Pink is not my favorite color, least of all for buildings. But, personal taste aside, I do like this 19th-century building along the section of Broadway known as Plaza Row. It stands just south of Coulson's News, the Albany Argus, and an old book store previously featured here.This stretch of Broadway opposite the ornate Gothic sprawl of the D&H Building is one of the oldest parts of Albany with buildings - or portions of them, at least - dating back as far the 18th-century. The colonial-era Stadt Huys or City Hall stood almost directly across from this building pictured above. Just around the corner on Hudson Avenue, hidden behind a later facade, are the remains of what is now believed to be the oldest house in Albany (and that will be the subject of at least one future post, either here or at my companion blog, Albany NY History).
I've never dug to figure out the story on this building. It used to be Smith & Mahoney Engineers (the remnants of their signage visible above the first storey), but they moved or disappeared some time ago.
ReplyDeleteIn 1905 it was the site of Dominic Corea's saloon (Corea lived in Rensselaer, but his bartender, Nicholas Arotta, boarded at this address), and home to Nellie McKean, dressmaker.
Dug back a little further, found a listing for a warehouse of E. & T. Fairbanks Co. at that address (382 Broadway) in 1884. They were a major scale manufacturer in St. Johnsbury, Vt. And in 1850 (probably predating that particular building) that address was the location of Marion Hewitt, corsetmaker.
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