Primo's Meat Market, 540 Clinton Avenue by Cara Macri

No matter how many buildings I advocate for I will never forget Primo's Meat Market on the corner of Clinton and North Lake Avenues. It was the first building I lost working for Historic Albany Foundation, less than eight hours after I started on my very first day.  

“It looked so sad, calling out for help…”

I had just moved back to the Capital Region to become the Director of Preservation Services in August 2008. Susan Holland was the Executive Director. She had just gone on vacation leaving me with the phone numbers of several board members to call in an emergency. I couldn't have been at my desk for more than two hours when my phone rang.  It was Susan. 540 Clinton Avenue was about to be an emergency demolition.  Time to learn on the job. The phrase trial by fire had never been so appropriate. I arrived on the scene to a sad looking three story building,  The storefront was boarded up, but the upper floors were mostly not. The storefront cornice was gone with little stubs poking out from where it was attached. The upper floor lintels and partial cornice showed black char, a clue as to how the building went vacant 40 years ago. Half of the storefront was gone with a big gaping hole on the first floor covered with sagging grey plywood. It looked so sad, calling out for help.  After hours of scrambling, desperate phone calls to find the owner, a new owner and stabilization funds, the almost 121 building was gone. Wow, my career as a preservationist in Albany was off to a banner start. 

 “Built in 1887, in the German West Hill neighborhood, the building had been a meat market since at least the 1930s…”

That ill-fated shell wasn't always such though.  Built in 1887, in the German West Hill neighborhood, the building had been a meat market since at least the 1930s. The upper floors were rented out to working class immigrants. Elizabeth Moore, a German born houseworker with three children; Thomas McGraw, an Irish-born fireman; Herbert Bammer, a foreman, and his wife and three children were among the many, many tenants to call the lovely Italianate rowhouse home. It had a deep cornice with a paneled frieze and pressed metal lintels. The first floor had a lovely little storefront. The recessed shop door was set off by tall pilasters with beautifully carved capitals and large plate glass windows that rose merely a few feet from the ground. It was your average bustling corner store, an anchor in a bustling immigrant neighborhood.  

“average bustling corner store, an anchor in a bustling immigrant neighborhood….” 

It was for me a tragic loss, an unknown building I had no previous connection with, that lit a fire within me to do better, to take every advocacy effort head on. I have lost hundreds of buildings at Historic Albany. (Clearly, they hired the wrong woman for the job) but I will never forget Primo's. 

Cara Macri