Union Street Historic District (Schenectady, New York)
Encyclopedia
The Union Street Historic District extends along a section of that street in Schenectady
, New York, United States. Covering roughly two miles (3.2 km) of both sides of the street, it includes 184 buildings in its 65 acres (26.3 ha).
Over the course of the 19th century, the city's development followed Union, one of the major through roads to the east, as it industrialized and expanded out of its colonial core on the banks of the Mohawk River
. In 1982 the historic district
was recognized and listed on the National Register of Historic Places
.
tracks (now used by Amtrak
and CSX) just north of the train station
and southeast of the Stockade Historic District
; from there it extends eastward to Phoenix Avenue, one block short of where NY 146
joins the street. It is defined as street addresses 306-1364 on the south side and 307-1355 on the north. Two small portions of Nott Terrace and Union Avenue are also included.
Union College, roughly one-third of the way between termini, had a tremendous influence on the district's development and bisects it both historically and by land use. On the west, closer to downtown Schenectady and the Stockade
neighborhood, the oldest in the city, buildings are a mix of pre-1850 commercial, institutional and residential properties, mainly brick. East of the college the street becomes more uniformly residential, with frame the preferred material for houses built in Victorian
styles
from the later 19th and early 20th centuries. Only twelve of the buildings in the district are considered non-contributing
.
as a trading outpost to deal with the Iroquois
tribes to the west, remained a small riverside village not much larger than the present Stockade District for the years after the Revolution
. Two events in the early 19th century began to change that. Union College, which had been operating out of a building at Union and South Ferry streets, moved to its present campus in 1814. Nine years later, the Erie Canal
was completed, bringing more traffic past the city, added to by the railroads as they began to develop in the next decade.
The growth this spurred began to follow the toll road that is today Union Street, which at the time connected Schenectady with Watervliet
and Troy
to the east. At first it was related to the college, which owned the land on the north side of Union and subdivided it to homeowners. To allow visitors to view the college's new campus, the first planned
campus in the United States, college president Eliphalet Nott
stipulated that houses built between Barrett Street and Seward Place be set back
"the width of an average veranda" (about 20 feet (6.1 m)) in order to allow views of the campus from the western approach. This is still in evidence today, and the area has some of the district's notable buildings, like the college president's residence (possibly built by Nott) at 709 Union.
In 1848, the Schenectady Locomotive Works
was built on Jay Street. This triggered the construction of workers' housing and buildings to service them, like Mercy Hospital (614 Union) and the German Methodist Church (404 Union), on the blocks closer to Erie Boulevard. The company's president, John Ellis, built his mansion at 802 Union, helping to establish the eastern blocks as a desirable residential area. After his death, his family sold some of the estate
, and one of the parcels was bought to establish St. John the Evangelist Church, with its unique steel-and-glass spire. The mansion is now the church's rectory
.
The last spur to the growth of Union Street was the rise of the city's other major native manufacturer, General Electric
. Started when Thomas Edison
moved his machine works to Schenectady in 1886, the company grew into the leading manufactuer of electric appliances by the 20th century. Many of its executives built houses along Union, where the company had electrified the streetcar
line. By the 1920s this development had brought the city's eastern frontier to Phoenix Avenue, when the Depression
stopped most new private construction. It resumed later in different styles and uses, but the current district remains relatively intact as it was at that point, with little infill.
It 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 zoning
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.
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. Covering roughly two miles (3.2 km) of both sides of the street, it includes 184 buildings in its 65 acres (26.3 ha).
Over the course of the 19th century, the city's development followed Union, one of the major through roads to the east, as it industrialized and expanded out of its colonial core on the banks of 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...
. In 1982 the 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...
was recognized 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...
.
Geography
The district's western terminus is at the former New York Central RailroadNew York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...
tracks (now used by Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
and CSX) just north of the train station
Schenectady (Amtrak station)
The Schenectady Amtrak station is a train station in Schenectady, New York served by Amtrak. The station is built under the railroad tracks with an elevator and staircase leading to a railway platform between the two tracks. The station is a popular railfan site.The station was built in 1979 on...
and southeast of the Stockade Historic District
Stockade Historic District
The Stockade Historic District is located in the northwest corner of Schenectady, New York, United States, on the banks of the Mohawk River. It is the oldest neighborhood in the city, continuously inhabited for over 300 years...
; from there it extends eastward to Phoenix Avenue, one block short of where NY 146
New York State Route 146
New York State Route 146 is a state highway in the Capital District of New York in the United States. It extends for from Gallupville at NY 443 to near Mechanicville at U.S. Route 4 and NY 32. NY 146 is a major thoroughfare in the city of Schenectady, just outside of...
joins the street. It is defined as street addresses 306-1364 on the south side and 307-1355 on the north. Two small portions of Nott Terrace and Union Avenue are also included.
Union College, roughly one-third of the way between termini, had a tremendous influence on the district's development and bisects it both historically and by land use. On the west, closer to downtown Schenectady and the Stockade
Stockade Historic District
The Stockade Historic District is located in the northwest corner of Schenectady, New York, United States, on the banks of the Mohawk River. It is the oldest neighborhood in the city, continuously inhabited for over 300 years...
neighborhood, the oldest in the city, buildings are a mix of pre-1850 commercial, institutional and residential properties, mainly brick. East of the college the street becomes more uniformly residential, with frame the preferred material for houses built in 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...
styles
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...
from the later 19th and early 20th centuries. Only twelve of the buildings in the district are considered non-contributing
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...
.
History
Schenectady, founded by 17th-century Dutch settlersDutch colonization of the Americas
Dutch trading posts and plantations in the Americas precede the much wider known colonization activities of the Dutch in Asia. Whereas the first Dutch fort in Asia was built in 1600 , the first forts and settlements on the Essequibo river in Guyana and on the Amazon date from the 1590s...
as a trading outpost to deal with the Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
tribes to the west, remained a small riverside village not much larger than the present Stockade District for the years after the Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
. Two events in the early 19th century began to change that. Union College, which had been operating out of a building at Union and South Ferry streets, moved to its present campus in 1814. Nine years later, the Erie Canal
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...
was completed, bringing more traffic past the city, added to by the railroads as they began to develop in the next decade.
The growth this spurred began to follow the toll road that is today Union Street, which at the time connected Schenectady with Watervliet
Watervliet, New York
Watervliet is a city in Albany County in the US state of New York. The population was 10,254 as of the 2010 census. Watervliet is north of Albany, the capital of the state, and is bordered on the north, west, and south by the town of Colonie. The city is also known as "the Arsenal City".- History...
and Troy
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...
to the east. At first it was related to the college, which owned the land on the north side of Union and subdivided it to homeowners. To allow visitors to view the college's new campus, the first planned
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....
campus in the United States, college president 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:...
stipulated that houses built between Barrett Street and Seward Place be 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...
"the width of an average veranda" (about 20 feet (6.1 m)) in order to allow views of the campus from the western approach. This is still in evidence today, and the area has some of the district's notable buildings, like the college president's residence (possibly built by Nott) at 709 Union.
In 1848, the Schenectady Locomotive Works
Schenectady Locomotive Works
The Schenectady Locomotive Works built railroad locomotives from its founding in 1848 through its merger into American Locomotive Company in 1901.After the 1901 merger, ALCO made the Schenectady plant its headquarters in Schenectady, New York....
was built on Jay Street. This triggered the construction of workers' housing and buildings to service them, like Mercy Hospital (614 Union) and the German Methodist Church (404 Union), on the blocks closer to Erie Boulevard. The company's president, John Ellis, built his mansion at 802 Union, helping to establish the eastern blocks as a desirable residential area. After his death, his family sold some of the estate
Estate (house)
An estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. It is the modern term for a manor, but lacks the latter's now abolished jurisdictional authority...
, and one of the parcels was bought to establish St. John the Evangelist Church, with its unique steel-and-glass spire. The mansion is now the church's rectory
Rectory
A rectory is the residence, or former residence, of a rector, most often a Christian cleric, but in some cases an academic rector or other person with that title...
.
The last spur to the growth of Union Street was the rise of the city's other major native manufacturer, 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...
. Started when 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...
moved his machine works to Schenectady in 1886, the company grew into the leading manufactuer of electric appliances by the 20th century. Many of its executives built houses along Union, where the company had electrified the streetcar
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
line. By the 1920s this development had brought the city's eastern frontier to Phoenix Avenue, when the Depression
Great 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...
stopped most new private construction. It resumed later in different styles and uses, but the current district remains relatively intact as it was at that point, with little infill.
It 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 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:...
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.
Significant contributing properties
None of the houses or other buildings in the district has been separately listed on the National Register, either before or since its creation. Some are significant within it.- President's House, 709 Union Street. A two-story Gothic Revival home built ca. 1860, possibly for Eliphalet NottEliphalet NottEliphalet Nott , was a famed Presbyterian minister, inventor, educational pioneer, and long-term president of Union College, Schenectady, New York.-Life:...
, that serves as the residence for the president of Union College. - General Francis Fisk House, 711 Union Street. A frame 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...
house built ca. 1840, this is one of the oldest houses in the district west of downtown. - St. John the Evangelist Church, 814 Union Street. Built in 1899, this church features a distinctive 230 feet (70.1 m) steel-and-glass central spire, with a view towards the college's Nott MemorialNott MemorialThe Nott Memorial is an elaborate 16-sided stone-masonry building which serves as both architectural and physical centerpiece of Union College in Schenectady, New York...
from the front. Former Ellis mansion nearby serves as the church's rectoryRectoryA rectory is the residence, or former residence, of a rector, most often a Christian cleric, but in some cases an academic rector or other person with that title...
. - Willis Hanson Estate, 821 Union Street and 20½ Union Avenue. 1888 three-story Queen AnneQueen Anne Style architectureThe 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...
estate and 1900 carriage houseCarriage houseA carriage house, also called remise or coach house, is an outbuilding which was originally built to house horse-drawn carriages and the related tack.In Great Britain the farm building was called a Cart Shed...
built for wealthy local businessman.
See also
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Schenectady County, New York
- Woodlawn, Schenectady, New YorkWoodlawn, Schenectady, New YorkWoodlawn is a neighborhood of Schenectady, New York and occupies the entire southeastern section of that city. The neighborhood developed as a suburb of the city of Schenectady in the first two decades of the 20th century and was annexed to the city in 1923...