A History of the League HQ from Historic Albany Foundation
Our colleagues at Historic Albany Foundation are also marking their 50th Anniversary this year. Add to that a big move they have planned, and they have been spending time sifting through their archives and highlighting treasures from their past. We were thrilled when they came across a cache of historic photos of our Albany HQ at 44 Central Avenue. In this guest blog post, HAF President Pam Howard gives us a history lesson on the building that at one time was also home to HAF!
Black and white photograph of 44 Central, date unknown. In the first floor storefront window you can see a sign reading “Historic Albany Foundation.”
While sifting through boxes in the Warehouse, a treasure trove of photos of 44 Central Avenue were found.
This windlass in 44 Central was used to lift heavy bags of grain. Though no longer in use, it can still be found in the building’s attic.
The location where the 44 Central Ave. building was built around 1817 is part of wedge-shaped land where two major roads met, called Robison's Point. The roads were known then as the Albany and Schenectady and the Great Western Turnpikes (now Central Ave./ Rt. 5 and Western Ave./ Rt. 20). In the early nineteenth century, the land was among many parcels owned by John Robison, a director of the New York State Bank. The building housed J.R. Peters & Sons, a grain and feed warehouse and store, throughout the late nineteenth and into the mid-twentieth centuries.
The four-story plus basement, brown brick building on a stone foundation originally had entrances on both the north and south sides. Raised street levels in the 1860s and again in the 1870s made these doorways inaccessible; new doorways were cut into the building on both the north and south facades. The storefronts on both the north and south sides were redone in the 1870s to 1890s when the building was renovated (hinted at from increased real estate value). The building's heavy wooden framing was designed to hold heavy loads. The side-gable roof is covered in slate. Although not original, a winch wheel installed in the attic during the nineteenth century remains intact; metal pulleys extend out from the center of the front and back facades above the fourth floor. A former freight door was behind each pulley and is now enclosed with glass.
Matthew Bender IV in front of 44 Central Avenue with scaffolding around the building, 1980s. Bender donated the building to the Preservation League in the 1990s.
The 1890 Albany City Directory lists two Peters flour and feed businesses, both on Central Avenue. John H. Peters worked at our 44 Central Avenue location, and a John Peters (likely a son) worked there as a clerk. It appears that John H. owned the building in 1890 and John was a boarder. The other flour and feed store was at 3 Central Ave.; this was the business and home of George Peters. George W. Peters worked as a clerk at 3 Central and boarded there; while John G. Peters also boarded at 3 Central, he worked as a tinsmith. There were nearly 50 flour, feed, and grain stores listed in the Albany directory in 1890.
The building housed the Niagara Duplicating Company in 1950 and Bernard Jewelers by 1980. The Anastas family sold the property to Matthew Bender IV in 1982. A major rehabilitation project was undertaken in 1983 and the Central Ave. storefront was redone in its late Victorian style. Tenants by 1985 were Historic Albany Foundation and Roberts Real Estate. The building currently houses the Preservation League of NYS offices.