In the News

 

By ELIZABETH BENJAMIN , Staff writer  First published: Tuesday, September 26, 2000

Working on a future for Albany's past 
Albany -- Group calls on city, county to work together on a plan to protect structures
 

PHILIP KAMRASS / TIMES UNION Elizabeth Griffin, executive director of the Historic Albany Foundation, stands across from 41 Ten Broeck Street in Albany, where demolition work was halted recently.

For the past month, city and county officials have spent hours fighting over a 155-year-old building's front wall.

It now seems possible that the brick facade of 41 Ten Broeck St., which the county started to tear down without the city's permission, will be saved. But the majority of Albany's historic buildings may not be so lucky. They deteriorate in relative obscurity behind plywood-covered windows and weed-choked stoops, awaiting foreclosure and perhaps a benevolent restoration effort, or -- as is increasingly likely -- demolition. 

It doesn't have to be this way, say members of the Historic Albany Foundation, who are calling for the city and county to agree on a comprehensive and collaborative plan to protect these slowly dying structures.

On Monday, a delegation from the nonprofit preservation group criticized the two governments' failure to protect Albany's unique local architecture.

"We are reaching a crisis of our built environment,'' Historic Albany Executive Director Elizabeth Griffin told Times Union editors and writers. "A lot of energy and money is going into revitalizing downtown, and that's good. But we need a plan for these other buildings. And we need it soon, because they don't get better and they don't come back once they're gone.''

After lifting a four-year moratorium on tax-delinquent foreclosures in 1999, Albany County is in the process of taking title to hundreds of buildings, many of them vacant. Nearly one third of the 314 properties that the county took over last year were in one of the city's 16 historic districts. Hundreds more are awaiting foreclosure or becoming eligible for takeover this year.

Often no one is certain exactly how far gone these buildings are, which makes county officials nervous. County inspectors try to evaluate the soundness of vacant structures in "drive-bys,'' but they are not allowed inside without permission until the buildings are foreclosed upon. If the county decides not to foreclose, a building enters a state of limbo -- generating no taxes and unable to be resold.

Griffin said county officials are shortsighted in their fear of taking over buildings that need a lot of work and should be more helpful to people who want to buy them at auction.

"When the county has a multimillion-dollar surplus, it seems like investment into the infrastructure would be a good idea,'' Griffin said. "In the long run, to see the tax base crumble is bad for the county. There's a correlation between vacant lots and declining property values.''

Historic Albany Foundation would like to avoid another 41 Ten Broeck St., which the county began to tear down on Aug. 29. The home of a prominent art dealer in the 19th century, the building is in a historic district and demolition there requires approval from the city's Historic Resources Commission or an emergency permit from the Building Department. The county had neither.

A court-ordered injunction obtained by Historic Albany halted a crew in the midst of razing 41 Ten Broeck, but not before much of the facade was ruined. City and county officials, along with the preservation foundation, are now trying to agree on a plan -- and find the money -- to shore up and restore the facade until a new building can be constructed behind it.

"Those buildings work together as a unit. They have collective importance,'' said Historic Albany member James Cohen, an architect. "Tear down one and you set a precedent -- the whole area begins to unravel.

"The problem is our cultural approach to buildings,'' Cohen added. "We are a throwaway society. In London, they would never think of tearing down one of a row of buildings. It's just not in their mind-set.''

On Monday, the preservationists praised Troy and its mayor, Mark Pattison, for seeing historic architecture as an asset and making its restoration a priority.

Last year, Pattison helped form the Historic Troy 2020 Foundation -- a group of business, political and community leaders that focuses on how to improve the city while preserving its character. He is also lobbying for restoration of federal tax credits that would help residential property owners in historic districts offset the cost of renovating their homes, Griffin said. 

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