Central Troy Historic District
Encyclopedia
The Central Troy Historic District is an irregularly-shaped, 96 acres (38.8 ha) area of downtown Troy
, New York, United States. It has been described as "one of the most perfectly preserved 19th-century downtowns in the [country]" with nearly 700 properties in a variety of architectural style
s from the early 19th to mid-20th centuries. These include most of Russell Sage College
, one of two privately-owned urban parks in New York, and two National Historic Landmark
s. Visitors ranging from the Duke de la Rochefoucauld
to Philip Johnson
have praised aspects of it. Martin Scorsese
used parts of downtown Troy as a stand-in for 19th-century Manhattan
in The Age of Innocence
.
In 1986, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places
(NRHP), superseding five smaller historic district
s that had been listed on the Register in the early 1970s. Most of the buildings, structures and objects within the district contribute
to its historic character. Two of Troy's three National Historic Landmarks, the Gurley Building and Troy Savings Bank
, are located within its boundaries. Nine other buildings are listed on the Register in their own right. Among the architects represented are Alexander Jackson Davis
, George B. Post
, Calvert Vaux
and Frederick Clarke Withers
. There are many buildings designed by the regionally-significant architect Marcus F. Cummings
. The downtown street plan was borrowed from Philadelphia, and one neighborhood, Washington Square, was influenced by London's squares of its era.
The district reflects Troy's evolution from its origins as a Hudson River
port into an early industrial center built around textile manufacture
and steelmaking
. During this period it was rebuilt twice in the wake of two devastating fires
, resulting in its mix of architecture styles. After the decline of its industries in the mid-20th century, downtown Troy was threatened by urban renewal
efforts that galvanized local preservationists
, leading to the early NRHP listings and eventually the creation of the district.
Today, the city of Troy protects and preserves the district with special provisions in its zoning
and programs which, with assistance from the state of New York, encourage and subsidize property owners who maintain and restore
historic buildings. These efforts have paid off with increased attention from developers, the revival of much of the area, and praise from visitors to the city. With the collaboration of nearby Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
(RPI), Troy is hoping to make the district a center for the development of cutting-edge technologies, a "Silicon Valley
of the 19th century."
downtown. All of the original five historic districts are included in full, along with other historic neighborhoods, for a total of 10% of the city's area.
It is centered around the axes of US 4
and NY 2
, both of which divide into one-way streets (Third and Fourth and Congress and Ferry, respectively) to facilitate traffic flow through the city. Monument Square, the center of Troy since the late 19th century, along with all the buildings around it (save for the late 20th-century, brutalist City Hall) are located within its northwestern corner. At its western end it is partially bounded by the Hudson River
, and the former River Street Historic District.
To the south it includes the older buildings of Russell Sage College
, Washington Square Park and the houses on Adams Street, the district's southern boundary. The mostly regular southeastern boundary follows Clinton Street until it reaches Ferry. Then it becomes ragged and irregular, reaching the district's northernmost extent at the former Grand Street Historic District. This extension allows it to include as well the Gurley Building and its surrounding neighborhood, formerly the Fifth Street-Fulton Street Historic District.
To the east of the district Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
(RPI), Troy's most notable institution of higher learning, is situated on a low rise overlooking downtown. RPI has played an increasing role in the district in recent years, and now owns several notable buildings.
The entire district is densely developed, primarily residential in its northern and southern portions, with commercial use
concentrated in central blocks near Monument Square. The only significant open space
s within it are the one-block Washington Park near its southern end and Seminary Park, the main quad
at Russell Sage. Most of the major streets and the central area of the district are lined with multi-story dwellings that are primarily commercial but with a mix
of office and residential space on their upper floors. On the side streets, there are smaller-scale residential townhouse
s. Institutional use is limited to Russell Sage, a few churches, RPI's buildings and governmental structures like the county courthouse and post office
. No industrial use, past or present, is within the district, with the notable exception of the Gurley Building, and even that has been scaled back in recent years.
Prior to independence, there had only been a few scattered Dutch farmers settled on the Hudson above Albany. In 1787, a group of New England
ers headed west and persuaded one Jacob Vanderhyden to sell them a large tract which they then subdivided and named Troy. The dividing line between two of the family's farms was called Grand Division Street, later shortened to Grand Street.
They based its grid-like street plan on Philadelphia's, with numbered north-south streets running inland from the river after River Street, the city's first commercial center. Lots there, at the time, ran all the way to the river's waterline, giving their owners the unusual advantage of river and street frontage. The sloping bluff also allowed them to build multi-story warehouse
s and granaries
closer to the unloading points along the river.
In 1793, the new settlement was designated the Rensselaer County
seat
. Two years later, the visiting Duke de la Rochefoucauld
noted the "neat and numerous houses" and active businesses engaged in river-based trade. "The sight of this activity is truly charming", he said, in one of the earliest published descriptions of the city. In 1798 Troy incorporated
as a village.
The village's population more than tripled in the first 15 years of the new century, leading it to reincorporate as a city in 1816. With River Street getting built out, bank
s began taking advantage of the street plan and locating on First Street, previously a residential area. By 1807, another visitor from abroad, British painter John Lambert, described a town that had already grown considerably from what de la Rochefoucauld saw a dozen years earlier:
Little of that Troy remains due to an 1820 fire which started in a First Street stable
and eventually consumed much of the extant village. A column at 225 River Street bears a stone indicating that this was where the fire was stopped after it had gone on for weeks. Unlike its classical namesake
, Troy rebuilt quickly, with newer brick
homes and commercial buildings, built to stricter standards, replacing the old ones and expanding again. The Hart-Cluett Mansion
, an 1827 Federal style Philip Hooker
house on Second Street, is one of the best surviving buildings from this era.
of the state echoed earlier accounts in calling River Street "the mart of business". The same year, RPI was founded on the hill to the east of downtown, to train engineers for the city's burgeoning industrial sector. The relationship between the city and university would later become significant in preserving the historic district.
This growth would continue due to transportation improvements in the 1820s. Troy's businessmen had already built a turnpike
to Schenectady
, the path followed today by Route 2 from Troy to Colonie. These trade routes were enhanced by the Erie
and Champlain
canal
s, which opened new markets to the north and west, while the Troy Steamboat Company's debut did likewise for the south. The access to iron ore mines in the Adirondack Mountains
also got some local businessmen into iron refining. In 1835 the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad
brought that technology to the city, and in 1842 the completion of the Schenectady and Troy Railroad
linked Troy to the vast network that reached as far west as Buffalo
.
The stage was set for Troy's industrialization. The development of the detachable collar by Hannah Lord Montague in 1827 had given the city the product that still lends it its "Collar City" nickname. Plants were built to manufacture them commercially, as well as cuff
s and other textile
products. Most of these were located to the north of the downtown area, as it was continuing to grow as the city's commercial district and residential area for the well-to-do of the time along Second Street.
With the newer money and newer neighborhoods came newer architectural trends. St. Paul's Episcopal Church
, built in 1827, is an early Gothic Revival church, based on Ithiel Town
's Trinity Church in New Haven
, Connecticut
. Eight years later, Town himself would design the Cannon Building
in collaboration with Alexander Jackson Davis
.
Greek Revival residences were first built in Troy along Second Street in the late 1820s. In 1839, six local businessmen bought a parcel of land between Second and Third at the south end of what was then the developed area of the city and created Washington Park. Modeled on contemporary British residential squares such as those found in London
's Bloomsbury
neighborhoods, its first phase, on Washington Place, featured rows of townhouse
s with a unified facade
fronting on a park reserved exclusively for residents, whose deed
s require a monthly maintenance fee. It retains its integrity despite some later alterations and damage, and is one of only two privately-owned urban parks in New York.
In 1843, another group of planned Greek Revival
townhouses was built at 160-168 Second Street. Unusual for urban houses, they featured one-and-a-half-story portico
s on their front facades, with Ionic
column
s, and (originally) side yards. Another house was built at 170, several years later, in a similar style. They were widely imitated elsewhere in the city.
The city's industries reached their peak in the 1850s, and the wealth it created explored new architectural trends. The emerging Italianate
style began to make its mark, particularly in commercial buildings around Monument Square and along "Bankers' Row", First between State and River. St. Paul's Place was built around 1850 on the south side of State between Fourth and Fifth. Following the dictates of the Washington Park-area deeds, the houses were built with a unified facade as well as a central parapet
. The Gilbert Mansion on Second Street west of Washington Park is the most significant detached Italianate
home from that era.
Russell Sage
built a row of Gothic Revival houses on Second Street in 1846 that survives, albeit without some of their original ornamentation. On the edges of town, some architects began exploring that style's Picturesque
mode. A new row of townhouses at Washington Park went up, and another Second Street row followed in 1855. The following year, St. John's Episcopal Church, at First and Liberty streets, was the first use of that style for a city church.
During the Civil War
, Troy's industries played a key role in supporting the Union
cause. The Burden Ironworks
is said to have supplied all the Union Army
's horseshoe
s, and another local ironworks supplied the USS Monitor
s hull plating
. Its owners would later produce the first Bessemer process
steel in the United States after the war.
In 1862 Troy suffered another major fire, the worst in its history. A locomotive
's spark ignited the wooden Green Island
drawbridge
that existed at the time, and when that could not be contained to the bridge it spread to the east, ultimately devastating 507 buildings over a 16-block area. As before, the city rebuilt quickly, with the area along Fifth between Broadway and Grant Street, where Cummings built a row of houses between Fifth and Sixth, most strongly reflecting this era of rapid construction and reconstruction. The Gurley Building, too, rose in just eight months from the ashes of its predecessor. The nearby neighborhood also became desirable, with many local businessmen moving into newly built homes along Fifth.
, Troy's prosperity continued. The wealth created by its industries built some of the city's most notable Victorian
buildings. Frederick Clarke Withers
designed First Street's Rice Building in 1871, a five-story flatiron-shaped building representative of his Victorian Gothic style. The Cannon Building got a contemporary mansard roof
after two fires. Cummings' 1870 Congregation Berith Sholom
Temple on Third Street is among the oldest synagogue building
s still standing in the United States, the oldest
Reform
synagogue
in New York, and one the most significant religious buildings in the district from this period. In 1875, George B. Post
won a competition to build a new home for the Troy Savings Bank
, with an upstairs auditorium
. While his building was in the Renaissance Revival
style of the time, its forms and decorations anticipated his later work in the Beaux-Arts vein.
The Panic of 1873
put a damper on this growth, and in the interim the city's steel industry began to decline, squeezed by competition
from newer, more efficient producers in Western Pennsylvania
and the Midwest on one side and labor unrest
at home. But the textile industry remained strong, and even grew. Accordingly, its residents continued to embrace new movements in architecture. The 1880 pharmacy building at 137 Second Street featured a highly-decorated cast iron
storefront and curved windows showing the influence of the Queen Anne Style
. Further down Second Street, industrialist Jonas Heartt's house built that same year is one of the best residential applications of the same style.
Cummings explored the Richardsonian Romanesque
mode in several of his buildings at Russell Sage. The Paine Mansion at 49 Second Street applied the same style, with arcaded
entrance loggia
and corner tower, to a home. The brick drugstore annex at 155-157 River Street is a particularly representative commercial example of the style. In 1893 the World's Columbian Exposition
in Chicago
popularized the Classical
and Renaissance
revivals and Beaux-Arts style. They came to Troy very quickly when Marcus Cummings and his son Frederick designed the Classical Revival
county courthouse at 80 Second Street, the third to occupy the site, the following year. A short distance away three years later, the Renaissance Revival Hart Memorial Library
was built of Vermont
marble
, joining the similarly-styled 1895 Frear Mansion, also on Second Street.
As the 20th century dawned, builders and architects concentrated their efforts in the northern half of the district, primarily on commercial structures as the downtown area was no longer popular as a place for new residences. Monument Square, created in 1891 when a statue of Columbia was erected atop the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument in the triangular area formed by the intersection of Broadway, River and Second streets, became a new focal point of development. There the McCarthy Building
on Monument Square, and the similar National State Bank
and Ilium
buildings on Broadway, all built in 1904, show the decorative influence of the era's revival styles. Proctor's Theater
, ten years later on Fourth Street, continued the tradition.
Other architects chose the era's simpler styles, like Arts and Crafts, as a contrast. The marble-and-brick 1905 YMCA building on Second Street, and the six-story Caldwell Apartments at State and Second streets are two of the district's best examples of that style. The latter building, built in 1907, was also the first large-scale apartment
building in the city. The Colonial Revival
style would also leave its mark in Troy with several buildings. Most notable among them is the Hendrick Hudson Hotel on the east side of Monument Square, a six-story structure that was the largest building ever built in the city at the time. Projects of similar scale, and the city's annexation
of the village of Lansingburgh
to its north, helped swell its population to over 72,000 in 1930, its alltime peak.
began in the 1930s. As a result there are few buildings in the district in that area's architectural styles. The post office
at Fourth and Broadway, built despite much public outcry over the demolition of its landmark 1894 predecessor, is the district's most notable building of the 1930s. Its stripped-down Classical Revival
style shows the influence of Art Deco
in its smooth, finished surfaces. The enameled metal facade on a Third Street storefront, dating to 1940, makes it the only building in the district to show any trace of the Streamline Moderne
style.
World War II
sustained the city's economy with an increased demand for textiles and all other products it could make. After the war ended, the textile mills, faced with competition from producers in the lower-wage South
, closed or left.
After a brief postwar increase, Troy's population began a continuing decline. The city began the first of several urban renewal
plans shortly after adopting its 1962 master plan
. Those plans called for the demolition of many buildings downtown, to be replaced by a new arterial road, large public housing
projects and a shopping mall
. After various delays, those projects were either scaled back or abandoned entirely. In the interim many businesses either closed or moved out of downtown.
led to them being placed on the then-new National Register. In the early 1970s, the five predecessor historic districts
were recognized and added as well, along with some other structures.
Urban renewal programs are funded in part by federal grants
. The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966
, which created the NRHP, requires that federal agencies give consideration to the opinions of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
in assessing the impact their actions will have on listed properties and consider alternatives to any action that would destroy or significantly affect them. The listings of downtown Troy's districts and buildings therefore had the practical effect of preventing their demolition for urban renewal.
By the 1980s, after a Troy Downtown Historic District had been declared eligible for the NRHP by the state's Historic Preservation Office
but not yet submitted to the National Park Service
(NPS), which administers the Register, local preservationists
realized that the existing historic districts did not fully embrace all of downtown's historic properties. Instead of applying for boundary increases or nominating more individual properties to the Register, the city decided to merge all five into a new, central district. The NPS accepted the application and entered the new district on the Register in 1986.
Troy's downtown began reviving. In 1993, Martin Scorsese
used the Second Street area, particularly the Paine Mansion, and some of the Russell Sage buildings as locations
for his adaptation
of Edith Wharton
's The Age of Innocence
, since they replicated the appearance of 1870s Manhattan
. River Street became home to many antique stores. Developers began buying the old buildings and adapting
them to contemporary uses.
RPI began buying properties such as the Rice and Gurley buildings, moving students and faculty into them. In 2006,The New York Times
described the city as having "one of the most perfectly preserved 19th-century downtowns in the United States."
s, nine properties listed on the National Register in their own right, and several other noteworthy contributing properties among its 679 total historic resources.
. The other five are roughly aligned with the eponymous streets, with the First Street district consisting of two detached areas, the Second and Third street districts taking up most of the central area and the other two occupying the northeastern corner of the district. The city has also made some grants and tax exemptions available to qualified property owners. The city's current master plan
calls for enhancing the district's mixed-use
character, by encouraging both residential use and businesses that serve consumers, particularly retailers
, and providing tax incentives for the rehabilitation of historic homes.
Troy's ordinance
s designate its Planning
Commission as the Historic District and Landmarks Review Commission. Property owners in the district must get special permission from the commission for any work on their properties beside ordinary maintenance (and even for that in some cases), to make sure it leaves the historic character of the property and the surrounding buildings intact.
In 1989, the state added most of the district to Troy's Empire Zone. This economic development
incentive gives businesses that locate in the included areas tax credit
s and exemptions
to encourage them to locate there. The state has also moved some of its employees into the district, through the interventions of former State Senate
majority leader
Joseph Bruno
, a resident of nearby Brunswick
, who represented the district that included the city. He steered state grants
towards the rehabilitation of the buildings that now house state government offices, as well as school aid that helped the city keep its property tax
es low. City officials say his help has been vital, and will be missed following his 2008 resignation.'People won't realize how important he was until years from now, when they find that things don't get done as quickly or as easily without him,' Mr. Tutunjian said.}}
RPI has acquired several significant downtown properties, such as the Gurley and Rice buildings and Proctor's Theater, and renovated them to make homes for programs such as its Lighting Research Center, now housed in Gurley. In the early 2000s, it put $2.5 million into its Neighborhood Renewal Initiative, which has been used to help homeowners renovate homes and improve the city's infrastructure.
The private sector has also played a large role in revitalizing the area, even without public aid and incentives. Developers have been attracted to the historic buildings and their surrounding neighborhoods, calling it the city's strongest asset, although they have complained about past stalemates in city government. One initiative has often led to others. River Street's development into a center for antique stores came about without any public effort or intent, and the restoration of the music hall at the Savings Bank led to many new restaurants opening in the neighborhood. The blocks of River Street north of Monument Square have a dozen woman-owned businesses.
Developers, the city, and the colleges see downtown Troy's future as a center for high-tech companies and the good-paying jobs they provide. In addition to its historic character, the area has space available and is walkable
. One local official calls Troy "the Silicon Valley
of the 19th century". Some specific projects have capitalized on this. In 2005, the Cannon Building
was redeveloped into an extended-stay hotel
with the target market
being visiting faculty
at RPI and Russell Sage. In partnership with several private corporations, the city has also implemented a free wireless mesh network
covering downtown. With money from the 2009 federal stimulus package
, the city improved traffic signals and sidewalks at 18 intersections downtown.
The revitalization of downtown Troy has not been entirely without controversy over some of its historic buildings. A 2009 proposal to redevelop Proctor's
by gutting its interior and converting it to office space led to serious opposition. Opponents of the plan organized a website and started an online petition against the use of any state funds for the project. Proponents, including the head of the city's Downtown Collaborative, said that after three decades of the vacant building's deterioration, any redevelopment proposal should be seriously considered, regardless of its impact on the building's historic character.
Troy, New York
Troy is a city in the US State of New York and the seat of Rensselaer County. Troy is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany and Schenectady, forming a region popularly called the Capital...
, New York, United States. It has been described as "one of the most perfectly preserved 19th-century downtowns in the [country]" with nearly 700 properties in a variety of architectural style
Architectural style
Architectural styles classify architecture in terms of the use of form, techniques, materials, time period, region and other stylistic influences. It overlaps with, and emerges from the study of the evolution and history of architecture...
s from the early 19th to mid-20th centuries. These include most of Russell Sage College
Russell Sage College
Russell Sage College is a women's college located in Troy, New York, approximately north of New York City in the Capital District. It is one of the three colleges that make up The Sage Colleges...
, one of two privately-owned urban parks in New York, and two National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
s. Visitors ranging from the Duke de la Rochefoucauld
François Alexandre Frédéric, duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt
François Alexandre Frédéric, duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt was a French social reformer.-Early life:...
to Philip Johnson
Philip Johnson
Philip Cortelyou Johnson was an influential American architect.In 1930, he founded the Department of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and later , as a trustee, he was awarded an American Institute of Architects Gold Medal and the first Pritzker Architecture...
have praised aspects of it. Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
used parts of downtown Troy as a stand-in for 19th-century Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
in The Age of Innocence
The Age of Innocence (film)
The Age of Innocence is a 1993 American film adaptation of Edith Wharton's 1920 novel of the same name. The film was released by Columbia Pictures, directed by Martin Scorsese, and stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Winona Ryder....
.
In 1986, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
(NRHP), superseding five smaller historic district
Historic district (United States)
In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...
s that had been listed on the Register in the early 1970s. Most of the buildings, structures and objects within the district contribute
Contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
to its historic character. Two of Troy's three National Historic Landmarks, the Gurley Building and Troy Savings Bank
Troy Savings Bank
Troy Savings Bank, now owned by First Niagara Financial Group is a bank in Troy, Rensselaer County, New York, U.S.A.. It is notable for having a music hall constructed on the second floor above the bank itself, the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, which is renowned for its acoustics and includes a...
, are located within its boundaries. Nine other buildings are listed on the Register in their own right. Among the architects represented are Alexander Jackson Davis
Alexander Jackson Davis
Alexander Jackson Davis, or A. J. Davis , was one of the most successful and influential American architects of his generation, in particular his association with the Gothic Revival style....
, George B. Post
George B. Post
George Browne Post was an American architect trained in the Beaux-Arts tradition.-Biography:Post was a student of Richard Morris Hunt , but unlike many architects of his generation, he had previously received a degree in civil engineering...
, Calvert Vaux
Calvert Vaux
Calvert Vaux , was an architect and landscape designer. He is best remembered as the co-designer , of New York's Central Park....
and Frederick Clarke Withers
Frederick Clarke Withers
Frederick Clarke Withers was an successful English architect in America, especially renowned for his Gothic Revival church designs.-Biography:...
. There are many buildings designed by the regionally-significant architect Marcus F. Cummings
Marcus F. Cummings
Marcus F. Cummings was an American architect active in the Capital District region of the U.S. state of New York. Born in Utica, he later established his practice in the city of Troy, where many of his buildings are located in the Central Troy Historic District and listed on the National Register...
. The downtown street plan was borrowed from Philadelphia, and one neighborhood, Washington Square, was influenced by London's squares of its era.
The district reflects Troy's evolution from its origins as a Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
port into an early industrial center built around textile manufacture
Textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution
The industrial revolution changed the nature of work and society. Opinion varies as to the exact date, but it is estimated that the First Industrial Revolution took place between 1750 and 1850, and the second phase or Second Industrial Revolution between 1860 and 1900. The three key drivers in...
and steelmaking
Steelmaking
Steelmaking is the second step in producing steel from iron ore. In this stage, impurities such as sulfur, phosphorus, and excess carbon are removed from the raw iron, and alloying elements such as manganese, nickel, chromium and vanadium are added to produce the exact steel required.-Older...
. During this period it was rebuilt twice in the wake of two devastating fires
Structure fire
A structure fire is a fire involving the structural components of various residential buildings ranging from single-family detached homes and townhouses to apartments and tower blocks, or various commercial buildings ranging from offices to shopping malls...
, resulting in its mix of architecture styles. After the decline of its industries in the mid-20th century, downtown Troy was threatened by urban renewal
Urban renewal
Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...
efforts that galvanized local preservationists
Historic preservation
Historic preservation is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance...
, leading to the early NRHP listings and eventually the creation of the district.
Today, the city of Troy protects and preserves the district with special provisions in its zoning
Zoning in the United States
Zoning in the United States comprise land use state laws falling under the police power rights that State governments and local governments have the authority to exercise over privately owned real property.-Origins and history:...
and programs which, with assistance from the state of New York, encourage and subsidize property owners who maintain and restore
Building restoration
Building restoration describes a particular treatment approach and philosophy within the field of architectural conservation. According the U.S...
historic buildings. These efforts have paid off with increased attention from developers, the revival of much of the area, and praise from visitors to the city. With the collaboration of nearby Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Stephen Van Rensselaer established the Rensselaer School on November 5, 1824 with a letter to the Rev. Dr. Samuel Blatchford, in which van Rensselaer asked Blatchford to serve as the first president. Within the letter he set down several orders of business. He appointed Amos Eaton as the school's...
(RPI), Troy is hoping to make the district a center for the development of cutting-edge technologies, a "Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
of the 19th century."
Geography
The district boundary was drawn to include the highest concentration of historic resources. The street plan dates to 1787 and the most recent historic building dates to 1940, making those years the period of significance. While some newer buildings are inevitably located within the area, the boundary, where possible, excluded significant mid and late 20th-century buildings like the city hall, low-income housing projects, and the Uncle Sam Atrium, a large shopping mallShopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
downtown. All of the original five historic districts are included in full, along with other historic neighborhoods, for a total of 10% of the city's area.
It is centered around the axes of US 4
U.S. Route 4 in New York
U.S. Route 4 is a part of the U.S. Highway System that runs from East Greenbush, New York, to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In the U.S. state of New York, US 4 extends from an intersection with US 9 and US 20 in East Greenbush to the Vermont state line northeast of Whitehall...
and NY 2
New York State Route 2
New York State Route 2 is a state highway in the Capital District of New York, United States. It extends from an interchange with Interstate 87 and NY 7 in the hamlet of Latham within the town of Colonie to the Massachusetts state line, where it continues to Boston as Route 2....
, both of which divide into one-way streets (Third and Fourth and Congress and Ferry, respectively) to facilitate traffic flow through the city. Monument Square, the center of Troy since the late 19th century, along with all the buildings around it (save for the late 20th-century, brutalist City Hall) are located within its northwestern corner. At its western end it is partially bounded by the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
, and the former River Street Historic District.
To the south it includes the older buildings of Russell Sage College
Russell Sage College
Russell Sage College is a women's college located in Troy, New York, approximately north of New York City in the Capital District. It is one of the three colleges that make up The Sage Colleges...
, Washington Square Park and the houses on Adams Street, the district's southern boundary. The mostly regular southeastern boundary follows Clinton Street until it reaches Ferry. Then it becomes ragged and irregular, reaching the district's northernmost extent at the former Grand Street Historic District. This extension allows it to include as well the Gurley Building and its surrounding neighborhood, formerly the Fifth Street-Fulton Street Historic District.
To the east of the district Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Stephen Van Rensselaer established the Rensselaer School on November 5, 1824 with a letter to the Rev. Dr. Samuel Blatchford, in which van Rensselaer asked Blatchford to serve as the first president. Within the letter he set down several orders of business. He appointed Amos Eaton as the school's...
(RPI), Troy's most notable institution of higher learning, is situated on a low rise overlooking downtown. RPI has played an increasing role in the district in recent years, and now owns several notable buildings.
The entire district is densely developed, primarily residential in its northern and southern portions, with commercial use
Land use
Land use is the human use of land. Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as fields, pastures, and settlements. It has also been defined as "the arrangements, activities and inputs people undertake in a certain land cover...
concentrated in central blocks near Monument Square. The only significant open space
Open space reserve
Open space reserve, open space preserve, and open space reservation, are planning and conservation ethics terms used to describe areas of protected or conserved land or water on which development is indefinitely set aside...
s within it are the one-block Washington Park near its southern end and Seminary Park, the main quad
Quadrangle (architecture)
In architecture, a quadrangle is a space or courtyard, usually rectangular in plan, the sides of which are entirely or mainly occupied by parts of a large building. The word is probably most closely associated with college or university campus architecture, but quadrangles may be found in other...
at Russell Sage. Most of the major streets and the central area of the district are lined with multi-story dwellings that are primarily commercial but with a mix
Mixed-use development
Mixed-use development is the use of a building, set of buildings, or neighborhood for more than one purpose. Since the 1920s, zoning in some countries has required uses to be separated. However, when jobs, housing, and commercial activities are located close together, a community's transportation...
of office and residential space on their upper floors. On the side streets, there are smaller-scale residential townhouse
Townhouse
A townhouse is the term historically used in the United Kingdom, Ireland and in many other countries to describe a residence of a peer or member of the aristocracy in the capital or major city. Most such figures owned one or more country houses in which they lived for much of the year...
s. Institutional use is limited to Russell Sage, a few churches, RPI's buildings and governmental structures like the county courthouse and post office
U.S. Post Office (Troy, New York)
The U.S. Post Office in Troy, New York, United States, is located at 400 Broadway, on the corners of Fourth and William Streets, the tenth location it has occupied in the city's history. It serves the ZIP Codes 12179 through 12182, which cover different sections of the city...
. No industrial use, past or present, is within the district, with the notable exception of the Gurley Building, and even that has been scaled back in recent years.
History
The history of the Central Troy Historic District is, particularly in its earlier years, the history of Troy itself. Until the later 19th century, the present downtown area was the city. Two devastating fires, and changes in the economy brought about by industrialization, shaped the district into today's architecturally diverse downtown.Pre-industrial years
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
ers headed west and persuaded one Jacob Vanderhyden to sell them a large tract which they then subdivided and named Troy. The dividing line between two of the family's farms was called Grand Division Street, later shortened to Grand Street.
They based its grid-like street plan on Philadelphia's, with numbered north-south streets running inland from the river after River Street, the city's first commercial center. Lots there, at the time, ran all the way to the river's waterline, giving their owners the unusual advantage of river and street frontage. The sloping bluff also allowed them to build multi-story warehouse
Warehouse
A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial areas of cities and towns. They usually have loading docks to load and unload...
s and granaries
Granary
A granary is a storehouse for threshed grain or animal feed. In ancient or primitive granaries, pottery is the most common use of storage in these buildings. Granaries are often built above the ground to keep the stored food away from mice and other animals.-Early origins:From ancient times grain...
closer to the unloading points along the river.
In 1793, the new settlement was designated the Rensselaer County
Rensselaer County, New York
Rensselaer County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 159,429. Its name is in honor of the family of Kiliaen van Rensselaer, the original Dutch owner of the land in the area. Its county seat is Troy...
seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
. Two years later, the visiting Duke de la Rochefoucauld
François Alexandre Frédéric, duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt
François Alexandre Frédéric, duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt was a French social reformer.-Early life:...
noted the "neat and numerous houses" and active businesses engaged in river-based trade. "The sight of this activity is truly charming", he said, in one of the earliest published descriptions of the city. In 1798 Troy incorporated
Municipal corporation
A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. Municipal incorporation occurs when such municipalities become self-governing entities under the laws of the state or province in which...
as a village.
The village's population more than tripled in the first 15 years of the new century, leading it to reincorporate as a city in 1816. With River Street getting built out, bank
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...
s began taking advantage of the street plan and locating on First Street, previously a residential area. By 1807, another visitor from abroad, British painter John Lambert, described a town that had already grown considerably from what de la Rochefoucauld saw a dozen years earlier:
Little of that Troy remains due to an 1820 fire which started in a First Street stable
Stable
A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals...
and eventually consumed much of the extant village. A column at 225 River Street bears a stone indicating that this was where the fire was stopped after it had gone on for weeks. Unlike its classical namesake
Troy
Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...
, Troy rebuilt quickly, with newer brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
homes and commercial buildings, built to stricter standards, replacing the old ones and expanding again. The Hart-Cluett Mansion
Hart-Cluett Mansion
The Hart-Cluett Mansion is located at 57 Second Street in Troy, New York, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and is a contributing property to the Central Troy Historic District created in 1986...
, an 1827 Federal style Philip Hooker
Philip Hooker
Philip Hooker was at one time the leading architect of New York State outside of New York City. He designed Hyde Hall, the facade of the Hamilton College Chapel, The Albany Academy, Albany City Hall, Hart-Cluett Mansion and the original New York State Capitol building. He is believed to have...
house on Second Street, is one of the best surviving buildings from this era.
Industrialization and growth
In 1824, a gazetteerGazetteer
A gazetteer is a geographical dictionary or directory, an important reference for information about places and place names , used in conjunction with a map or a full atlas. It typically contains information concerning the geographical makeup of a country, region, or continent as well as the social...
of the state echoed earlier accounts in calling River Street "the mart of business". The same year, RPI was founded on the hill to the east of downtown, to train engineers for the city's burgeoning industrial sector. The relationship between the city and university would later become significant in preserving the historic district.
This growth would continue due to transportation improvements in the 1820s. Troy's businessmen had already built a turnpike
Toll road
A toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...
to Schenectady
Schenectady, New York
Schenectady is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 66,135...
, the path followed today by Route 2 from Troy to Colonie. These trade routes were enhanced by the Erie
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a waterway in New York that runs about from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of...
and Champlain
Champlain Canal
The Champlain Canal is a canal that connects the south end of Lake Champlain to the Hudson River in New York. It was simultaneously constructed with the Erie Canal and is now part of the New York State Canal System and the Lakes to Locks Passage....
canal
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
s, which opened new markets to the north and west, while the Troy Steamboat Company's debut did likewise for the south. The access to iron ore mines in the Adirondack Mountains
Adirondack Mountains
The Adirondack Mountains are a mountain range located in the northeastern part of New York, that runs through Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Saint Lawrence, Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties....
also got some local businessmen into iron refining. In 1835 the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad
Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad
The Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad was chartered on April 14, 1832. It completed between Troy and Ballston Spa on March 19, 1836. The Delaware and Hudson Canal Company leased the line on May 1, 1871, and it was consolidated into the Delaware and Hudson Railroad effective January 30, 1945....
brought that technology to the city, and in 1842 the completion of the Schenectady and Troy Railroad
Schenectady and Troy Railroad
The Schenectady and Troy Railroad was incorporated May 21, 1836. The stock was divided into five hundred shares at one hundred dollars each. The building of the road began in 1841, and trains began running from Schenectady to Troy, New York in the fall of 1841 . It was constructed by the city of...
linked Troy to the vast network that reached as far west as Buffalo
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
.
The stage was set for Troy's industrialization. The development of the detachable collar by Hannah Lord Montague in 1827 had given the city the product that still lends it its "Collar City" nickname. Plants were built to manufacture them commercially, as well as cuff
Cuff
A cuff is an extra layer of fabric at the lower edge of the sleeve of a garment covering the arms. In US usage the word may also refer to the end of the leg of a pair of trousers...
s and other textile
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
products. Most of these were located to the north of the downtown area, as it was continuing to grow as the city's commercial district and residential area for the well-to-do of the time along Second Street.
With the newer money and newer neighborhoods came newer architectural trends. St. Paul's Episcopal Church
St. Paul's Episcopal Church (Troy, New York)
St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Troy, New York, United States, is located at Third and State streets. It is home to one of the oldest congregations in the city. In 1979, the church and two outbuildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places...
, built in 1827, is an early Gothic Revival church, based on Ithiel Town
Ithiel Town
Ithiel Town was a prominent American architect and civil engineer. One of the first generation of professional architects in the United States, Town made significant contributions to American architecture in the first half of the 19th century. He was high-strung, sophisticated, generous,...
's Trinity Church in New Haven
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
. Eight years later, Town himself would design the Cannon Building
Cannon Building (Troy, New York)
The Cannon Building in Troy, New York is located on Broadway between First and State streets. It is the oldest building on Monument Square. It was designed by Alexander Jackson Davis and built in 1835. In 1970 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places...
in collaboration with Alexander Jackson Davis
Alexander Jackson Davis
Alexander Jackson Davis, or A. J. Davis , was one of the most successful and influential American architects of his generation, in particular his association with the Gothic Revival style....
.
Greek Revival residences were first built in Troy along Second Street in the late 1820s. In 1839, six local businessmen bought a parcel of land between Second and Third at the south end of what was then the developed area of the city and created Washington Park. Modeled on contemporary British residential squares such as those found in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury
-Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...
neighborhoods, its first phase, on Washington Place, featured rows of townhouse
Townhouse
A townhouse is the term historically used in the United Kingdom, Ireland and in many other countries to describe a residence of a peer or member of the aristocracy in the capital or major city. Most such figures owned one or more country houses in which they lived for much of the year...
s with a unified facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
fronting on a park reserved exclusively for residents, whose deed
Deed
A deed is any legal instrument in writing which passes, or affirms or confirms something which passes, an interest, right, or property and that is signed, attested, delivered, and in some jurisdictions sealed...
s require a monthly maintenance fee. It retains its integrity despite some later alterations and damage, and is one of only two privately-owned urban parks in New York.
Greek Revival architecture
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...
townhouses was built at 160-168 Second Street. Unusual for urban houses, they featured one-and-a-half-story portico
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...
s on their front facades, with Ionic
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
column
Column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
s, and (originally) side yards. Another house was built at 170, several years later, in a similar style. They were widely imitated elsewhere in the city.
The city's industries reached their peak in the 1850s, and the wealth it created explored new architectural trends. The emerging Italianate
Italianate architecture
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
style began to make its mark, particularly in commercial buildings around Monument Square and along "Bankers' Row", First between State and River. St. Paul's Place was built around 1850 on the south side of State between Fourth and Fifth. Following the dictates of the Washington Park-area deeds, the houses were built with a unified facade as well as a central parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
. The Gilbert Mansion on Second Street west of Washington Park is the most significant detached Italianate
Italianate architecture
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
home from that era.
Russell Sage
Russell Sage was a financier, railroad executive and Whig politician from New York, United States. As a frequent partner of Jay Gould in various transactions, he amassed a fortune, which passed to his second wife, Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage, when he died...
built a row of Gothic Revival houses on Second Street in 1846 that survives, albeit without some of their original ornamentation. On the edges of town, some architects began exploring that style's Picturesque
Picturesque
Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin in Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the Summer of the Year 1770, a practical book which instructed England's...
mode. A new row of townhouses at Washington Park went up, and another Second Street row followed in 1855. The following year, St. John's Episcopal Church, at First and Liberty streets, was the first use of that style for a city church.
During the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, Troy's industries played a key role in supporting the Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
cause. The Burden Ironworks
Burden Ironworks
The Burden Iron Works was an iron works and industrial complex on the Hudson River and Wynantskill Creek in Troy, New York. It once housed the Burden Water Wheel, the most powerful vertical water wheel in history. It most likely inspired George Washington Ferris to build the Ferris wheel...
is said to have supplied all the Union Army
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
's horseshoe
Horseshoe
A horseshoe, is a fabricated product, normally made of metal, although sometimes made partially or wholly of modern synthetic materials, designed to protect a horse's hoof from wear and tear. Shoes are attached on the palmar surface of the hooves, usually nailed through the insensitive hoof wall...
s, and another local ironworks supplied the USS Monitor
USS Monitor
USS Monitor was the first ironclad warship commissioned by the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She is most famous for her participation in the Battle of Hampton Roads on March 9, 1862, the first-ever battle fought between two ironclads...
s hull plating
Ironclad warship
An ironclad was a steam-propelled warship in the early part of the second half of the 19th century, protected by iron or steel armor plates. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. The first ironclad battleship, La Gloire,...
. Its owners would later produce the first Bessemer process
Bessemer process
The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass-production of steel from molten pig iron. The process is named after its inventor, Henry Bessemer, who took out a patent on the process in 1855. The process was independently discovered in 1851 by William Kelly...
steel in the United States after the war.
In 1862 Troy suffered another major fire, the worst in its history. A locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
's spark ignited the wooden Green Island
Green Island, New York
Green Island is a coterminous town and village in Albany County, New York, USA some 8 miles north of Albany, New York. Green Island is one of only five such town-village amalgams in New York. The population was 2,620 at the 2010 census...
drawbridge
Drawbridge
A drawbridge is a type of movable bridge typically associated with the entrance of a castle surrounded by a moat. The term is often used to describe all different types of movable bridges, like bascule bridges and lift bridges.-Castle drawbridges:...
that existed at the time, and when that could not be contained to the bridge it spread to the east, ultimately devastating 507 buildings over a 16-block area. As before, the city rebuilt quickly, with the area along Fifth between Broadway and Grant Street, where Cummings built a row of houses between Fifth and Sixth, most strongly reflecting this era of rapid construction and reconstruction. The Gurley Building, too, rose in just eight months from the ashes of its predecessor. The nearby neighborhood also became desirable, with many local businessmen moving into newly built homes along Fifth.
Postwar prosperity
As the postwar years yielded to the Gilded AgeGilded Age
In United States history, the Gilded Age refers to the era of rapid economic and population growth in the United States during the post–Civil War and post-Reconstruction eras of the late 19th century. The term "Gilded Age" was coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their book The Gilded...
, Troy's prosperity continued. The wealth created by its industries built some of the city's most notable Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
buildings. Frederick Clarke Withers
Frederick Clarke Withers
Frederick Clarke Withers was an successful English architect in America, especially renowned for his Gothic Revival church designs.-Biography:...
designed First Street's Rice Building in 1871, a five-story flatiron-shaped building representative of his Victorian Gothic style. The Cannon Building got a contemporary mansard roof
Mansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...
after two fires. Cummings' 1870 Congregation Berith Sholom
Congregation Berith Sholom
Congregation Berith Sholom is a synagogue in Troy, New York. The synagogue is the oldest continuously used synagogue in the state of New York, the second oldest house of worship in the state outside of the city of New York, and one of the oldest synagogue buildings in the United...
Temple on Third Street is among the oldest synagogue building
Oldest synagogues in the United States
The designation of the oldest synagogue in the United States requires careful use of definitions, and must be divided into two parts, the oldest in the sense of oldest surviving building, and the oldest in the sense of oldest congregation...
s still standing in the United States, the oldest
Oldest synagogues in the United States
The designation of the oldest synagogue in the United States requires careful use of definitions, and must be divided into two parts, the oldest in the sense of oldest surviving building, and the oldest in the sense of oldest congregation...
Reform
Reform Judaism (North America)
Reform Judaism is the largest denomination of American Jews today. With an estimated 1.5 million members, it also accounts for the largest number of Jews affiliated with Progressive Judaism worldwide.- Reform Jewish theology :Rabbi W...
synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
in New York, and one the most significant religious buildings in the district from this period. In 1875, George B. Post
George B. Post
George Browne Post was an American architect trained in the Beaux-Arts tradition.-Biography:Post was a student of Richard Morris Hunt , but unlike many architects of his generation, he had previously received a degree in civil engineering...
won a competition to build a new home for the Troy Savings Bank
Troy Savings Bank
Troy Savings Bank, now owned by First Niagara Financial Group is a bank in Troy, Rensselaer County, New York, U.S.A.. It is notable for having a music hall constructed on the second floor above the bank itself, the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, which is renowned for its acoustics and includes a...
, with an upstairs auditorium
Auditorium
An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances at venues such as theatres. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens.- Etymology :...
. While his building was in the Renaissance Revival
Neo-Renaissance
Renaissance Revival is an all-encompassing designation that covers many 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Grecian nor Gothic but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of classicizing Italian modes...
style of the time, its forms and decorations anticipated his later work in the Beaux-Arts vein.
The Panic of 1873
Panic of 1873
The Panic of 1873 triggered a severe international economic depression in both Europe and the United States that lasted until 1879, and even longer in some countries. The depression was known as the Great Depression until the 1930s, but is now known as the Long Depression...
put a damper on this growth, and in the interim the city's steel industry began to decline, squeezed by competition
Competition (economics)
Competition in economics is a term that encompasses the notion of individuals and firms striving for a greater share of a market to sell or buy goods and services...
from newer, more efficient producers in Western Pennsylvania
Western Pennsylvania
Western Pennsylvania consists of the western third of the state of Pennsylvania in the United States. Pittsburgh is the largest city in the region, with a metropolitan area population of about 2.4 million people, and serves as its economic and cultural center. Erie, Altoona, and Johnstown are its...
and the Midwest on one side and labor unrest
Labor unrest
Labor unrest is a term used by employers or those generally in the business community to describe organizing and strike actions undertaken by labor unions, especially where labor disputes become violent or where industrial actions in which members of a workforce obstruct the normal process of...
at home. But the textile industry remained strong, and even grew. Accordingly, its residents continued to embrace new movements in architecture. The 1880 pharmacy building at 137 Second Street featured a highly-decorated cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
storefront and curved windows showing the influence of the Queen Anne Style
Queen Anne Style architecture
The Queen Anne Style in Britain means either the English Baroque architectural style roughly of the reign of Queen Anne , or a revived form that was popular in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century...
. Further down Second Street, industrialist Jonas Heartt's house built that same year is one of the best residential applications of the same style.
Cummings explored the Richardsonian Romanesque
Richardsonian Romanesque
Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after architect Henry Hobson Richardson, whose masterpiece is Trinity Church, Boston , designated a National Historic Landmark...
mode in several of his buildings at Russell Sage. The Paine Mansion at 49 Second Street applied the same style, with arcaded
Arcade (architecture)
An arcade is a succession of arches, each counterthrusting the next, supported by columns or piers or a covered walk enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In warmer or wet climates, exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians....
entrance loggia
Loggia
Loggia is the name given to an architectural feature, originally of Minoan design. They are often a gallery or corridor at ground level, sometimes higher, on the facade of a building and open to the air on one side, where it is supported by columns or pierced openings in the wall...
and corner tower, to a home. The brick drugstore annex at 155-157 River Street is a particularly representative commercial example of the style. In 1893 the World's Columbian Exposition
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
popularized the Classical
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
and Renaissance
Neo-Renaissance
Renaissance Revival is an all-encompassing designation that covers many 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Grecian nor Gothic but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of classicizing Italian modes...
revivals and Beaux-Arts style. They came to Troy very quickly when Marcus Cummings and his son Frederick designed the Classical Revival
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
county courthouse at 80 Second Street, the third to occupy the site, the following year. A short distance away three years later, the Renaissance Revival Hart Memorial Library
Troy Public Library
The Troy Public library is the main public library building in the city of Troy, New York, and is located across the street from Russell Sage College in downtown Troy. It has two other branches, the Lansingburgh branch and the Sycaway branch. Both branches were temporarily closed in January 2009....
was built of Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
, joining the similarly-styled 1895 Frear Mansion, also on Second Street.
As the 20th century dawned, builders and architects concentrated their efforts in the northern half of the district, primarily on commercial structures as the downtown area was no longer popular as a place for new residences. Monument Square, created in 1891 when a statue of Columbia was erected atop the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument in the triangular area formed by the intersection of Broadway, River and Second streets, became a new focal point of development. There the McCarthy Building
McCarthy Building (Troy, New York)
The McCarthy Building is located on River Street on the west side of Monument Square in Troy, New York, United States. It was built in 1904, and remains in use as a commercial building. In 1970 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, along with the nearby Cannon Building...
on Monument Square, and the similar National State Bank
National State Bank Building
The National State Bank Building is located on River Street in Troy, New York, United States, at its junction with Fulton and Third streets. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, one of the earliest buildings in the city so recognized...
and Ilium
Ilium Building
The Ilium Building is located at the northeast corner of Fulton and Fourth in Troy, New York, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, and since 1986 has also been a contributing property to the Central Troy Historic District.It is a five-story,...
buildings on Broadway, all built in 1904, show the decorative influence of the era's revival styles. Proctor's Theater
Proctor's Theater (Troy, New York)
Proctor's Theater is located on Fourth Street in Troy, New York, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and is a contributing property to the Central Troy Historic District, added to the Register in 1986.It was built in 1914 for vaudeville performances by...
, ten years later on Fourth Street, continued the tradition.
Other architects chose the era's simpler styles, like Arts and Crafts, as a contrast. The marble-and-brick 1905 YMCA building on Second Street, and the six-story Caldwell Apartments at State and Second streets are two of the district's best examples of that style. The latter building, built in 1907, was also the first large-scale apartment
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...
building in the city. The Colonial Revival
Colonial Revival architecture
The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...
style would also leave its mark in Troy with several buildings. Most notable among them is the Hendrick Hudson Hotel on the east side of Monument Square, a six-story structure that was the largest building ever built in the city at the time. Projects of similar scale, and the city's annexation
Annexation
Annexation is the de jure incorporation of some territory into another geo-political entity . Usually, it is implied that the territory and population being annexed is the smaller, more peripheral, and weaker of the two merging entities, barring physical size...
of the village of Lansingburgh
Lansingburgh, New York
Lansingburgh was the first chartered village in Rensselaer County, New York, USA and was settled around 1763. The name is from Abraham Lansing, an early settler, combined with the Scottish word burgh....
to its north, helped swell its population to over 72,000 in 1930, its alltime peak.
Depression and decline
New construction almost halted when the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
began in the 1930s. As a result there are few buildings in the district in that area's architectural styles. The post office
U.S. Post Office (Troy, New York)
The U.S. Post Office in Troy, New York, United States, is located at 400 Broadway, on the corners of Fourth and William Streets, the tenth location it has occupied in the city's history. It serves the ZIP Codes 12179 through 12182, which cover different sections of the city...
at Fourth and Broadway, built despite much public outcry over the demolition of its landmark 1894 predecessor, is the district's most notable building of the 1930s. Its stripped-down Classical Revival
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
style shows the influence of Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
in its smooth, finished surfaces. The enameled metal facade on a Third Street storefront, dating to 1940, makes it the only building in the district to show any trace of the Streamline Moderne
Streamline Moderne
Streamline Moderne, sometimes referred to by either name alone or as Art Moderne, was a late type of the Art Deco design style which emerged during the 1930s...
style.
World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
sustained the city's economy with an increased demand for textiles and all other products it could make. After the war ended, the textile mills, faced with competition from producers in the lower-wage South
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
, closed or left.
After a brief postwar increase, Troy's population began a continuing decline. The city began the first of several urban renewal
Urban renewal
Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...
plans shortly after adopting its 1962 master plan
Comprehensive planning
Comprehensive planning is a term used in the United States by land use planners to describe a process that determines community goals and aspirations in terms of community development. The outcome of comprehensive planning is the Comprehensive Plan which dictates public policy in terms of...
. Those plans called for the demolition of many buildings downtown, to be replaced by a new arterial road, large public housing
Public housing
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. Social housing is an umbrella term referring to rental housing which may be owned and managed by the state, by non-profit organizations, or by a combination of the...
projects and a shopping mall
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
. After various delays, those projects were either scaled back or abandoned entirely. In the interim many businesses either closed or moved out of downtown.
Preservation and renewal
In the late 1960s, public opposition to the planned demolition of some of the historic structures downtown like the McCarthy BuildingMcCarthy Building (Troy, New York)
The McCarthy Building is located on River Street on the west side of Monument Square in Troy, New York, United States. It was built in 1904, and remains in use as a commercial building. In 1970 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, along with the nearby Cannon Building...
led to them being placed on the then-new National Register. In the early 1970s, the five predecessor historic districts
Historic district (United States)
In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...
were recognized and added as well, along with some other structures.
Urban renewal programs are funded in part by federal grants
Grant (money)
Grants are funds disbursed by one party , often a Government Department, Corporation, Foundation or Trust, to a recipient, often a nonprofit entity, educational institution, business or an individual. In order to receive a grant, some form of "Grant Writing" often referred to as either a proposal...
. The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966
National Historic Preservation Act of 1966
The National Historic Preservation Act is legislation intended to preserve historical and archaeological sites in the United States of America...
, which created the NRHP, requires that federal agencies give consideration to the opinions of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation is an independent agency of the United States government that promotes the preservation, enhancement, and productive use of the nation's historic resources, and advises the President and Congress on national historic preservation policy.The goal of the...
in assessing the impact their actions will have on listed properties and consider alternatives to any action that would destroy or significantly affect them. The listings of downtown Troy's districts and buildings therefore had the practical effect of preventing their demolition for urban renewal.
By the 1980s, after a Troy Downtown Historic District had been declared eligible for the NRHP by the state's Historic Preservation Office
New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation operates :*168 state parks*35 state historic sites*76 developed beaches*53 water recreational facilities*27 golf courses*39 full service cottages*818 cabins...
but not yet submitted to the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
(NPS), which administers the Register, local preservationists
Historic preservation
Historic preservation is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance...
realized that the existing historic districts did not fully embrace all of downtown's historic properties. Instead of applying for boundary increases or nominating more individual properties to the Register, the city decided to merge all five into a new, central district. The NPS accepted the application and entered the new district on the Register in 1986.
Troy's downtown began reviving. In 1993, Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
used the Second Street area, particularly the Paine Mansion, and some of the Russell Sage buildings as locations
Filming location
A filming location is a place where some or all of a film or television series is produced, in addition to or instead of using sets constructed on a movie studio backlot or soundstage...
for his adaptation
The Age of Innocence (film)
The Age of Innocence is a 1993 American film adaptation of Edith Wharton's 1920 novel of the same name. The film was released by Columbia Pictures, directed by Martin Scorsese, and stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Winona Ryder....
of Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton , was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, short story writer, and designer.- Early life and marriage:...
's The Age of Innocence
The Age of Innocence
The Age of Innocence is a novel by Edith Wharton published in 1920, which won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize. The story is set in upper-class New York City in the 1870s. In 1920, The Age of Innocence was serialized in four parts in the Pictorial Review magazine, and later released by D...
, since they replicated the appearance of 1870s Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. River Street became home to many antique stores. Developers began buying the old buildings and adapting
Adaptive reuse
Adaptive reuse refers to the process of reusing an old site or building for a purpose other than which it was built or designed for. Along with brownfield reclamation, adaptive reuse is seen by many as a key factor in land conservation and the reduction of urban sprawl...
them to contemporary uses.
RPI began buying properties such as the Rice and Gurley buildings, moving students and faculty into them. In 2006,The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
described the city as having "one of the most perfectly preserved 19th-century downtowns in the United States."
Significant contributing properties
The district includes all the area of the original five districts, two National Historic LandmarkNational Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
s, nine properties listed on the National Register in their own right, and several other noteworthy contributing properties among its 679 total historic resources.
Predecessor districts
- Fifth Street-Fulton Street Historic District. Many of the city's then-prominent businessmen built townhouses here, near the Gurley Building, after the 1862 fire.
- Grand Street Historic District: Marcus Cummings built townhouses here after that fire.
- River Street Historic District: The city's antique district is the oldest neighborhood in Troy, and its pre-industrial commercial center.
- Second Street Historic District: Many unaltered homes dating to 1820s, some of them owned by prominent city residents, in the vicinity of the Troy Savings BankTroy Savings BankTroy Savings Bank, now owned by First Niagara Financial Group is a bank in Troy, Rensselaer County, New York, U.S.A.. It is notable for having a music hall constructed on the second floor above the bank itself, the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, which is renowned for its acoustics and includes a...
building. - Washington Park Historic District: Local businessmen started the city's first planned neighborhood in 1839, the first large Greek RevivalGreek Revival architectureThe Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...
development in the city. They used London's residential squares as their model. Philip JohnsonPhilip JohnsonPhilip Cortelyou Johnson was an influential American architect.In 1930, he founded the Department of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and later , as a trustee, he was awarded an American Institute of Architects Gold Medal and the first Pritzker Architecture...
called it "one of the finest squares in North America".
National Historic Landmarks
- W. & L.E. Gurley Building: Fifth and Fulton streets. Built in just nine months after 1862 fire, this location has been home to Gurley Precision InstrumentsGurley Precision InstrumentsGurley Precision Instruments, or GPI, is an ISO-9001 certified U.S. manufacturing company based in Troy, New York.-History:Gurley Enterprise was established by William Gurley and Lewis E. Gurley in 1845, brothers who were both alumni of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute...
since 1845. The building, with Renaissance and classically-inspired stylings, is an unusual example of a commercial building extremely sympathetic to its neighboring residences. Today owned by RPI and home to some of its divisions, including the Lighting Research Center. - Troy Savings BankTroy Savings BankTroy Savings Bank, now owned by First Niagara Financial Group is a bank in Troy, Rensselaer County, New York, U.S.A.. It is notable for having a music hall constructed on the second floor above the bank itself, the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, which is renowned for its acoustics and includes a...
: 32 Second Street. Designed by George B. PostGeorge B. PostGeorge Browne Post was an American architect trained in the Beaux-Arts tradition.-Biography:Post was a student of Richard Morris Hunt , but unlike many architects of his generation, he had previously received a degree in civil engineering...
in 1875 in stylings that anticipate the emergence of Beaux-Arts, this impressive stone building features a full concert hall upstairs with excellent acousticsAcousticsAcoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician while someone working in the field of acoustics...
.
National Register of Historic Places
- Cannon BuildingCannon Building (Troy, New York)The Cannon Building in Troy, New York is located on Broadway between First and State streets. It is the oldest building on Monument Square. It was designed by Alexander Jackson Davis and built in 1835. In 1970 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places...
: 1-9 Broadway, on the south side of Monument Square. This 1835 collaboration by Alexander Jackson DavisAlexander Jackson DavisAlexander Jackson Davis, or A. J. Davis , was one of the most successful and influential American architects of his generation, in particular his association with the Gothic Revival style....
and Ithiel TownIthiel TownIthiel Town was a prominent American architect and civil engineer. One of the first generation of professional architects in the United States, Town made significant contributions to American architecture in the first half of the 19th century. He was high-strung, sophisticated, generous,...
got a mansard roofMansard roofA mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...
after an 1870 fire. Today it is used as an extended-stay hotelApartment hotelAn Apartment Hotel is a serviced apartment complex that uses a hotel-style booking system. It is similar to renting an apartment, but with no fixed contracts and occupants can 'check-out' whenever they wish....
and office space. - Hart-Cluett MansionHart-Cluett MansionThe Hart-Cluett Mansion is located at 57 Second Street in Troy, New York, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and is a contributing property to the Central Troy Historic District created in 1986...
: An 1828 Federal mansion on Second Street built by a New York merchant as a wedding gift to his daughter. Largely unchanged, it is today the home of the Rensselaer County Historical SocietyRensselaer County Historical SocietyThe Rensselaer County Historical Society is a non-profit, historical society and museum, to promote the study of the history of the Rensselaer County, NY. RCHS was founded in 1927, and originally operated out of a single room in the Troy Public Library, collecting manuscripts and published...
. - Ilium BuildingIlium BuildingThe Ilium Building is located at the northeast corner of Fulton and Fourth in Troy, New York, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, and since 1986 has also been a contributing property to the Central Troy Historic District.It is a five-story,...
: Marcus Cummings designed this commercial building at Fourth and Fulton in 1904. - McCarthy BuildingMcCarthy Building (Troy, New York)The McCarthy Building is located on River Street on the west side of Monument Square in Troy, New York, United States. It was built in 1904, and remains in use as a commercial building. In 1970 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, along with the nearby Cannon Building...
: 255 River Street, on the west side of Monument Square. Another 1904 building, noted for large proscenium-style front arch window from original use as furniture showroom. Today it hosts the Troy offices of a regional media company. - National State Bank BuildingNational State Bank BuildingThe National State Bank Building is located on River Street in Troy, New York, United States, at its junction with Fulton and Third streets. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, one of the earliest buildings in the city so recognized...
: 297 River Street. Its fenestration and decoration is similar to Cummings' Ilium Building a block away. - Proctor's TheaterProctor's Theater (Troy, New York)Proctor's Theater is located on Fourth Street in Troy, New York, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and is a contributing property to the Central Troy Historic District, added to the Register in 1986.It was built in 1914 for vaudeville performances by...
: A 1914 theater on Fourth Street transitioned smoothly between live-entertainment and motion-picture eras. RPI had hoped to convert it into a hotel, but a new proposal to gut the interior completely has been the subject of local controversy. - St. Paul's Episcopal ChurchSt. Paul's Episcopal Church (Troy, New York)St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Troy, New York, United States, is located at Third and State streets. It is home to one of the oldest congregations in the city. In 1979, the church and two outbuildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places...
: State and Third streets. This 1828 stone Gothic RevivalGothic Revival architectureThe Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
structure is an almost exact duplicate of Ithiel Town's Trinity Church in New HavenNew Haven, ConnecticutNew Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
, ConnecticutConnecticutConnecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
. - Troy Public LibraryTroy Public LibraryThe Troy Public library is the main public library building in the city of Troy, New York, and is located across the street from Russell Sage College in downtown Troy. It has two other branches, the Lansingburgh branch and the Sycaway branch. Both branches were temporarily closed in January 2009....
: 100 Second Street. It is an 1897 white marble building that has been described as "one of the finest works of Italian Renaissance architecture in the country". - U.S. Post OfficeU.S. Post Office (Troy, New York)The U.S. Post Office in Troy, New York, United States, is located at 400 Broadway, on the corners of Fourth and William Streets, the tenth location it has occupied in the city's history. It serves the ZIP Codes 12179 through 12182, which cover different sections of the city...
: Fourth and Broadway. Built in 1936, it is one of the most modern of the contributing properties in the district, using a stripped Classical RevivalNeoclassicismNeoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
style for the tenth post office location in the city's history. Its lobby contains one of only three Waldo PeirceWaldo PeirceWaldo Peirce was an American painter, born in Bangor, Maine.Peirce was both a prominent painter and a well-known character. He was sometimes called "the American Renoir"...
murals in American post offices.
Other notable contributing properties
- Commercial building at 46 Third Street: Downtown Troy's only example of Streamline ModerneStreamline ModerneStreamline Moderne, sometimes referred to by either name alone or as Art Moderne, was a late type of the Art Deco design style which emerged during the 1930s...
architecture. Having an enameledVitreous enamelVitreous enamel, also porcelain enamel in U.S. English, is a material made by fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between 750 and 850 °C...
metal facade and storefront, and dating to 1940, it is the newest contributing property in the district. - Caldwell Apartments: Second and State streets. This Arts and Crafts-style building from 1907 was Troy's first large-scale apartment building.
- Congregation Berith SholomCongregation Berith SholomCongregation Berith Sholom is a synagogue in Troy, New York. The synagogue is the oldest continuously used synagogue in the state of New York, the second oldest house of worship in the state outside of the city of New York, and one of the oldest synagogue buildings in the United...
Temple: 167 Third Street. The oldest ReformReform JudaismReform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
synagogueSynagogueA synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
in New York, and one of the oldest surviving synagoguesOldest synagogues in the United StatesThe designation of the oldest synagogue in the United States requires careful use of definitions, and must be divided into two parts, the oldest in the sense of oldest surviving building, and the oldest in the sense of oldest congregation...
in the country; built in 1870 by Cummings. - Hendrick Hudson Hotel: Located on the east side of Monument Square. This seven-story brick Colonial RevivalColonial Revival architectureThe Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...
building, dating to 1932, is the largest building on the square. - House at 18 First Street The oldest house in the district is this Federal-style brick house, built in 1808 and added to in 1875, that survived the 1820 fire.
- Julia Howard Bush Center: Originally First Presbyterian Church, on the Russell Sage campus in Seminary Park at First and Congress streets. A Greek RevivalGreek Revival architectureThe Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...
hexastyle temple-front church built in 1835, it is one of only ten remaining buildings in that style in the U.S. - Paine Mansion: 49 2nd Street. This limestone-faced Romanesque Revival home was built in 1894.
- Rensselaer County Courthouse: 80 Second Street. The third courthouse on the site was built in 1894 by Cummings in the Classical RevivalNeoclassicismNeoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
style. The neighboring Second Street Presbyterian Church, built in 1833, was later annexed to it and remodeled in 1913. - Rice Building: First and River streets. Calvert VauxCalvert VauxCalvert Vaux , was an architect and landscape designer. He is best remembered as the co-designer , of New York's Central Park....
and Frederick Clarke WithersFrederick Clarke WithersFrederick Clarke Withers was an successful English architect in America, especially renowned for his Gothic Revival church designs.-Biography:...
designed this Polychrome 1871 brick flatiron-shaped building. One of the district's rare examples of Victorian Gothic; today owned and used by RPI. - St. John's Episcopal Church: First and Liberty streets. Henry DudleyHenry DudleyHenry C. Dudley , known also as Henry Dudley, was an English-born North American architect, known for his Gothic Revival churches...
designed this Stone Gothic RevivalGothic Revival architectureThe Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
church built in 1856 by in the style of English parish churches that closely follows models of church design embraced by the contemporary Oxford MovementOxford MovementThe Oxford Movement was a movement of High Church Anglicans, eventually developing into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose members were often associated with the University of Oxford, argued for the reinstatement of lost Christian traditions of faith and their inclusion into Anglican liturgy...
. - St. Paul's Place: Off State Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues. This is a street of six attached three-story brick rowhouses built ca. 1850. They feature a variation on ItalianateItalianate architectureThe Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
norms with bracketedBracket (architecture)A bracket is an architectural member made of wood, stone, or metal that overhangs a wall to support or carry weight. It may also support a statue, the spring of an arch, a beam, or a shelf. Brackets are often in the form of scrolls, and can be carved, cast, or molded. They can be entirely...
gableGableA gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
s and rounded-arch windows and doors rarely seen with that style in an urban environment. - Thompson Drug Company Annex: 155-157 River Street. This five-story Richardsonian RomanesqueRichardsonian RomanesqueRichardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after architect Henry Hobson Richardson, whose masterpiece is Trinity Church, Boston , designated a National Historic Landmark...
brick building from 1888 copies one of Richardson's buildings in Pittsburgh. - Vail House: 46 First Street. This Federal-style 1818 home is the most notable structure to have survived the 1820 fire.
Central Troy today
The city has recognized the historic district in its zoning code. It divides the area into six separate districts — the Riverfront, First, Second, Third, Fourth Street and Fifth Avenue local historic districts. The Riverfront district includes the neighborhood to the northwest listed on the National Register as the Northern River Street Historic DistrictNorthern River Street Historic District
The Northern River Street Historic District is located along River Street north of Federal Street, one block east of the Green Island Bridge, in Troy, New York, United States...
. The other five are roughly aligned with the eponymous streets, with the First Street district consisting of two detached areas, the Second and Third street districts taking up most of the central area and the other two occupying the northeastern corner of the district. The city has also made some grants and tax exemptions available to qualified property owners. The city's current master plan
Comprehensive planning
Comprehensive planning is a term used in the United States by land use planners to describe a process that determines community goals and aspirations in terms of community development. The outcome of comprehensive planning is the Comprehensive Plan which dictates public policy in terms of...
calls for enhancing the district's mixed-use
Mixed-use development
Mixed-use development is the use of a building, set of buildings, or neighborhood for more than one purpose. Since the 1920s, zoning in some countries has required uses to be separated. However, when jobs, housing, and commercial activities are located close together, a community's transportation...
character, by encouraging both residential use and businesses that serve consumers, particularly retailers
Retailing
Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...
, and providing tax incentives for the rehabilitation of historic homes.
Troy's ordinance
Local ordinance
A local ordinance is a law usually found in a municipal code.-United States:In the United States, these laws are enforced locally in addition to state law and federal law.-Japan:...
s designate its Planning
Urban planning
Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
Commission as the Historic District and Landmarks Review Commission. Property owners in the district must get special permission from the commission for any work on their properties beside ordinary maintenance (and even for that in some cases), to make sure it leaves the historic character of the property and the surrounding buildings intact.
In 1989, the state added most of the district to Troy's Empire Zone. This economic development
Economic development
Economic development generally refers to the sustained, concerted actions of policymakers and communities that promote the standard of living and economic health of a specific area...
incentive gives businesses that locate in the included areas tax credit
Tax credit
A tax credit is a sum deducted from the total amount a taxpayer owes to the state. A tax credit may be granted for various types of taxes, such as an income tax, property tax, or VAT. It may be granted in recognition of taxes already paid, as a subsidy, or to encourage investment or other behaviors...
s and exemptions
Tax exemption
Various tax systems grant a tax exemption to certain organizations, persons, income, property or other items taxable under the system. Tax exemption may also refer to a personal allowance or specific monetary exemption which may be claimed by an individual to reduce taxable income under some...
to encourage them to locate there. The state has also moved some of its employees into the district, through the interventions of former State Senate
New York State Senate
The New York State Senate is one of two houses in the New York State Legislature and has members each elected to two-year terms. There are no limits on the number of terms one may serve...
majority leader
Majority leader
In U.S. politics, the majority floor leader is a partisan position in a legislative body.In the federal Congress, the role differs slightly in the two houses. In the House of Representatives, which chooses its own presiding officer, the leader of the majority party is elected the Speaker of the...
Joseph Bruno
Joseph Bruno
Joseph L. Bruno is an American businessman, and Republican politician. He was the Temporary President of the New York State Senate and its majority leader. Most recently he also served as Lieutenant Governor of New York ....
, a resident of nearby Brunswick
Brunswick, New York
Brunswick is a town in Rensselaer County, New York, United States that was originally settled in the early 18th century. During its history, it had been part of Albany County, Rensselaerswyck, and Troy, before its incorporation in 1807...
, who represented the district that included the city. He steered state grants
Grant (money)
Grants are funds disbursed by one party , often a Government Department, Corporation, Foundation or Trust, to a recipient, often a nonprofit entity, educational institution, business or an individual. In order to receive a grant, some form of "Grant Writing" often referred to as either a proposal...
towards the rehabilitation of the buildings that now house state government offices, as well as school aid that helped the city keep its property tax
Property tax
A property tax is an ad valorem levy on the value of property that the owner is required to pay. The tax is levied by the governing authority of the jurisdiction in which the property is located; it may be paid to a national government, a federated state or a municipality...
es low. City officials say his help has been vital, and will be missed following his 2008 resignation.'People won't realize how important he was until years from now, when they find that things don't get done as quickly or as easily without him,' Mr. Tutunjian said.}}
RPI has acquired several significant downtown properties, such as the Gurley and Rice buildings and Proctor's Theater, and renovated them to make homes for programs such as its Lighting Research Center, now housed in Gurley. In the early 2000s, it put $2.5 million into its Neighborhood Renewal Initiative, which has been used to help homeowners renovate homes and improve the city's infrastructure.
The private sector has also played a large role in revitalizing the area, even without public aid and incentives. Developers have been attracted to the historic buildings and their surrounding neighborhoods, calling it the city's strongest asset, although they have complained about past stalemates in city government. One initiative has often led to others. River Street's development into a center for antique stores came about without any public effort or intent, and the restoration of the music hall at the Savings Bank led to many new restaurants opening in the neighborhood. The blocks of River Street north of Monument Square have a dozen woman-owned businesses.
Developers, the city, and the colleges see downtown Troy's future as a center for high-tech companies and the good-paying jobs they provide. In addition to its historic character, the area has space available and is walkable
Walkability
Walkability is a measure of how friendly an area is to walking. Walkability has many health, environmental, and economic benefits. Factors influencing walkability include the presence or absence and quality of footpaths, sidewalks or other pedestrian right-of-ways, traffic and road conditions,...
. One local official calls Troy "the Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
of the 19th century". Some specific projects have capitalized on this. In 2005, the Cannon Building
Cannon Building (Troy, New York)
The Cannon Building in Troy, New York is located on Broadway between First and State streets. It is the oldest building on Monument Square. It was designed by Alexander Jackson Davis and built in 1835. In 1970 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places...
was redeveloped into an extended-stay hotel
Apartment hotel
An Apartment Hotel is a serviced apartment complex that uses a hotel-style booking system. It is similar to renting an apartment, but with no fixed contracts and occupants can 'check-out' whenever they wish....
with the target market
Target market
A target market is a group of customers that the business has decided to aim its marketing efforts and ultimately its merchandise. A well-defined target market is the first element to a marketing strategy...
being visiting faculty
Visiting scholar
In the world of academia, a visiting scholar or visiting academic is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university, where he or she is projected to teach , lecture , or perform research on a topic the visitor is valued for...
at RPI and Russell Sage. In partnership with several private corporations, the city has also implemented a free wireless mesh network
Wireless mesh network
A wireless mesh network is a communications network made up of radio nodes organized in a mesh topology. Wireless mesh networks often consist of mesh clients, mesh routers and gateways.The mesh clients are often laptops, cell phones and other wireless devices while the mesh routers forward traffic...
covering downtown. With money from the 2009 federal stimulus package
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, abbreviated ARRA and commonly referred to as the Stimulus or The Recovery Act, is an economic stimulus package enacted by the 111th United States Congress in February 2009 and signed into law on February 17, 2009, by President Barack Obama.To...
, the city improved traffic signals and sidewalks at 18 intersections downtown.
The revitalization of downtown Troy has not been entirely without controversy over some of its historic buildings. A 2009 proposal to redevelop Proctor's
Proctor's Theater (Troy, New York)
Proctor's Theater is located on Fourth Street in Troy, New York, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and is a contributing property to the Central Troy Historic District, added to the Register in 1986.It was built in 1914 for vaudeville performances by...
by gutting its interior and converting it to office space led to serious opposition. Opponents of the plan organized a website and started an online petition against the use of any state funds for the project. Proponents, including the head of the city's Downtown Collaborative, said that after three decades of the vacant building's deterioration, any redevelopment proposal should be seriously considered, regardless of its impact on the building's historic character.
See also
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Rensselaer County, New York
External links
- Gothic Revival House, Troy, Rensselaer, NY: 1 photo and 1 data page at Historic American Building Survey
- Thomas Samuel Vail House, 46 First Street, Troy, Rensselaer, NY: 11 drawings, 4 photos, 2 data pages, and supplemental material at Historic American Building Survey
- St. John's Rectory (Balcony), First & Liberty Streets, Troy, Rensselaer, NY: 1 drawing, 1 photo, 2 data pages, and supplemental material at Historic American Building Survey
- Joseph B. Carr Building, 57 Second Street, Troy, Rensselaer, NY: 2 data pages at Historic American Building Survey
- Albert Cluett House, 59 Second Street, Troy, Rensselaer, NY: 7 drawings, 2 photos, 2 data pages, and supplemental material at Historic American Building Survey
- 177-179 Second Street, 177-179 Second Street, Troy, Rensselaer, NY: 2 data pages at Historic American Building Survey
- Godson Residence, 170 Second Street, Troy, Rensselaer, NY: 2 data pages at Historic American Building Survey
- Church of the Holy Cross, Eighth & Grand Streets, Troy, Rensselaer, NY: 2 drawings, 11 photos, 8 data pages, and 1 photo caption page at Historic American Building Survey
- Rensselaer Iron Works, Rail Mill, Adams Street & Hudson River, Troy, Rensselaer, NY: 4 drawings, 18 photos, and 21 data pages at Historic American Building Survey
- Eddy Homestead, Eddy Lane, Troy, Rensselaer, NY: 2 data pages at Historic American Building Survey
- W. & L. E. Gurley Building, 514 Fulton Street, Troy, Rensselaer, NY: 6 photos and data pages at Historic American Building Survey
- Troy Gas Light Company, Gasholder House, Jefferson Street & Fifth Avenue, Troy, Rensselaer, NY: 4 drawings, 15 photos, and 12 data pages at Historic American Building Survey
- 204 Washington Street, 204 Washington Street, Troy, Rensselaer, NY: 2 data pages at Historic American Building Survey
- City of Troy
- Visit Troy
- Rensselaer County Historical Society
- Washington Park Association