General Electric Realty Plot
Encyclopedia
The General Electric Realty Plot, often referred to locally as the GE Realty Plot or just The Plot, is a residential neighborhood in Schenectady
, New York, United States. It is an area of approximately 90 acres (36.4 ha) just east of Union College.
Originally an undeveloped tract owned by the college, it was sold to General Electric
(GE) at the end of the 19th century to help the college pay off a debt. The company's executives subdivided it, laid out streets according to a plan
inspired by New York's Central Park
and built houses on the land, with covenants requiring a minimum lot size and house value. Two of them were among the first fully electric houses in the U.S., used as models by GE. Also settling in the neighborhood were some local businessmen and politicians, and the research scientists who worked at the company's research laboratory
a short distance away. They were collectively responsible for over 400 patent
s. Some of the key events in their research happened within the Plot, as many took things home to work on.
By 1927 approximately a hundred houses had been built, including one
later owned by chemist Irving Langmuir
, a GE researcher, for his later life. It has subsequently been designated a National Historic Landmark
in recognition of Langmuir's scientific accomplishments, including the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
. In 1980 the entire neighborhood was recognized as a historic district
and listed on the National Register of Historic Places
.
The Plot is no longer so heavily dominated by GE employees, due to the company's greatly reduced presence in the city. Houses in it remain highly valued, and residents pay some of the Capital District
region's highest property tax
es. Rules enforced by both the neighborhood association
and the city's Historic Commission preserve its historic character.
A small stream known as College Creek or Grooteskill flows west through the district to the Mohawk River
, making a ravine
30 feet (9.1 m) deep and 100 feet (30.5 m) wide through the center of the district. It is spanned by four bluestone
arch bridges, all included as contributing properties
. Many mature trees grow throughout the district.
The houses within are on lots
with a minimum size of 70 by, set back
35–45 feet (10.6–13.7 m) from the streets they front on. They are predominantly in the Colonial Revival
or Georgian Revival
architectural style
s, with some in the Mission Revival
, Queen Anne
or Shingle modes.
Steinmetz Park on Wendell Avenue is the only significant open space in the district. It is named for Charles Proteus Steinmetz
, the German-born electrical engineer whose research made alternating current
possible. He later chaired the city's school board and lived in the Plot on the site of the park, where he did research in a backyard lab (both it and the house were demolished in the 1940s). The building at 1184 Rugby Road was developed as a primary school and remained in use for that purpose for many years.
Only five buildings have been added to the district since its initial period of development in the first quarter of the 20th century. They include a modern church by Edward Durrell Stone from the late 1950s on Wendell Avenue. Most of them are otherwise unintrusive, but are not considered contributing due to their more recent construction.
to that effect gained 2,200 signatures. The college proposed to lease
the land to the city for that purpose, but at a very high annual rate. Shortly afterward, several members of the board of General Electric
, which had grown rapidly since Thomas Edison
had moved his machine works to Schenectady in 1886, announced that the company would buy the land from the college for $57,000 ($ in contemporary dollars), retiring the college's debt.
They formed a subsidiary
, Schenectady Realty Company, to purchase and develop the land
. Their goal was to offer another incentive for the company's executives and researchers to stay rather than leave for a competitor or start their own companies. It took until 1903 to grade the streets and lay water and sewer
lines and build the bridges.
The plan for the neighborhood was developed by Parse and DeForrest, specialists in the new discipline of urban planning
. They took their inspiration from New York City's Central Park
, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted
and Calvert Vaux
. Instead of being planned around a central street, like the way Schenectady had developed along Union Street
, thinking which had guided Glenwood and Parkwood boulevards elsewhere in the city, they imagined the area as two smaller lots divided by Wendell Avenue, a street named after a former landowner in the area. They laid out the streets in gentle curves, like the pathways in Central Park. They also tried something new on residential city streets at the time: the "sod gutter", by which there is no curb
on a paved street, to further maintain the park-like atmosphere.
Covenants in the deed
s for each lot limited construction on it to one single-family house, to be sold or valued at no less than $4,000 ($ in contemporary dollars), almost twice the median home value in Schenectady at that time, a value later raised to account for inflation
. Construction had to commence within two years of the purchase of the lot. The setback and lot size restrictions were also set at this time. Another provision limited the height of any fence between properties to 3 feet 6 inches (107 cm), to make sure they were purely ornamental in purpose. When the plans were finished, the property's surveyor
claimed "We have here a suburban residential plot second-to-none between New York and Chicago, either in layout, restrictions, or the class of houses upon it."
The streets were mostly named from a combination of the works of Sir Walter Scott
and two prominent names in the history of New England
, Adams
and Lowell
. Rugby Road was named due to the use of an adjacent field for rugby
matches. Nott Road already existed and had been named for Union College founder Eliphalet Nott
. Lenox Road was originally spelled with two "n"'s.
Every winter an area behind Brown School
was flooded to create a skating pond
for residents of the Plot, who received a special lapel tag to identify themselves. The fire hydrant
built for this purpose is still extant.
Houses were built and sold rapidly. Some non-GE residents moved in, including the city's then-mayor F.F. Eisenmanger. In 1912 another mayor, George R. Lunn
, the first Socialist mayor in New York and later the state's lieutenant governor
, had the city take over the maintenance of the streets. This led to the installation of sidewalks, which diluted the original sod-gutter look somewhat.
The original map of the plot shows three large parcels in the Oxford Street area to the east. Not part of the original College Woods property, they were eventually purchased by the realty company in 1914 and developed. These lots lacked the covenants in the earlier ones, and as a result some of the houses on Rugby Road are closer together than the rest of the neighborhood.
By 1927 almost all the lots were bought and built on. Since then only five new buildings have been constructed in the district.
regulations, any change to a historic building in a district that is visible from a public right-of-way must be approved by the commission. Houses in the district, already the largest in the city, have some of the highest property tax
valuations
in the Capital District
region, from $200–400,000. Many residents pay more than $10,000 annually to the city, county
, and school district. Heating bills also run into the thousands.
There is also a neighborhood association
, the Realty Plot Association. It publishes a newsletter
, The Plot Spotter, sponsors an annual house and garden tour and works to maintain the neighborhood's historic character. Members also greet new residents with a bottle of champagne and An Enclave of Elegance, a history of the neighborhood.
Union College owns several of the houses, and in the late 20th century decided to convert some of them to administrative offices and student housing. Residents objected, citing the deed covenants and zoning that prohibited business uses, and filed suit. In 2001 a state appeals court
upheld a lower-court ruling in the college's favor. As a nonprofit the college was not a business, and its presence predated the creation of the Plot and its deed covenants, so the framers of those covenants would have likely included language explicitly restricting college-related activities if that had been their intent. It converted the Parker-Rice estate at 1128 Lenox Road into offices for its fundraising and alumni relations departments. An attempt to have the state's Court of Appeals
, its highest, hear the case was denied.
Most of the homes in the district that have additional significance have it because of their residents.
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...
, New York, United States. It is an area of approximately 90 acres (36.4 ha) just east of Union College.
Originally an undeveloped tract owned by the college, it was sold to General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
(GE) at the end of the 19th century to help the college pay off a debt. The company's executives subdivided it, laid out streets according to a plan
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....
inspired by New York's Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
and built houses on the land, with covenants requiring a minimum lot size and house value. Two of them were among the first fully electric houses in the U.S., used as models by GE. Also settling in the neighborhood were some local businessmen and politicians, and the research scientists who worked at the company's research laboratory
General Electric Research Laboratory
General Electric Research Laboratory, the first industrial research facility in the United States, was established in 1900. This lab was home to the early technological breakthroughs of General Electric and created a research and development environment that set the standard for industrial...
a short distance away. They were collectively responsible for over 400 patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
s. Some of the key events in their research happened within the Plot, as many took things home to work on.
By 1927 approximately a hundred houses had been built, including one
Irving Langmuir House
The Irving Langmuir House was the home of physicist-chemist Irving Langmuir, winner of the 1932 Nobel Prize during his research career with General Electric...
later owned by chemist Irving Langmuir
Irving Langmuir
Irving Langmuir was an American chemist and physicist. His most noted publication was the famous 1919 article "The Arrangement of Electrons in Atoms and Molecules" in which, building on Gilbert N. Lewis's cubical atom theory and Walther Kossel's chemical bonding theory, he outlined his...
, a GE researcher, for his later life. It has subsequently been designated a 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...
in recognition of Langmuir's scientific accomplishments, including the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
. In 1980 the entire neighborhood was recognized as a historic district
Historic district (United States)
In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...
and listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
The Plot is no longer so heavily dominated by GE employees, due to the company's greatly reduced presence in the city. Houses in it remain highly valued, and residents pay some of the Capital District
Capital District
New York's Capital District, also known as the Capital Region, is a region in upstate New York that generally refers to the four counties surrounding Albany, the capital of the state: Albany County, Schenectady County, Rensselaer County, and Saratoga County...
region's highest 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. Rules enforced by both the neighborhood association
Neighborhood association
A neighborhood association is a group of residents or property owners who advocate for or organize activities within a neighborhood. An association may have elected leaders and voluntary dues....
and the city's Historic Commission preserve its historic character.
Geography
The district is mostly bounded by streets, making it roughly quadrilateral in shape. At the west, Lenox Road divides it from the college campus. Nott Street forms the northern boundary, separating the Realty Plot from Ellis Hospital until the rear property lines between houses on Lowell Road and Glenwood Boulevard mark the eastern boundary. After crossing Rugby Road, the line turns west to take in the houses on the south side of that street, including some on Oxford Place just east of its intersection with Wendell Avenue, then following Oxford back to Lenox.A small stream known as College Creek or Grooteskill flows west through the district to the Mohawk River
Mohawk River
The Mohawk River is a river in the U.S. state of New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson River. The Mohawk flows into the Hudson in the Capital District, a few miles north of the city of Albany. The river is named for the Mohawk Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy...
, making a ravine
Ravine
A ravine is a landform narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streamcutting erosion. Ravines are typically classified as larger in scale than gullies, although smaller than valleys. A ravine is generally a fluvial slope landform of relatively steep sides, on the order of twenty to...
30 feet (9.1 m) deep and 100 feet (30.5 m) wide through the center of the district. It is spanned by four bluestone
Bluestone
Bluestone is a cultural or commercial name for a number of dimension or building stone varieties, including:*a feldspathic sandstone in the U.S. and Canada;*limestone in the Shenandoah Valley in the U.S...
arch bridges, all included as contributing properties
Contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
. Many mature trees grow throughout the district.
The houses within are on lots
Lot (real estate)
In real estate, a lot or plot is a tract or parcel of land owned or meant to be owned by some owner. A lot is essentially considered a parcel of real property in some countries or immovable property in other countries...
with a minimum size of 70 by, set back
Setback (land use)
In land use, a setback is the distance which a building or other structure is set back from a street or road, a river or other stream, a shore or flood plain, or any other place which needs protection. Depending on the jurisdiction, other things like fences, landscaping, septic tanks, and various...
35–45 feet (10.6–13.7 m) from the streets they front on. They are predominantly in 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...
or Georgian Revival
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
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, with some in the Mission Revival
Mission Revival Style architecture
The Mission Revival Style was an architectural movement that began in the late 19th century for a colonial style's revivalism and reinterpretation, which drew inspiration from the late 18th and early 19th century Spanish missions in California....
, Queen Anne
Queen Anne Style architecture
The Queen Anne Style in Britain means either the English Baroque architectural style roughly of the reign of Queen Anne , or a revived form that was popular in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century...
or Shingle modes.
Steinmetz Park on Wendell Avenue is the only significant open space in the district. It is named for Charles Proteus Steinmetz
Charles Proteus Steinmetz
Charles Proteus Steinmetz was a German-American mathematician and electrical engineer. He fostered the development of alternating current that made possible the expansion of the electric power industry in the United States, formulating mathematical theories for engineers...
, the German-born electrical engineer whose research made alternating current
Alternating current
In alternating current the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. In direct current , the flow of electric charge is only in one direction....
possible. He later chaired the city's school board and lived in the Plot on the site of the park, where he did research in a backyard lab (both it and the house were demolished in the 1940s). The building at 1184 Rugby Road was developed as a primary school and remained in use for that purpose for many years.
Only five buildings have been added to the district since its initial period of development in the first quarter of the 20th century. They include a modern church by Edward Durrell Stone from the late 1950s on Wendell Avenue. Most of them are otherwise unintrusive, but are not considered contributing due to their more recent construction.
History
In 1899 Union College announced that, in order to pay off a $30,000 ($ in contemporary dollars) debt, it would sell two adjacent tracts of land. One, the College Meadow, was a 30 acres (12.1 ha) parcel to the west; the other, the College Woods, was 75 acres (30.4 ha) in size and located immediately to the east of the college. Prominent citizens of the city called for the land to be developed into a park, and a petitionPetition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....
to that effect gained 2,200 signatures. The college proposed to lease
Lease
A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the lessee to pay the lessor for use of an asset. A rental agreement is a lease in which the asset is tangible property...
the land to the city for that purpose, but at a very high annual rate. Shortly afterward, several members of the board of General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
, which had grown rapidly since Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
had moved his machine works to Schenectady in 1886, announced that the company would buy the land from the college for $57,000 ($ in contemporary dollars), retiring the college's debt.
They formed a subsidiary
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
, Schenectady Realty Company, to purchase and develop the land
Land development
Land development refers to altering the landscape in any number of ways such as:* changing landforms from a natural or semi-natural state for a purpose such as agriculture or housing...
. Their goal was to offer another incentive for the company's executives and researchers to stay rather than leave for a competitor or start their own companies. It took until 1903 to grade the streets and lay water and sewer
Sewerage
Sewerage refers to the infrastructure that conveys sewage. It encompasses receiving drains, manholes, pumping stations, storm overflows, screening chambers, etc. of the sanitary sewer...
lines and build the bridges.
The plan for the neighborhood was developed by Parse and DeForrest, specialists in the new discipline of urban 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....
. They took their inspiration from New York City's Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted was an American journalist, social critic, public administrator, and landscape designer. He is popularly considered to be the father of American landscape architecture, although many scholars have bestowed that title upon Andrew Jackson Downing...
and 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....
. Instead of being planned around a central street, like the way Schenectady had developed along Union Street
Union Street Historic District (Schenectady, New York)
The Union Street Historic District extends along a section of that street in Schenectady, New York, United States. Covering roughly two miles of both sides of the street, it includes 184 buildings in its ....
, thinking which had guided Glenwood and Parkwood boulevards elsewhere in the city, they imagined the area as two smaller lots divided by Wendell Avenue, a street named after a former landowner in the area. They laid out the streets in gentle curves, like the pathways in Central Park. They also tried something new on residential city streets at the time: the "sod gutter", by which there is no curb
Curb (road)
A curb, or kerb , is the edge where a raised pavement/sidewalk/footpath, road median, or road shoulder meets an unraised street or other roadway.-Function:...
on a paved street, to further maintain the park-like atmosphere.
Covenants in the 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 for each lot limited construction on it to one single-family house, to be sold or valued at no less than $4,000 ($ in contemporary dollars), almost twice the median home value in Schenectady at that time, a value later raised to account for inflation
Inflation
In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...
. Construction had to commence within two years of the purchase of the lot. The setback and lot size restrictions were also set at this time. Another provision limited the height of any fence between properties to 3 feet 6 inches (107 cm), to make sure they were purely ornamental in purpose. When the plans were finished, the property's surveyor
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
claimed "We have here a suburban residential plot second-to-none between New York and Chicago, either in layout, restrictions, or the class of houses upon it."
The streets were mostly named from a combination of the works of Sir Walter Scott
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
and two prominent names in the history of New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
, Adams
Adams political family
The Adams family was a prominent political family in the United States during the late 18th century through early 20th centuries. Based in eastern Massachusetts, they formed part of the Boston Brahmin community.-Members:...
and Lowell
Lowell family
The Lowell family settled on the North Shore at Cape Ann after they arrived in Boston on June 23, 1639. The patriarch, Percival Lowle , described as a "solid citizen of Bristol", determined at the age of 68 that the future was in the New World.Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor John Winthrop needed...
. Rugby Road was named due to the use of an adjacent field for rugby
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
matches. Nott Road already existed and had been named for Union College founder Eliphalet Nott
Eliphalet Nott
Eliphalet Nott , was a famed Presbyterian minister, inventor, educational pioneer, and long-term president of Union College, Schenectady, New York.-Life:...
. Lenox Road was originally spelled with two "n"'s.
Every winter an area behind Brown School
Brown School
Brown School is a private, nondenominational elementary and middle school in Schenectady, New York in the United States. It provides instruction for about 300 students in grades one through eight. It also offers nursery and kindergarten programs...
was flooded to create a skating pond
Ice rink
An ice rink is a frozen body of water and/or hardened chemicals where people can skate or play winter sports. Besides recreational ice skating, some of its uses include ice hockey, figure skating and curling as well as exhibitions, contests and ice shows...
for residents of the Plot, who received a special lapel tag to identify themselves. The fire hydrant
Fire hydrant
A fire hydrant , is an active fire protection measure, and a source of water provided in most urban, suburban and rural areas with municipal water service to enable firefighters to tap into the municipal water...
built for this purpose is still extant.
Houses were built and sold rapidly. Some non-GE residents moved in, including the city's then-mayor F.F. Eisenmanger. In 1912 another mayor, George R. Lunn
George R. Lunn
George Richard Lunn was an American clergyman and politician from New York. He was the first Socialist mayor in the State of New York, and was a U.S...
, the first Socialist mayor in New York and later the state's lieutenant governor
Lieutenant Governor of New York
The Lieutenant Governor of New York is a constitutional office in the executive branch of the government of New York State. It is the second highest ranking official in state government. The lieutenant governor is elected on a ticket with the governor for a four year term...
, had the city take over the maintenance of the streets. This led to the installation of sidewalks, which diluted the original sod-gutter look somewhat.
The original map of the plot shows three large parcels in the Oxford Street area to the east. Not part of the original College Woods property, they were eventually purchased by the realty company in 1914 and developed. These lots lacked the covenants in the earlier ones, and as a result some of the houses on Rugby Road are closer together than the rest of the neighborhood.
By 1927 almost all the lots were bought and built on. Since then only five new buildings have been constructed in the district.
Preservation
The neighborhood is one of four historic districts recognized by the city of Schenectady. It comes under the purview of its Historic Commission, a seven-member body that meets once a month. Under the city's zoningZoning 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:...
regulations, any change to a historic building in a district that is visible from a public right-of-way must be approved by the commission. Houses in the district, already the largest in the city, have some of the highest 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...
valuations
Valuation (finance)
In finance, valuation is the process of estimating what something is worth. Items that are usually valued are a financial asset or liability. Valuations can be done on assets or on liabilities...
in the Capital District
Capital District
New York's Capital District, also known as the Capital Region, is a region in upstate New York that generally refers to the four counties surrounding Albany, the capital of the state: Albany County, Schenectady County, Rensselaer County, and Saratoga County...
region, from $200–400,000. Many residents pay more than $10,000 annually to the city, county
Schenectady County, New York
Schenectady County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 154,727. It is part of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy Metropolitan Statistical Area. The county seat is Schenectady. The name is from a Mohawk Indian word meaning "on the other side of the...
, and school district. Heating bills also run into the thousands.
There is also a neighborhood association
Neighborhood association
A neighborhood association is a group of residents or property owners who advocate for or organize activities within a neighborhood. An association may have elected leaders and voluntary dues....
, the Realty Plot Association. It publishes a newsletter
Newsletter
A newsletter is a regularly distributed publication generally about one main topic that is of interest to its subscribers. Newspapers and leaflets are types of newsletters. Additionally, newsletters delivered electronically via email have gained rapid acceptance for the same reasons email in...
, The Plot Spotter, sponsors an annual house and garden tour and works to maintain the neighborhood's historic character. Members also greet new residents with a bottle of champagne and An Enclave of Elegance, a history of the neighborhood.
Union College owns several of the houses, and in the late 20th century decided to convert some of them to administrative offices and student housing. Residents objected, citing the deed covenants and zoning that prohibited business uses, and filed suit. In 2001 a state appeals court
New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
The Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division is the intermediate appellate court in New York State. The Appellate Division is composed of four departments .*The First Department covers the Bronx The Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division is the intermediate...
upheld a lower-court ruling in the college's favor. As a nonprofit the college was not a business, and its presence predated the creation of the Plot and its deed covenants, so the framers of those covenants would have likely included language explicitly restricting college-related activities if that had been their intent. It converted the Parker-Rice estate at 1128 Lenox Road into offices for its fundraising and alumni relations departments. An attempt to have the state's Court of Appeals
New York Court of Appeals
The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the U.S. state of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six associate judges who are appointed by the Governor to 14-year terms...
, its highest, hear the case was denied.
Significant contributing properties
- 67 Union Avenue. In 1900, the first home built for Edwin W. RiceEdwin W. RiceEdwin Wilbur Rice, Jr. was a president and considered one of the three fathers of General Electric ....
, a GE executive and president of Schenectady Realty, considered one of the three fathers of General Electric. - 1155 Avon Road. One of the first all-electric houses in the country when built in 1905.
- 6 Douglas Road. The first all-electric "Gold Medallion" house in the nation in 1901.
- Ernst AlexandersonErnst AlexandersonErnst Frederick Werner Alexanderson was a Swedish-American electrical engineer, who was a pioneer in radio and television development.-Background:...
House, 1132 Adams Road. Alexanderson, a pioneer in radio and television development, held 322 patents. The first television broadcast was received here in 1927. GE used it as a model for such houses - Ernst Julius BergErnst Julius Berg-Biography:Ernst Julius Berg was born in Östersund, Jämtland County in Sweden. After graduating from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm in 1892, he immigrated to the United States. He began working as an assistant to Charles Proteus Steinmetz at General Electric...
House, 1336 Lowell Road. Home of the producer of the first two-way radioTwo-way radioA two-way radio is a radio that can both transmit and receive , unlike a broadcast receiver which only receives content. The term refers to a personal radio transceiver that allows the operator to have a two-way conversation with other similar radios operating on the same radio frequency...
program in the U.S. - William D. Coolidge House, 1480 Lenox Road. Home of the inventor of the modern X-ray tube. He served in his later years as GE's director of research
- Caryl Parker HaskinsCaryl Parker HaskinsCaryl Parker Haskins was a scientist, author, inventor, philanthropist, governmental adviser and pioneering entomologist in the study of ant biology . In the 1930s he was inspired by Alfred Lee Loomis to establish his own research facility. Along with Franklin S. Cooper, he founded the Haskins...
House, 1166 Avon Road. Home of the entomologistEntomologyEntomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...
when he taught at Union College. - Albert HullAlbert HullAlbert W. Hull is most remembered for his early invention of the magnetron.-Education and early career:...
House, 1435 Lowell Road. Home of the inventor of the magnetron, the later foundation for the development of radarRadarRadar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
and microwave ovenMicrowave ovenA microwave oven is a kitchen appliance that heats food by dielectric heating, using microwave radiation to heat polarized molecules within the food...
s. He held 94 patents. - Irving Langmuir HouseIrving Langmuir HouseThe Irving Langmuir House was the home of physicist-chemist Irving Langmuir, winner of the 1932 Nobel Prize during his research career with General Electric...
, 1176 Stratford Road. From 1919 until his death in 1957, this was the home of Irving LangmuirIrving LangmuirIrving Langmuir was an American chemist and physicist. His most noted publication was the famous 1919 article "The Arrangement of Electrons in Atoms and Molecules" in which, building on Gilbert N. Lewis's cubical atom theory and Walther Kossel's chemical bonding theory, he outlined his...
, winner of the 1932 Nobel Prize in ChemistryNobel Prize in ChemistryThe Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
and the first industrial chemist so honored. Designated a National Historic LandmarkNational Historic LandmarkA National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
in 1985, this is the only contributing property in the district separately listed on the National Register. - George R. LunnGeorge R. LunnGeorge Richard Lunn was an American clergyman and politician from New York. He was the first Socialist mayor in the State of New York, and was a U.S...
House, 1299 Stratford Road. Lunn was the first Socialist elected mayor of a city in New York. He later served as lieutenant governorLieutenant Governor of New YorkThe Lieutenant Governor of New York is a constitutional office in the executive branch of the government of New York State. It is the second highest ranking official in state government. The lieutenant governor is elected on a ticket with the governor for a four year term...
for a term under Alfred E. Smith. - Chester Rice House, 1161 Lowell Road. One night in the 1930s, Rice, a GE engineer, directed radio beams at nearby vehicles and got them to bounce back, one of the earliest practical demonstrations of radar.
- Edwin Rice House, 1050 Avon Road. Rice built this house for himself in 1905.