Statement on Madison Avenue Fires from HAF Executive Director Pamela Howard

Who knew that an act of senseless gun violence could directly be responsible for two buildings being demolished in a historic district?  One damaged beyond saving from a raging fire and the other demolished from water damage.  That’s what happened on Madison Avenue on July 4th when a youth fired a flare gun into a home, setting the property ablaze. 

The property at 333 Madison,built in 1871, was a well maintained and structurally sound rental property that was fully occupied at the time.  The building next door at 331 Madison Avenue, the Madison Grille, was demolished on Sunday due to extensive water damage fighting the fire next door.   Built around 1900, this building served as a popular local bar for many years and was currently up for sale.

It is too early to tell the fate of 335 Madison Avenue. The building received a great deal of water damage and it shares a wall with 333.  The occupants have been relocated while work is being done to secure the shared wall.  Earlier this week, when HAF visited the site, 333 Madison was being demolished one floor at a time from the top down to ensure that the shared wall stays with 335, giving the building the best chance for survival.  The demo crews, with oversight from Rick LaJoy of the City’s Building and Regulatory Compliance Office, are working as carefully as possible to not cause further damage to the remaining historic home.

And what are the repercussions of this fire?  The owners of 331 and 333 Madison Avenue hopefully have replacement value insurance on the properties, but new construction is expensive and this may not cover all of the costs of rebuilding. There is no guarantee the owner will rebuild or be able to. Insurance also may not cover the emergency demolition expenses that will be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.  All of the renters at 333 Madison Avenue have lost their homes and now need to find new places to live.  They have lost nearly everything they own as some did not have renters insurance. 

We have to thank all of the first responders who entered a chaotic scene on Friday night namely the NYS Police, APD, AFD, the Buildings and Regulatory Compliance Department, among many others.  They are to be commended for not allowing this quick and hot burning fire to spread any farther, preventing more widespread loss in this historic neighborhood.

Another Albany building on the National Historic Register was torn down

Another Albany building on the National Historic Register was torn down today.  4 ECommerce Square (Ecomm) originally 328 Broadway, owned by Capitalize Albany, suffered a collapsed roof on a rear addition which brought to light additional substantial structural failures in the main building and, while an effort was made to save part of the building, it was determined that the entire building had to come down.

Albany loses a part of its fabric and history when buildings like this come down. It is all the more painful when it was preventable. We can only expect more pain in the future unless, as a city, we change how we deal with vacant buildings.

This loss can be directly tied to the practice of buying up and vacating buildings in anticipation of development that may happen, and too often, never does.  This particular building was part of the convention center plan and later part of the “parking lot district” properties that is being offered for mass development.

At Historic Albany Foundation, we have watched and warned about this practice for many years. While gathering up properties may be appealing to corporate developers, it is simply not working for Albany taxpayers.  In recent years we can point to Kenwood Academy, “Air Albany” apartments on Upper Western Avenue, and the buildings torn down on Western Ave and Quail for an apartment complex that has not materialized. This speculative demolition, as well as the investment of tax dollars through IDA support, is hurting our communities, not helping them.  We are working to make sure that the Tudors on Holland Avenue don’t meet the same fate.    

There are affirmative steps the city can take to insure that Albany’s historic fabric is mended, rather that disposed of. 

1.      Prohibit the purposeful vacating of existing buildings in anticipation of development proposals.

2.      Require that all owners of vacant buildings be required to maintain the vacant buildings so that they are stable and weather tight. This includes corporate developers, quasi-government entities, and the city itself. All buildings, including those that are city-owned, should be subject to inspection by city codes officials.

3.      Require development plans to reuse historic buildings.  Across the nation, successful cities maintain their historic cores by requiring development that reuses buildings or incorporates them into larger projects.  Albany can do this too.

We at Historic Albany are taking this loss particularly hard because we are neighbors. We are investing time and resources to restore Albany’s oldest standing building at 48 Hudson Avenue. It is also the only active investment taking place in this designated development site. We want to make sure 48 Hudson remains a viable, usable building.  We also want to be sure that the remaining buildings in the neighborhood are protected and secured.  

Room 206- Albany High: The Door to More

Room 206 - Albany High

The Door To More 
by Ann Kennedy

In early February, I saw that The Historic Albany Foundation had acquired the doors from “The Old Albany High School,” which, to me, meant that they now had the doors from the place I had my first teaching job in:  Philip Schuyler Elementary School.  So nostalgic!

I scrolled through the pictures of the doors, and while I did, all the memories came back-the way the doors squeaked when you opened them, the smell of the wood, the glass rattling if they were slammed…“Wonder if they have my door..”, I thought to myself.  Well, that was not the only question I had at that point-I could not remember the number of the door to my first classroom!  This posed a problem for me…I called in the troops-Barbara and Carol, who were my neighbors on either side of that first classroom I taught in.  It wasn’t easy for them to remember their classroom numbers either.  However, after some back and forth, we determined with somewhat certainty that my classroom was Room 206.  A quick call to Earl, at The Historic Albany Foundation, confirmed that my door, 206, was still there.  I put it on hold to purchase.  Unable to pinpoint exactly why, I felt such joy to have a piece of the building that I began my career in.  I was going to have a piece of that building forever.

I have my former principal, Jerry Spicer, to thank for the job at Philip Schuyler Elementary School-he had faith in me, and offered a start to my career.  The physical building was HUGE.  We had 1000 students!  And in Room 206, about 20 of them were under the care of Barbara McKenna, and me. 
And why am I telling you all of this? 

The answer is that this is the story of the door to Room 206.  That door opened to hundreds of smiling faces on the first days of school over the years.  It opened and you heard the buzz of new learning.  Opening that door meant you were walking into the lives of the students sitting there.  Truly into their lives-you became their family, their nurse, their counselor, their confidant, their everything.  And I was so proud to be there for them.

The truth is that this is so much more than just a door.  For me, it represents not only the beginning of a career that I am now 28 years into, but also lifelong friendships established at Philip Schuyler Elementary School.  Personally, the door is symbolic of commitment, determination, respect and hard work. These characteristics also describe the faculty and staff I was fortunate enough to work there with.  This door fondly reminds me of them. And of course, the kids.  I wonder how many little hands opened this door over the years…

I’ve always had the memories.  The people, the successes, the challenges, the camaraderie, the growth, the learning.  Now I have a concrete momento.  The door to Room 206 is mine again.

Advocacy Update:Elijah Missionary Baptist Church

A space heater and lack of insurance has caused the South End to lose a venerable part of its community.  Located at 74 Second Avenue, and formerly known as Our Lady Help of Christians, the structure, built in 1880 as a German Catholic church, was an integral part of the South End community for generations.  Most recently, under Rev. Comithier the congregation was known as the Elijah Missionary Baptist Church.

On Friday morning, HAF as well as the rest of the community, awoke to the news of the devastating overnight fire, and hoped that the damages were not fatal to the survival of the building.  According to Mayor Kathy Sheehan, "After thorough inspection of the Elijah Missionary Baptist Church by our buildings professionals and consideration of any potential stabilization efforts, we have determined in the interest of public safety the remaining portion of the church must be removed due to the damage sustained by the recent fire. The investigation has determined the fire was caused by a space heater on the second floor of the church. Despite this unfortunate outcome we greatly appreciate Historic Albany's continued partnership in furtherance of our historic preservation efforts."

The city of Albany’s engineer was on the scene on Friday morning, as well as local developers, to determine if the building could be retrofitted for another use if the side walls and front could be saved.  However, HAF learned this week that the fire went up the front tower which acted like a chimney.  This in turn weakened the structure to the point that it was deemed too unsafe and unstable to put workers inside and in harm’s way.  The tower was still smoldering on Wednesday afternoon this week when we visited the property.

For more information on the history of this beautiful building, it’s congregations and the neighborhood, please go to:  https://findingyourpast.blogspot.com/2015/03/our-lady-help-of-christians-church.html