stein existed where now Marinello Terrace lies and was demolished in 1927 to make way for the street. Others such as #5 Barclay and #2 Magnolia were incorporated onto the new streets and likely established the setbacks and lot depths. These houses clearly date to the Greek Revival period with modern turn of the century porches added. The house at #6 Marinello Terrace is unique in that it was moved to a new lot and set on a new foundation from its original location at 421 Delaware.

2 Magnolia Terrace, c. 1850s 5 Barclay Street, c. 1850s.

The 1918 tax rolls indicate that the property at 331 Delaware Avenue was owned by Charles C. DeRouville who was well connected in Albany’s social life and worked in the insurance business. The house which was located on this property and significantly set back from the street appears to have dated to before 1908 being described as a 2-story brick dwelling on a lot measuring approximately 214’x 300’. The two 2½ story wood framed houses with addresses 325 and 333 Delaware were built along with a 17-car concrete block garage on this same property between 1923 and 1924 when the property was sold to Abraham Swire. In 1931 the properties were all still accounted for under 331 Delaware Avenue in the tax rolls as being owned

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by A. Swire Inc. Abraham Swire apparently owned a furniture company on Central Avenue at this time. The 1935 Sanborn map shows the three houses referred individually as #325, #329 and #333 Delaware with the garages at the rear of the property referred to as 329 ½ Delaware. The older 2-story building at 329 is listed at that time as being apartments. The 1951 Sanborn map shows the two smaller dwellings (#325 and #333) unchanged and still incorporated on the single lot, while the older building at 329 Delaware had been converted into the Albany Hebrew Academy. In 1964 this building was replaced when the current building was constructed to house the Chicorelli Funeral Home which moved there from its previous located at 277 Madison Avenue. Arthur P. Fargnoli was the owner of Chicorelli Funeral Home. This house is unique in the neighborhood having a distinctive mid-western “Prairie Style” architectural form with its deep cantilevered overhanging eaves, horizontal lines and ribbon windows.

The parcel of land on which the current Hook & Ladder No. 4 Firehouse stands was vacant in 1876 and still in 1909 according to the City Atlas and Sanborn Maps. Under pressure to build a fire truck house at the top of the hill during a time when the population in the South End neighborhood was exploding, the Common Council in late 1909 authorized the funds to purchase land and build a new truck house in the Delaware Avenue area. Prior to the City’s purchase of the three parcels (356, 358, &360) near the corner of Marshall Street and Delaware Avenue for $3,200, the vacant land was owned by John H. Sheridan. The building which was designed by prominent local architect, Marcus T. Reynolds was constructed between 1910 and 1912.

The Fire Station was not the only institution or community services being introduced in the neighborhood at this time. Public School #18 was built in 1914 on Bertha Street and in 1928 the Gothic Revival Style St. James Church was under construction at the corner of Delaware and Revere Street, later renamed St. James Place. According to Diocese and Parish records, the St. James Parish was an early institution in the new neighborhood moving to the intersection of Delaware Avenue and Revere Street in 1911 when the elder James Warren traveled about on horseback through the South End Neighborhood and the rural areas around the Normanskill Creek gathering names on a petition to be sent to the Diocese. The petition indicated the interest in forming a new parish closer to Delaware Avenue than the present Our Lady Help of Christians Church on lower Second Avenue. Over 100 people signed the petition and Bishop Burke sanctioned the purchase of a few acres of farm land between Delaware Avenue and Revere Street from Jacob or Walter W. Stein. Thus the St. James parish was established in the predominantly rural section of Delaware Avenue with 356 parishioners who moved up from the South End. The parish started with a modest one-story red brick chapel with a deep basement built in 1913. This building would later become the parish hall. The brick rectory was also constructed at this time. The city tax rolls from 1918 to 1927 indicate the presence of a church and a 2½ story brick Parish house on the 211’x226’ lot at the NW corner of Delaware and Revere Street. Foundations were laid for new church in June of 1927 and the church designed by Boston architects Maginnis & Walsh was begun. Church was completed and dedicated with seating capacity of 750 in May 1929. By 1930, name of Revere Street has been changed to St. James Place on the tax rolls and the church is complete. The 1935 Sanborn Insurance Map (vol. 2, p.204) shows the new church indicating its construction with steel trusses, stone faced brick walls and fire proofed construction of reinforced concrete. Adjacent to the church structure is shown the 2½ story Rectory and to the rear (north) of the church is a 2½ story St. James Chapel and School. Several other churches and chapels developed along the length of Delaware in the early 20th century.

By 1918, the lots listed as #392, 394, 396 Delaware near the corner of Stanwix Street were owned by Robert H. Moore and remained vacant. The property remained in this state until 1925 when the properties were sold to James F. Finn and combined as one address 392-396 and a 3-story brick apartment building was constructed. This multi-unit apartment building was a departure from the type of housing that had been built along Delaware Avenue up to this point. The Stanwix Court Apartments, another 3-story brick-faced

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concrete block apartment building next door on Stanwix Street was built shortly thereafter following this new model of multi-unit residences. In 1927, a 6-car concrete garage was added to the site in the back rear corner of the property. In 1935, the apartment building and property is sold to W. Gordon Furlong, yet the use of the building remains constant through the 1930s and to the present day. The 1935 Sanborn map notes the building as being #400 Delaware Avenue and illustrates the plan of the apartment building as being “L” shaped with three-story rear porches with notations of the building materials consisting of stone and red brick. The building at 392-400 Delaware Avenue is significant as one of the first multi-unit apartment complexes to be built in the neighborhood in the 1920s. The level of architectural detail suggests that this building offered luxury apartments at the time of its construction.

Delaware Avenue, as stated above, was established in the 19th century first as a southwest bound turnpike, and later fully incorporated into the city boundaries to the Normanskill Creek as a main avenue and transportation route. Given its connection between the rural “hinter lands” and the central city, it quickly developed a mixed-use character of residential and commercial functions. In the transitional period between 1890 and 1930 in fact, many pre-existing residential structures were altered to allow for the conversion of the ground floor spaces to retail use. In fact, in 1924 Delaware Avenue looking north at retail block on right showing converted 19th century the city officially adopted a zoning buildings. (324-342 Delaware) ordinance re-designating many areas along the main avenues as “business zones” despite the presence of primarily 19th century residential structures. Many of the existing single-family houses were converted to apartments above with ground floors changed to house offices or retail spaces. The most noticeable change along the streetscape was in street level fenestration to accommodate plate glass storefront windows and commercial doorways. Examples of where these conversions likely occurred include 306, 316, 322, 332, 334, 338, 340, 342, 344, 366, 372, 374, and 382 Delaware. The A&P Market at 419 Delaware Avenue c. 1940 is an example of a building built Most new construction in the first specifically for retail function. two decades of the 20th century along Delaware Avenue, such as 290, 296, 324, 328, 346,376, 378, 388, & 419 Delaware were built originally to accommodate ground floor retail.

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A series of photos from the City Engineering Records dating to 1937 shows storefronts along Delaware. While the vantage point of the photos often provides an oblique view of the front facades it is clear that there were several storefronts built-out to the sidewalk and having large plate glass windows. There was a great variety of services available to the local residents including several grocers, bakeries, taverns, drug stores & soda parlors, barber shops and beauty parlors, laundries, delicatessens, meat and fruit markets, and even theaters. The architecture of these retail spaces often included plate glass storefront window View looking northeast down Delaware showing the storefronts at #296-306 on the with painted letters identifying the right, and the 2-family homes on left. Transportation options shown include bicycles, business. Often these large storefront cars and buses. windows were projected out over the sidewalk and supported on scroll-like brackets. The windows included prism transoms with retractable canvas awnings. Goods were often brought right out to the sidewalk and displayed on stands and steps. These buildings with their attractive storefronts reflected the increased commercial zoning along Delaware Avenue, the neighborhood’s “main street.”

Another aspect of the neighborhood’s character which was impacted during the transitional period between 1890 and 1930 had to do with the shift from horse and wagon travel to the use and ownership of automobiles. As mentioned earlier, the first personal car arrived in Albany in December 1900. The development of the Clayton Building at 296 Delaware around 1915 which included four ground floor retail spaces with offices on the second floor and a central passageway to rental horse stalls in the rear reflects the pattern of growth in the Delaware neighborhood. By the 1920s and 1930s, the need for horse stalls was quickly replaced by the need for auto parking with the use and ownership of automobiles becoming more prevalent, yet reflecting the fact that properties developed prior than this time rarely included space for a driveway or a detached garage. The rental of parking garages was a new business and the conversion of horse stalls to garages was commonplace across the country.

A local builder and mason, Alphonso Marinello was a resident and property owner at the Queen Anne home located at 423 Delaware in the first decade of the 20th century. Marinello first moved to 423 Delaware Avenue in 1912 according to the City Directories and lived there until his death in 1961. His neighbor was Henry Becker at 421 Delaware and Mrs. Emma Stein at the 19th century farmhouse set back at 419 Delaware. Marinello and his two brothers Anthony and Joseph were Italian immigrants and all trained as masons, whether as bricklayers, stone masons or plasterers from a long family line on Italian masons. According to an article from the Times Union from the 1950s titled “Marinello Terrace Got Its Name from Pioneer Home Builder,” Alphonso Marinello got his start in developing homes along Delaware Avenue shortly after the turn of the century when he was employed by a contractor and accepted three building lots in the neighborhood from his employer in lieu of pay. He became his own builder and sold the houses immediately. After building those three houses he began looking around for other lots in the neighborhood, acquiring a few parcels at a time and building new homes on them. In 1918, Marinello built the first houses on the old St. John’s Cemetery site on the east side of Delaware Avenue beginning at

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Catherine Street and extending south opposite Magnolia Terrace. He built eighteen houses in this row alone, as well as the present drugstore at the corner of Morton Avenue (Lincoln Pharmacy) and two apartment buildings between Morton and Catherine which are now demolished. Historic tax assessment records indicate that Marinello was the builder of the four houses on St. James Place, at least four on the north side block of Delaware between Federal and St. James, all the homes on Summit Avenue between Federal and Marinello Terrace and the houses in the first block of Marinello Terrace with the exception of #6 Marinello Terrace. This last house dates to 1889 was moved from its site at 421 Delaware Avenue to allow for the road construction of Marinello Terrace. Considering that the owner of #6 Marinello Ter., Mr. Henry Becker, was Alphonso’s neighbor, and the owner of the new lot, he likely was the builder that performed the house moving.

Overall Marinello stated in the Times Union article that he had acquired a 44-acres tract of land extending back to the present day Academy Road in 1911. Given the numerous notations of land transactions in the tax assessment records between Walter Stein et al and Alphonso Marinello it can be assumed that it was the Stein family land, part of which was sold to St. James’s parish for their church buildings, which made up this 44 acres. The 1918 tax assessment rolls confirm that the land between Revere Street (now St. James Place) and Marinello Terrace and as far north as current day Hackett Blvd. was undeveloped and all lots were owned by Walter W. Stein et al. The article notes that Alphonso’s greatest period of construction activity in the area was between 1911 and 1925. It appears that as he began to layout and develop Marinello Terrace alongside his present home at 423 Delaware Avenue his home building work was slowing down. The first block of Marinello Terrace was initially subdivided in 1924 with #6 being the first lot developed, however the construction of the other homes did not begin until 1927. This was likely influenced by the need to demolish a 19th century farmhouse lived in and presumably owned by Mrs. Emma Stein located approximately in the middle of the first block. The Stein House was listed as being a 2- story house with barn and it is possible that this was the farmhouse that belonged with the estate that was later subdivided into the streets and properties that exist today. Number 1 Marinello Terrace is listed in the 1927 tax rolls as having been sold by Alphonso Marinello to Eugene B. Moliter and with a 2½ wood residence completed on a lot measuring 36’ in width and 140’ in depth. Molitor, was Alphonso’s plumber for most of the homes he constructed, and he continued to live there through the 1930s with his son still living on the block today.

Alphonso was primarily a residential builder and for the most part the homes he built are easy to pick out, being wood- framed two-family homes with either double stacked front porches or a split double front porch (having a full width front porch on the first floor and a half width porch on the second floor). He was both the builder and the seller at the same time and this approach is apparent in the tax records as he was generally listed as the first owner of most of the buildings he constructed. In comparison, his brother Anthony (Tony) was a prominent commercial builder in partnership with Angelo Stanco. Marinello & Stanco General Contractors built a number of Albany police precinct buildings, banks, schools and are most noted for the construction of the Washington Park Lake House and the Alphonso Marinello, 1878-1958, home builder (Courtesy T. Albany County Jail. Alphonso, did note in the Times Union

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interview, one example of a commercial construction project. It was the A&P Super Market located at the northeast corner of Delaware Avenue and Marinello Terrace, directly across the street from his home. Built at some point between 1935 and 1941, he was proud of the fact that this brick structure was completed in 58 days. This building remains today serving as a CVS pharmacy.

While very little aside of this Times Union article is written about Alphonso or Tony Marinello, their great nephew remains in Albany today carrying on his family’s tradition as a mason and general contractor. An interview with him revealed significant information about the brothers that helped built Albany. Alphonso was born in 1878 and Tony in 1892 in San Giorgio, Italy. Like many other Italians masons, Alphonso probably first came to Albany to work on the construction of the State Capital building, which was completed in 1899. Neither Alphonso nor Tony ever learned to read or write, but they were very skilled businessmen and when it was necessary to document their projects they relied heavily on photography. They typically produced construction photo albums which included photos of the work progress taken weekly. Photos were taken and printed by local photographers with the project name and location, architects/engineers, dates and the builder’s name noted on each print. In the years after the Depression, Alphonso extended his home building activities to other neighborhoods around the city, including 18 homes on South Manning Boulevard just south of Central Avenue. While his most typical house style was the wood-frame two-family duplex, he also built several single family wood and brick Four-Squares and Bungalows. He built 3-story apartment buildings and is likely responsible for the brick Synagogue on Federal Street. He was varied in his building skills and style yet, at the same time built a standard house style that fully reflects that aesthetic and functional criteria of the era and over the past century has become ubiquitous with the residential streets of Albany’s uptown neighborhoods. Marinello stated that he never kept track of how many homes he constructed over his 42 years of building, but estimated it was about 800, most of them in the Delaware Avenue neighborhood.12 He worked into his 80s and died in 1961 according the City Directories at the age of 83.

Alphonso Marinello, in the rear yard of 423 Delaware with view of #2 Construction of the A&P Super Market at 419 Delaware Avenue c. Marinello Terrace behind him. (Courtesy T. Marinello) 1940. (Courtesy T. Marinello)

12 Times Union Newspaper titled “Marinello Terrace Got Its Name from Pioneer Home Builder,” c.1950s (exact date unknown)

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BIBLIOGRAPHY OF RESEARCH SOURCES

Published Works: Books & Articles Candee, Richard & Greer Hardwicke. “Early Twentieth-Century Reform Housing by Kilham & Hopkins, Architects of Boston.” Winterthur Portfolio, Vol. 22, No. 1 (Spring 1987), pp. 47-80.

Clark, Clifford Edward, Jr. The American Family Home, 1800-1960. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1986.

Common Council, City of Albany, proceedings for the Year 1871. (Albany, N.Y.: Argus Co. Printers, 1871) p.154.)

Derry, Anne, H. Ward Jandl, Carol D. Shull & Jan Thorman (Revised by Patricia L. Parker, 1985) National Register Bulletin #24: Guidelines for Local Surveys: A Basis for Preservation Planning. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service & National Register of Historic Places, 1977, 1985.

Dethier, Kathryn. “The Spirit of Progressive Reform: The “Ladies’ Home Journal” House Plans, 1900- 1902.”, Journal of Design History, Vo. 6, No 4. (1993), p. 247-261.

Gerber, Morris. Old Albany. (Volumes 1-4), Albany, NY: privately printed, 1961-79.

Gowans, Alan. The Comfortable House: North American Suburban Architecture, 1890-1930. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1989.

Howell, George Rogers & Jonathan Tenney, editors. Bi-centennial History of Albany: History of the county of Albany, N.Y. from 1609-1886. (Volumes 1-3), New York: WW. Munsell & Co, Publishers, 1886.

Hubka, Thomas C., and Judith T. Kenny. “Examining the American Dream: Housing Standards and the Emergence of a National Housing Culture, 1900-1930.” Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture, Vernacular Architecture Forum: Vol. 13, No. 1 (2006). p. 49-69.

Hubka, Thomas C. “Houses without Names: Architectural Nomenclature and the Classification of America’s Common Houses.” CRM: The Journal of Heritage Stewardship, Vol. 8, Number 1&2, Winter/Summer 2011, p. 23-30.

Jandl, Ward H., & Katherine Cole Stevenson. Houses by Mail: A Guide to Houses from Sears, Roebuck and Company, New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and the Preservation Press, 1986.

Kite, John T. "Groesbeckville, 1845-1875: A Neighborhood Study" (unpublished paper, 1982), p.3.

Munsell, Joel. Annals of Albany. (Volumes 1-10), Albany: Munsell & Rowland, Printers, 1869

Munsell, Joel. Collections on the History of Albany (Volumes 1-4), New York: J. Munsell, 1870-71.

Reynolds, Cuyler. Albany Chronicles: A History of the City Arranged Chronologically. Albany, NY: J.B. Lyon Company, 1906, p. 526.

Reconnaissance-Level Survey of the BIBLIOGRAPHY Delaware Avenue Neighborhood Page 20

Reynolds, Kenneth G, Jr. “Marcus T. Reynolds,” Architects in Albany. Albany, NY: Mount Ida Press and Historic Albany Foundation, 2009.

Times Union Newspaper. “Marinello Terrace Got Its Name from Pioneer Home Builder,” c.1950s, exact date unknown.

Waite, Diana S., editor. Albany Architecture: A Guide to the City. Albany, NY: Mount Ida Press, 1993. p.152

Warner, Sam Bass. Streetcar Suburbs: The Process of Growth in Boston 1870-1900. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1978.

Unpublished Resources Albany County Grantees, Grantor and Building Permit Indices: Albany County Hall of Records, 95 Tivoli Street, Albany, NY 12207.

Albany City Directories, 1853-1961. Albany, New York: Sampson, Davenport & Co.

Marinello Family records, Courtesy Thomas J. Marinello.

National Register Nomination Form by Thomas F. Murnane & John A. Bonafide, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, October 2000. “Hook & Ladder #4,” #01NR01738.

National Register Nomination Form by Sweat, C. L., South End Improvement Corp., and Lucy A. Breyer, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, 1984. “South End/Groesbeckville Historic District,” #90NR02819.

Research prepared for the Bureau of Historical Services on St. James Church by unknown author, c.1996.

Tax Assessment Rolls, City of Albany, at Albany County Hall of Records: 1st Ward, 1900-1935.

Maps • John R. Bleecker Map of Rensselaerswyck, 1767 • Simeon DeWitt, A Plan of the City of Albany, Surveyed at the request of the Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty, 1794. • Van Alen, John Evert. Map of the City of Albany, Surveyed by the request of the Mayor, Aldermen and Commonality, 1813. • Joel Munsell, Map of the City of Albany, 1856. • Jacob, E. Map of the City of Albany with Village of Greenbush, East Albany & Bath. Albany, NY: Sprague & Co., 1857. • Beers, S. N. and D. G. New Topographical Atlas of the Counties of Albany and Schenectady, New York Atlas, Philadelphia, PA: Stone & Stewart Publishers, 1866. pgs.11, 17. • Hopkins, G.M., City Atlas of Albany, New York. Philadelphia: F. Bourquin, 1876. • Andrews, Horace (City Engineer), Map of City of Albany Turnpikes, 1895. • 1908-09 Sanborn Map Company Fire Insurance Maps of Albany, New York, New York: Sanborn-Perris Map Company Ltd. Vol. 1&2. • 1934-35 Sanborn Map Company Fire Insurance Maps of Albany, New York, New York: Sanborn-Perris Map Company Ltd. Vol. 1&2.

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• 1951 Sanborn Map Company Fire Insurance Maps of Albany, New York, New York: Sanborn-Perris Map Company Ltd. Vol. 1&2. • Tax Maps of the City of Albany, 1st, 4th 14th and 15th Tax Districts. Updated through March 1, 2011.

Internet Resources: • Colonial Albany Social History Project, Stefan Bielinski, Director. The Colonial Albany Social History Project is a community history program of the New York State Museum, an agency of the State Education Department through its Office of Cultural Education. It was formed in 1981 to understand pre-industrial community life by studying the contributions of the diverse individuals who lived in the city of Albany during its formative years. http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/index.html • Dictionary of American Biography, Vo. XVII, p. 502. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1935 • The New York Times: Obituaries and historic newspaper articles.

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SURVEY RESULTS

Summary of Types of Properties Identified During the field work, representative examples of various property types were identified and documented. By definition, property types share similar physical or associative characteristics. The property types for this survey project focus on their shared physical or architectural style or functional qualities and well as their development patterns. With regard to functional qualities, the properties are categorized as either residential (single family, 2-family), mixed use (residential & retail), institutional (church, school, city services) or commercial (retail, offices).

Like other areas of Albany opened up to development in the early 20th century, the most common residential building type here is the two-family residence, usually constructed of wood, with identical apartment units or flats, stacked one on top of the other. The buildings feature architectural embellishments common in the period such as a mixture of clapboards and wood shingle siding, stucco, gabled or hipped roofs with attic level dormers, angular and square two-story bay windows, decorative Palladian-style windows at the attic, multi-paned double hung windows, and prominent front porches.

The development of this this very prominent building type corresponds with the period referred by historians as the Progressive Era (1900-1930) in the early 20th century. During this time, a new housing plan emerged that incorporated new functional and technological amenities that improved the levels of comfort, domestic conveniences and social patterns that allowed working class families to achieve middle- class quality of life. This “progressive-era plan” had a standard 6-7 room layout with bath, kitchen, dining, living room and two or three bedrooms. In the early 20th century working class neighborhoods, multi-unit structures, like duplexes, triple-deckers and larger multi-unit apartment complexes which provided middle- class amenities quickly gained in popularity. This was a critical period of transformation of the full range of socio-economic conditions that influenced the entire inventory of American housing. Prior to 1900, working class houses commonly contained two major rooms – a kitchen and a work/sleep space with perhaps one or two small storage or sleeping rooms. The amenities typically included a stove for heating and cooking, a sink with cold water (typically hand pumped), oil lamps or candles and access to an outhouse. Lodging relatives or boarders typically served as another source of income even though it further decreased the amount of space for the family members and produced crowded conditions. Overall, the typical pre-20th century working class home was characterized as having multi-functional rooms with little architectural distinction, spatial crowding due to the small sizes and the taking in of working boarders, room usage dictated by the work and various schedules of family members, and the absence of privacy or significant personal space. These patterns of living underwent a significant transformation with the development of new dwelling types for the working class in the Progressive Era.

While this was a significant advancement for the working-class, the middle class was also greatly impacted in their ability to afford their own home that was compact, efficient and simple. The dramatic transformation of the middle-class family home ideal between 1890 and 1901 was part of a more general reorientation of American culture at the turn of the century partly in response to the depression of 1893, the aftermath of which lead to a search for new standards in national patterns of production, communication, consumption and family life. At the turn of the century the Victorian system of values and its assumptions about women’s proper roles were challenged as the new economy influenced subtle changes in family composition. The woman’s role in the house was shifting as a result of the increase in labor-saving equipment, the tendency to purchase more goods and services from outside the home and the overall decrease in family size. Women started to enter the work force and spend less time working in the home, yet more middle-class family households did not include servants. In comparison to 19th century homes

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which put social status and formality above comfort, the main focus of the early 20th century or Progressive era homes was comfort, for all classes.

Comfortable working- and middle-class houses in the first quarter of the 20th century routinely incorporated eight specific elements into a six-seven room plan which collectively defined a new standard of housing. This informal but widely accepted plan became a nationally recognized standard for domestic living. They included:

1. Bathroom with three fixtures: The combination of a bathtub, toilet and sink in a minimum standard 5x7 foot room plan marked a dramatic technological leap from the primitive semi-public facilities that had remained unchanged since the middle ages.

2. Dining Room: The dining room was the desirable symbol of middle-class domesticity, yet for a working class family this separate room also provided the practical benefits of offering space for multiple activities in addition to regular dining.

3. Kitchen Technologies: Kitchen improvements naturally facilitated the everyday work of the homemaker. In addition to the kitchen stove, a sink with plumbed or pumped water, hot-water heaters, refrigeration units, ice holding appliances, washing machines and a variety of labor-saving devices introduced in the 20th century improved the overall quality of life for an increasing number of American families.

4. Public Utilities & Services: One of the most important accomplishments of progressive era reformers after 1900 was the introduction of a range of public utilities and services to working- and middle-class neighborhoods such as sewer, electricity, gas, garbage collection and other municipal services like street lighting and sweeping. Urban residents were among the first to receive them.

5. Private Bedrooms: Before 1900, privacy was nearly non-existent in typical working-class households of 2-4 rooms. The creation of a new world of domestic privacy for working class families is one of the major effects of housing reform in the early 20th century. Still there often remained the necessity of having a renter’s room in many working class homes until after the Depression.

6. Storage Closet: The closet was an entirely new type of space in working-class homes and indicates a critical turning point in the availability of industrially produced personal domestic goods.

7. The Front Porch: After the turning of the century, the front porch became a place for and symbol of leisure for the working class. The porch symbolized for many the potential of a new life-style made possible by the 8-hour workday and improved living conditions. More than any other architectural features, the modest front porch represented a new space for domestic comfort and social gathering in improved housing.

8. Car & Garage: While the automobile was a late addition to working-class households, the popular use of the automobile significantly contributed to the transformation of the American home and lifestyle. By 1928, ¾ of all non-farm families owned an automobile; however it tended to be accommodated in rented garages or minimal detached structures until after WWII. Shelter for the automobile became an increasingly important consideration after 1900. Driveways were readily accommodated in the progressive design of new neighborhoods having road improvements such as

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paved surfaces, gutters and curbs, and side-walks. The earliest garages were placed behind the house at the end of a long driveway that often consisted of little more than a double tract of pavement.

Comfort and convenience were the hallmark of the suburban dwelling with such novelties as indoor plumbing, built-in gas and electric utilities, central heating. These had all previously been the luxuries of the well-to-do only, but with the Progressive Era housing reforms became standard feature for all. In addition to the standard elements listed above, these early 20th century homes also included concrete cellar floor and windows with screens for improved health and hygiene; sleeping porches, the exchange of formal entrance halls or vestibules for hall closets; the disappearance of formal parlors for more informal living rooms and welcoming front porches. Homes in the suburbs, which was technically defined as tracts within the city limits, were the physical embodiments in the societal belief in progress and in the reality of movement in the direction of better things. During the Progressive era between 1890 and 1930, thanks in part to prefabrication, more houses were erected in the United States than in the nation’s entire previous history.13

The early twentieth century house plan as described above could be applied to a variety of architectural styles. Most scholars would agree that the early 20th century’s most popular house style was the bungalow. While most associate the Bungalow Style with its exterior appearance and characteristic elements, it is actually its common floor plan that marks it as a significant development of popular American housing. When stripped of its architectural style, the single story bungalow plan in its most popular five-to-six room configuration is indistinguishable from any of the era’s most popular houses. This includes the two-family flats or duplexes, triple-deckers, and multi- unit houses, as well as single-family houses in various styles. Some have designated this common configuration as the “Progressive Era plan” since it was probably the most popular house plan type nationwide between 1900 and 1940. However, the Progressive Era plan which is shared by single-story bungalows, the two-family duplex, and the triple-decker has no single source or creative designer. Rather, builders began to use these floor plans simultaneously in many regions during an extended period. Like other building inventions in popular housing, like the balloon frame and the ranch house, they were the product of an evolutionary process conducted within a national vernacular building culture.14 Thousands of local builders/developers aided by mass communication, industrialized product developments and a speculative housing market, designed and developed this plan type until it was the ubiquitous housing style of urban neighborhoods.

13 Gowans, Alan. The Comfortable House: North American Suburban Architecture, 1890-1930. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1989. 14 Hubka, Thomas C., and Judith T. Kenny. “Examining the American Dream: Housing Standards and the Emergence of a National Housing Culture, 1900-1930.” Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture, Vernacular Architecture Forum: Vol. 13, No. 1 (2006).

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The American Bungalow The bungalow was hardly known before 1900, but by 1910 had become the ideal suburban home and was being built by the thousands giving rise to what has been called the “bungalow suburb.” The typical bungalow was a one- or one-and-a-half-story house having a broad, low-pitched gable roof with deep overhanging eaves. The interior featured an open floor plan for family activities at the front of the house and private bedrooms at the back or upstairs. The wide open front porch recessed under the main roof, a distinctive feature of the most common bungalow, provided a transition or link between the interior and outdoors.

Although bungalows could be found with ornament from any and every style—Colonial, Classical, Shingle, Spanish--the design of the bungalow was influenced by the Prairie School movement of the Midwest, the California Arts and Crafts movement, and a number of vernacular housing types. In fact, a large part of the bungalow’s appeal was its adaptation of these and other architectural influences in the form of a compact comfortable house. It was precisely because the bungalow was not associated with any one style in particular, that they came to be thought of as “American.” The suburban bungalow was popularized nationwide by periodicals such as Western Architect, Ladies’ Home Journal, Craftsman, and Bungalow Magazine. The bungalow style lent itself to a large variety of exterior materials. Walls were often clad with clapboards, shingles, stucco, brick or stone are a combination of several different materials and textures. The same house plan could be built over and over again with modification made in the style or shape of the porch columns, railings, Examples of popular bungalow designs from the early 20th century. Alan Gowans, The Comfortable dormers, window, brackets House. or shape of rafter tails.

The Foursquare The Foursquare made its appearance in the 1890s, and by the 1930s, was a fixture of American neighborhoods. A typical foursquare was a two-and-one-half-story house having a raised basement, one-story porch across the front with a shallow hipped roof, and in plan having four evenly sized rooms on each floor along with a stair hall. The form of the house, recognizable for its box or cube massing, is what earned it its name “the Foursquare.” Often crowned with a hipped roof and dormers, the foursquare appeared ornamented in a variety of architectural styles, the most popular being the Colonial Revival.

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The main character of the foursquare is one of classical self-containment with a balanced and symmetrical visual effect. Often the second floor line was called out by flared wall plane and horizontal beltcourses. Like the bungalow, it is impossible to cite or attribute the style to a single source or design, however it has been stated that the ancestor of the foursquare was the eighteenth century Georgian mansion or mid-nineteenth century Italianate reborn in middle-class form.

A typical foursquare house. Gordon VanTine Co. 117 House Designs of the Twenties. The Homestead Temple-House Unlike the bungalow or the foursquare, the “homestead temple-house” or the front-facing gable end two- family home was not characteristic of the suburbs, rather they were associated with images of many northeastern cities, especially since many were two-family dwellings having a rental property function. However, when they were built, most of these houses stood on the outskirts of town and only over time as the cities expanded did they come to be sited in the inner-city. Additionally, because these houses were customarily built in row alongside each other on a street, they created the rhythm similar to town houses, despite the fact that they were detached and placed within the setbacks of their neighborhood lots. Their appeal and the simplicity of their construction encouraged many variations of the basic plan. There is no standardized nomenclature by which this two-family Progressive-era home is known. It has been referred to as the Homestead Temple-house by Alan Gowans in his book, The Comfortable House, which is cited in numerous other articles and publications on the most common housing forms of the early twentieth century. The reason for this name or connection with the Greek Temple form is the common rectangular footprint with gable end on the short wall facing the front and having either cornice returns or full pediment and two-story porches approximating the image of a Classical portico or colonnade. The form intended to imply independence and possibilities of upward mobility.

Because the street car suburbs of the Progressive era were intended to house several populations, a variety of housing types were necessary. Migration to these suburbs came from the inner/central city outward, as well as inward from the countryside. These suburbs were considered far enough from the city center to have rural qualities such as open fields and trees, good sized gardens, and houses setback from the street with a front lawn, yet close enough to commute to earn a living in the city. The homes were individual enough using a variety of building materials on the exterior from clapboards, shingles, stucco or brick, yet related in massing and form to those adjacent houses on the street to create a community typical of the older urban rowhouses. At the same time, the two-family homes accommodated the need to offer rental housing and/or inexpensive home ownership in a planned environment. These multi-family homes retained a domestic scale and were thoughtfully sited to provide open space for fresh air, light, privacy and recreation. A village atmosphere was deemed important to civic and moral health because it would evoke middle-class values among the residents regardless of economic status.

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Delaware Avenue homes included as examples of homestead temple-houses in Alan Gowans’ book, The Comfortable House.

With regard to the Delaware Avenue survey area, the predominant building types have been identified in the survey forms and data base according to three characteristics: 1) Function/occupancy such as single family or 2-famiy residential, mixed use (residential & retail), institutional, or commercial/retail, 2) Architectural Style (Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne, Art Deco, bungalow, Foursquare, Progressive-era 2-family, etc.) 3) Building Survey Type (A-J)

While the first two characteristics are self-explanatory, the third requires some definition and background information. During the process of the survey, several house styles began to stand out as having a unified massing, floor plans and exterior form and thus could be categorized or grouped together as a specific building type within the larger category of bungalow, foursquare or homestead temple-house.

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These categories or building types are defined and illustrated below:

Type A: 2½ story Homestead Temple-House with stacked front porches recessed under roof

Type B: 2½ story Homestead Temple-House with projecting stacked front porches

Type C: 2½ story Homestead Temple-House with split double front porches

Type D: 2 story Foursquare with flat front façade & 1story front porch and attic dormer.

Type E: 2 story Foursquare with 2-story front bay window, projecting cornice & 1 story front porch.

Type F: 1½ story Foursquare with 4 dormers at upper floor.

Type G: 1½ story Bungalow with roof ridge parallel to front with recessed full-width front porch.

Type H: 1½ story Bungalow with roof ridge perpendicular to front with recessed entry front porch.

Type I: 2 story mixed use building with ground floor retail with storefront windows and second floor apartment with porch or oriel.

Out of the 180 buildings surveyed, 56 buildings of 31% fall into the category of Building Type A, the 2 ½ story Homestead Temple-house with the 2-story stacked front porches recessed under the main roof. An additional 6 buildings shared that same form but had projecting front double porches. The statistics for the rest of the buildings are as follows:

Type A = 56 buildings Type F = 1 building Type B = 6 buildings Type G = 6 buildings Type C = 24 buildings Type H = 9 buildings Type D = 36 buildings Type I = 9 buildings Type E = 15 buildings No Specific Type = 18 buildings

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Delaware Avenue neighborhood prominent building types:

TYPE A TYPE B TYPE C

TYPE D TYPE E TYPE F

TYPE G TYPE H TYPE I

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Preliminary Eligibility Analysis During the survey process, the buildings were evaluated on the extent of original materials, architectural features and integrity of original design intent on the exterior. They were also rated according to their physical condition on a basis of excellent, good, fair or poor. This understanding of the architectural integrity of each individual building along with knowledge of its age, and historic or architectural significant, allowed us to conduct a preliminary analysis of eligibility for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

The evaluation of potentially eligible properties for the National Register is based on the following criteria which were developed to guide States, Federal agencies and the Secretary of the Interior in the designation of properties or historic resources to the Register. Properties must show value or significance in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture and this significance can be present in districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects as long as they possess integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. In addition, the property must be found to meet one or more of the following criteria:

Criterion A: Associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history; or

Criterion B: Associated with the lives of persons significant in our past; or

Criterion C: Embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, or that represent the work of a master, or that possess high artistic values, or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction; or

Criterion D: Have yielded or may likely yield information important in prehistory or history.

There exists within the survey area one individual building that has previously been designated to the National Register of Historic Places. This is the Hook & Ladder #4 Fire Station at 360 Delaware Avenue which was designated in 2000. The St. James Church building at 389-391 Delaware Avenue is also likely eligible for listing as an individual building given the involvement of the renowned ecclesiastical architects, Maginnis & Walsh and the high level of architectural integrity (Criteria C). The rest of the buildings in the area have been evaluation based on the contribution they would make to a historic district. For purposes of clarity, a district is defined as an area possessing a significant concentration, linkage, or continuity of sites, buildings, structures, or objects united historically or aesthetically by plan or physical development. Given the historic context for the development of this section of the city and its rapid growth in the first three decades of the 20th century, and its association with Alphonso Marinello who built 32% of the buildings in this survey area alone and scores more outside of the boundaries, it is reasonable to suggest that this area could be eligible as the proposed “Delaware/Marinello Historic District” based on criteria A, B, and C.

Overall, of the 179 buildings surveyed, 25 buildings were found to be in “Excellent” condition or having excellent integrity defined as having retained the original fabric, designed form and architectural features of the building as well as having well-maintained physical materials. A total of 113 buildings were rated as being in “Good” condition/integrity defined as having retained a large proportion of the original fabric, features and design intent, with any alterations or materials in disrepair felt to be reversible, not compromised. This was the condition noted for most houses that retained their original form and massing but may have been clad with aluminum or vinyl siding over the original exterior wood or stucco finishes. The idea is that synthetic siding is a covering, not unlike wallpaper over original painted plaster walls and

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that the siding could at some point be carefully removed allowing for the repair and restoration of the original cladding materials. The same approach was taken with regard to front porches. If a front porch was minimally enclosed with wood, aluminum or vinyl storm windows, yet the original porch wall, columns or balustrade was left intact, then the condition/integrity of the building was rated as “good” with the understanding that the porch enclosure was reversible and that the porch features could at some point be restored. However, if a wall cladding or porch elements like the columns or railings were removed or otherwise altered in a way that was not reversible in the process of installing the synthetic siding or porch enclosure materials than the building would not have been rated as “good.” There were 40 buildings in the survey area that met this condition or were otherwise significantly altered or unmaintained and thus were rated as having “Fair” condition/integrity. This most likely was the result when a building exhibited the removal of numerous original materials such as windows, slate roofing, wall cladding, trim elements and/or having porches restructured and incorporated into living space thus impacting the original form and massing of the building. Lastly, there on only 1 building in the survey area that was rates as “Poor” condition/integrity and this was based on the substantial alterations of the form, massing, materials and appearance of the original building. All of the work done was considered irreversible and had compromised the original design intent.

To give a snapshot picture of the extent of alterations and thus the need for restoration in the area, the following statistics have been compiled:

Streets Synthetic siding Replacement Replaced roof Enclosed porches windows Delaware Avenue (58 bldgs) 40 (68%) 34 (58%) 38 (65%) 17 (out of 36) -47% Summit Avenue (59 bldgs) 43 (72%) 22 (37%) 33 (55%) 36 (61%) Barclay Street (28 bldgs) 24 (85%) 13 (46%) 8 (28%) 17 (60%) Catalpa Drive (9 bldgs) 7 (77%) 7 (77%) 5 (55%) 7 (77%) Federal Street (8 bldgs) 6 (75%) 5 (62%) 5 (62%) 5 (62%) St. James Place (5 bldgs) 4 (80%) 4 (80%) 4 (80%) 0 (0%) Marinello Terrace (13 bldgs) 4 (30%) 3 (23%) 7 (53%) 9 (69%)

It is important to keep in mind that the work done here was simply a Reconnaissance Level historic resource survey and while a lot of historic background has been provided, the research efforts were limited by the nature of this survey level. Additionally, historic contexts are always being refined, updated and made more complete as new data, information becomes available. This preliminary eligibility assessment is based simply on the history known and the cursory physical evidence noted during the survey work.

In summary, the Delaware Avenue neighborhood is a large residential area extending on either side of Delaware Avenue, one of the city's major traffic corridors, which runs through the center of the neighborhood in a northwest-southeast direction and connects the neighboring town of Bethlehem to downtown Albany residential neighborhoods. The surveyed area around Delaware Avenue is characterized almost exclusively by large, two-family houses built in the first three decades of the 20th century, when the area was developed as middle- and working-class housing along a prominent street car transportation route. Although there is a great variety of building types, many houses on the residential side street are built on a single master plan, and throughout the survey area there is a great deal of visual unity generated by the repetition of architectural materials and details, building forms and massing and lots sizes and setback. Most of the residential buildings include columned porches with roofs treated as pediments with ornamental gable end or dormer windows and two story bay windows. Most houses have at least a partial porch on their second story as well as on the first. Throughout the survey area the lots are narrow yet

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generally 100-140 feet deep, so the houses have a rectangular massing and are set quite close together. The streets are lined with sidewalks, tall shade trees, and most houses have a small front yard separating them from the sidewalk. The concentration of early-20th century houses is extremely high, and given the close proximity of the houses to each other, the streets in the Delaware Avenue neighborhood offer long vistas of repeating columns, pediments, dormers and roof gables.

The integrity of the Delaware Avenue neighborhood as a whole is evident from the very small number of vacant lots and modern buildings interrupting the unbroken march of similar historic houses. Most of the demolition and new construction has been confined to the commercial zone on Delaware Avenue. The integrity of individual properties varies from virtually unaltered exteriors to houses which have been remodeled and covered with aluminum, vinyl, asphalt, or composition siding. Siding has generally not been carried out with wholesale removal of architectural detail. Approximately two-thirds of the houses have been sided and/or remodeled. The others have their original exterior material and provide an accurate glimpse of the original appearance and fabric of the altered homes. Delaware Avenue provides the most drastic examples of alteration, with storefronts built onto the facades of the houses which line the street. Although for the most part, much of the first-story detail is gone, these buildings are still recognizable as Italianate, Queen Anne or Progressive-era houses, and the rhythm of their gable ends and Palladian-style windows add to the visual richness of the area.

The Delaware Avenue neighborhood and the proposed Delaware/Marinello Historic District is considered a significant historic resource because it reflects the population and economic growth of Albany in the early 20th century, and because the houses are well-preserved examples of stylish, middle- and working-class housing typical of the period 1900-1930. The area was developed primarily by one real estate speculator/builder, Alphonso Marinello, who also lived in the neighborhood until his death in the 1950s and who built more than 800 quality homes around the city, the majority along Delaware Avenue. The city's population growth in this period, and the fact that many people were in a position to own a home and even a rental property created a demand for housing that was more commodious and stylish than the typical row house dwellings in the central/downtown neighborhoods of the 18th and 19th century. The extension of electric street railway service along Delaware Avenue and the investment of the city in terms of public infrastructure and utilities opened up this land as a site for such residential development. This survey area and proposed district is important in its ability to illustrate and represent the City of Albany’s twentieth-century architectural heritage in much the same way the historic districts of Central Square, Hudson Park, Clinton Avenue, Mansion, and South End represent the growth of the city and the way its people lived in the 19th century.

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RECOMMENDED NEXT STEPS FOR FURTHER STUDY As the reconnaissance level survey of the historic resources within Delaware Avenue neighborhood is brought to a close there are a number of recommendations or next steps that would support the work done to date and future study of the neighborhood. It is the desire and intention of the work done to educate the leaders of and decision-makers for this community on the shared history, the architectural significance, the cohesiveness that remains intact and the great potential and opportunities that come with celebrating this information. It is not intended to be yet another study set on a shelf and checked off a list. This material should be disseminated to property owners to foster a pride of place, used by the local historic commission and building officials to guide development and city improvements and embraced by the State Historic Preservation Office as they encourage the ongoing survey and planning efforts within Certified Local Governments.

1. Continued survey efforts beyond current boundaries. This survey right from the beginning started off with the disadvantage of having insufficient funds to accomplish the ambitious scope and breadth of the desired survey area. Originally scoped to survey an area having nearly 520 buildings, the funds that were attained allowed us to focus on a third of the area. It is strongly recommended that other funding sources be identified and fundraising efforts pursued to allow for the ongoing survey of the adjacent areas of the neighborhood. More specifically, the research of this portion of the community identified the fact that speculator/builders, primarily Alphonso Marinello, was purchasing larger tract of land along Delaware Avenue and on the north side of the neighborhood up to Hackett Boulevard and building homes in the first three decades of the 20th century. Additional survey efforts would help to identify which other properties and houses are attributed to Marinello to better appreciate his contribution to the development of the neighborhood. While the area surveyed is felt to be cohesive and worthy of designation of a landmark district, ongoing survey work of neighboring streets and blocks is critical to determine the full extent of the proposed district boundaries, and to justify the limits the district.

2. Ongoing research and education of the development of the neighborhood and its builders. Alongside the ongoing survey efforts, it is recommended that additional research be conducted to learn more about the development of the neighborhood. In particular, more extensive research of Deed Grantee & Grantor indices particularly for original large tract property owners such as Walter Stein, Ten Eyck, Judge Hurlbut, John Sheridan, Thomas Donahue, John Flanagan, Daniel Spiegel, John Christian, Charles Schifferdecker, Christian Ruhle, J. Clark and Alphonso Marinello, would yield more definitive information on the transfer of lands leading up the eventually construction of streets and homes. Research of the area from the pre-1871 era when still a part of the Town of Bethlehem, might yield a better understanding of Delaware Turnpike and its early settlers. City Directory research which was extremely limited during this survey would yield more information on key community members that played a significant role in the early development of the neighborhood. While Building Permit indices at the County Hall of Record were reviewed on a cursory level, no actual building files were retrieved and reviewed. This has the potential to give an extensive amount of information on the building styles, construction dates, methods and materials, original ownership and more information on Marinello as a builder in particular. If the significance of this district is going to be tied to Marinello, more substantial research about him and his construction practice needs to be conducted. Tom Marinello of Marinello Contracting on Catherine Street, is a wonderful wealth of knowledge on his two great uncles that played a large role in the development of the City in the early 1900s. Further communication with him, if he is amenable is encouraged. Although the City Engineering photographic records were consulted, the Morris Gerber volumes of photographic documentation were not thoroughly reviewed. Additionally many long-time residents, similar to the Marinellos, might have personal photos and documentation that could shed additional light on how the

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neighborhood looked in its early years, what significant events happened and who the ley members of the community were.

With additional research conducted and a more comprehensive history compiled, it is important that this story being shared with the public through the public library, social media, local schools, community newsletters, public interest pieces in local newspapers and blogs, and that the City of Albany incorporate this development history into their comprehensive plan and neighborhood history files. The early 20th century expansion and development of this neighborhood is currently experiencing its centennial years and thus every opportunity to celebrate this and educate the general public on the significance of the area should be explored.

3. Pursue National Register listing or local landmark district status. With supplemental survey work and research completed, it is strongly urged that the neighborhood, its preservation partners and the City Historic Resources Commission/Planning Dept. pursue the nomination of this area as a historic district. As noted above, this neighborhood is currently experiencing its centennial, and as such it is important not only to appreciate and celebrate its history but also plan for its protection and enhancement in the future. Listing on the National Register, opens properties in this area up to tremendous opportunities in terms of funding, investment incentives and recognition. The recent street improvement project that brought substantial investment and improvement to Delaware Avenue is one example of how a similar focus on buildings and investment in their physical materials and appearance can re-energize the community, improve property values, increase pride of place among the residents and merchants, and cause the area to thrive. Properties within and adjacent to historic districts often have greater market value, more municipal attention and are more desirable in attracting new homeowners, merchants, and visitors in search of walking tours and heritage tourism. National Register designation also affords the neighborhood with a certain level of protection with regarding to projects involving state or federal licensing or funding. This is relevant considering that Delaware Avenue is a State and Federal route. If listed, an future work on this roadway would need to consider and mitigate the negative impact on the historic resources that would result from the project(s). While there is no threat of Delaware Avenue becoming a 6-lane highway in the immediate future, a historic district would protect the buildings along Delaware Avenue in the event a State of Federal mandate required such expansion.

4. Encouragement and incentives for property owners for restoration, façade improvements. As the research and survey results indicate, the district is cohesive and has an important development history, however, a large percentage of the properties are categorized as good/fair condition with some extent of repair or restoration needed. It is the condition of the large majority of these buildings that give the impression that the neighborhood does not have historic or architectural value. However, a large percentage of the residential structures on the side streets and the mixed use structures along Delaware retain their form and massing, but their character has been minimally compromised by the inappropriate use of inferior cladding materials such as cement-asbestos shingles, aluminum and vinyl siding and the concealing of ornamental and character-defining features like wood cornices, decorative brackets, window and door casework, and porch elements under aluminum panning. A vast number of original one-story and two-story front and rear porches have been enclosed with minimal materials such as storm windows and doors, or siding. Most of these alterations are in fact reversible with significant ornament and architectural elements intact beneath these mid/late 20th century coverings. The architectural character of these individual buildings and the neighborhood as a whole has the great potential to be restored.

Simply the restoration of the front, street facing facades of these buildings, would have an immense positive impact on the character of the neighborhood and the appreciation of the architecture. “Façade Improvement Grant programs” that provide small $2000-$5000 grants for the removal of late 20th century

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siding, repair of original/traditional materials such as wood clapboards, wood shingles, stucco and wood trim elements, restoration of wood window sash and repainting original wood surfaces would go a long way to improve property values, foster community pride, and build the appreciation of the architectural significance of the neighborhood.

However, such programs are generally only available to listed historic districts. Additionally, if listed as a Historic District on either the State or National Register of Historic, it would be possible to take advantage of the Federal and NYS Commercial Rehabilitation and the NYS Historic Homeowner Tax Credit Program. It would be worthwhile to explore the potential of combining a community “Façade Improvement Grant Program” (FIGP) with the Commercial Rehab & Historic Homeowner Tax Credit program where the granting agency or foundation provides the seed money for the improvement project, and provides technical assistance to the property owners in terms of review and approval of the scope of work, and administration of the tax credit application. This would eliminate the intimidation factor of the Federal or state application process for individual homeowners, and ensure that the façade improvement funds are going towards the efforts to preserve the community’s architectural resources. The FIGP could also solicit the involvement of private investors to purchase the commercial tax credits. The outcome would be significant community revitalization for the Delaware Area Neighborhood that would be consistent with the substantial investment made in the street enhancement work, and it would provide significant credibility and attention for the NYS Rehabilitation Tax Credit Program. It also sets a ideal precedent of how other neighborhoods in the City of Albany and other Upstate cities can accentuate their main street corridor and surrounding residential streets. By enhancing & improving the appearance of building façades, the program serves to improve the economic viability of the community. Better aesthetics increase property values, improve the marketability of space within the buildings and draw business and residents to the area.

5. Pursue financial tools to help protect and enhance the architectural character of the area. Funding to create the FIGP (Façade Improvement Grant Program) could potentially come from a number of sources including but not limited to corporate sponsorship, Community Renewal or Economic Development programs (State), HUD Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, National and New York Main Street Program (http://www.nyshcr.org/Programs/NYMainStreet), or the Albany Community Development Agency.

Examples of existing Façade Improvement Programs are found at the following links and provide good models in terms of eligible activities, application review criteria, and project requirements:

• http://www.portlandmaine.gov/citymanagers/facade.asp • http://restore.dc.gov/restoredc/cwp/view.asp?a=1409&q=573415 • http://www.cityofknoxville.org/development/facade.asp

Once designated a National Register historic district, the buildings in the district are eligible for a number of preservation grants, tax credit programs, Main Street program and through the city of Albany Community Development Block Grants. Religious structures are eligible for funding through the Sacred Sites Program of the New York Landmarks Conservancy and non-profits eligible for funding through the PreserveNY program of the Preservation League of New York State, among other private foundations with a focus on historic preservation initiatives.

Reconnaissance-Level Survey of the RECOMMENDATIONS Delaware Avenue Neighborhood Page 36