BREAKING NEWS HAF Book Club selection 2021 ...

The next HAF Book Club selection is:  The Address Book:  What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth and Power by Deirdre Mask.  The club will start on Tues Jan 26th 6-7pm, Tues Feb 2nd 6-7pm, and Tues Feb 9th 5.30-6.30pm. Once again the Club will take place via Zoom., so get reading! We will read 90 pages per week.

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HAF has chosen this book for its timeliness to the current political and racial climate in our country, as well as right here in Albany.  From the book jacket:

When most people think about street addresses, if they think of them at all, it is in their capacity to ensure that the postman can deliver mail or a traveler won’t get lost. But street addresses were not invented to help you find your way; they were created to find you. In many parts of the world, your address can reveal your race and class.

In this wide-ranging and remarkable book, Deirdre Mask looks at the fate of streets named after Martin Luther King Jr., the wayfinding means of ancient Romans, and how Nazis haunt the streets of modern Germany. The flipside of having an address is not having one, and we also see what that means for millions of people today, including those who live in the slums of Kolkata and on the streets of London. Filled with fascinating people and histories, The Address Book illuminates the complex and sometimes hidden stories behind street names and their power to name, to hide, to decide who counts, who doesn’t―and why.

In addition, we are pleased to announce that David Hochfelder, Associate Professor of History at the University at Albany, and creator of the 98 Acres in Albany Facebook page and blog relating the neighborhood that once stood on the site of the Empire State Plaza, will be our moderator.

The HAF Book Club will be once again be co-sponsored by our friends at the New York State Writer’s Institute.

We look forward to seeing you! 

Join the bookclub >>

> Buy from 'BookShop' to support local bookstores here <

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Zoom meeting link here >>

Festive Architecture Ornaments for sale

Our wonderful Director of Preservation Services, Cara Macri, handmade some beautiful architecturally-themed ornaments. They will be available to buy from our offices Mon-Fri 10am-4pm.

Price List

Gingerbread ornament $2

Knob and tube ornament (DIY with candle OR buy premade) $2

Door Knob Ornament (sparkly and red) $5

DIY Snowman Ornament Kit $10

Reindeer Hot Gourmet Hot Cocoa with Mason Jar $10

and we still have Nipper masks for sale - a great gift idea for just $5 !

Take the Tiny Houses in the Capital District Virtual and Driving Tour

Historic Albany Foundation’s “Tiny Houses in the Capital District”  is live now! The tour is hosted on Clio, a free mobile app and website that uses GPS to share local knowledge about historic and cultural sites around the United States. It will feature additional information about the houses from the original “Spite Houses & Tiny Houses” Blog post that highlighted the unique, smaller homes in the city of Albany - as well as additional, similarly-sized buildings in Schenectady. 

“Tiny Houses in the Capital District” adds two homes from the city of Schenectady to the tour. 216 ½ Union Street was built at some point in the mid 19th century, in the Victorian style, and is located in the Historic Stockade District. 135 ½ South Ferry Street is another historical home, built in 1803, that can be found right outside of the boundaries of the Stockade. The Stockade in Schenectady features historic homes built in the 18th, 19th, and 20th century, covering a vast array of architectural styles. The homes in Albany can be found in the Center Square & Hudson Park Historic Neighborhood, The Pastures Historic Neighborhood, The Washington Avenue Corridor Historic Neighborhood, and the Ten Broeck Triangle Historic Neighborhood in Arbor Hill. 

More about Clio

Clio is a website that allows museums, historical societies, colleges and universities, and other organizations to create walking or thematic tours that share local history. Clio, as of late, features 37,487 historical entries from around the United States. The site can be accessed online or through a mobile app, which provides the information on entries for self-guided tours. Each of the seven houses on the “Tiny Houses in the Capital District of New York State” has their own entries. All of the entries were created with research that includes documents that can be found in the National Register of Historic Places, CRIS (Cultural Resource Information Center,) and the HathiTrust Digital Library.

Read or take the tour here >>

By Andrea Lurie

BUILT Winners 2020

Here are all our award winners and mentions from this year’s BUILT. Congratulations to all the talented artists for making this event so successful.

• Best of Show 2020 - Last Call At Uncle Ralph's Place, Stacey Magliaro,

• 2020 Committee Choice Award - Pieces of Albany 1, Karen Schupack, Mixed media mosaic with epoxy resin created in a window frame

• Dean Moore Award - "Fall Along the Hudson River", Robert Martin,

• Albany Center Gallery Award - Found at Chestnut & Dove, Laura McCarthy
  Watercolor with handmade ink from Honeylocust pods, made from the tree in the images,

• Young Artist Award - George by ORA, 2 wood panels, metal hinges, paint. Starting bid $100

• Juror's Award, Hudson Park. Andrew Dines, Oil on Panel.

• Juror's Award - Delaware Avenue with St. Francis, Kevin Kuhne, Etching with Burnt Umber Watercolor Wash, Framed and Mounted on Salvage Wood.

• Juror's Award, Up On The Roof - View From AMC #1 Phil Palmieri, Oil on Canvas

• Juror's Mention, Historic Cherry Hill, Scott Foster, Black Walnut Ink, made from walnuts gathered on the grounds

• Juror's Mention - Stone Collection - Necklace #1, Dee Burkins, Jewlery - Vintage Hinge

• Juror's Mention - Swan Street 1, Meredith Weill, Multi-plate linoleum block print, ink on mulberry paper