#EndangeredAlbany: Argus Press Building

As many of you have seen, the Argus Press Building in the Warehouse District has been on our Endangered list for a number of years. The building has sat vacant for over 15 years. After being foreclosed on in 2018 by the County and sold back to the owner in 2019, it looks like there will finally be a bit of movement on this building. There was an article in the Business Review on January 28th about the building having been purchased by U-haul. U-haul stated they did not have immediate plans and that they were evaluating the building.

Historic Albany sees this movement as a good thing. U-haul and self storage is typically a soft use of buildings that is often reversible and has a low impact on the building. If they decided to move later on, this use of the building does not impede different uses in the future, but will hopefully lead toward better maintenance and care of the exterior of the building. We watch this project developing with interest.

See the Business Review article here: https://www.bizjournals.com/albany/news/2021/01/28/u-haul-buys-former-argus-press-building-albany.html

More about the history of the building can be found on our 2019 Dirty Dozen page here:

https://www.historic-albany.org/2019-dirty-dozen

One of the historic places in Albany that I feel has been unfortunately overlooked is this row of Federal Houses across the street from the Schuyler Mansion. They represent a historic streetscape that should be preserved and developed. Maybe as guest houses for events at the mansion. Number 17 was recently on the market and had many original details preserved. The vacant lot to the east stands on the ground of Philip Schuyler’s plum grove and could be re-planted with plum trees to recreate the original view. The whole area around the Mansion should be seen as a critical historic and touristic resource for the city.

by Peter Lacovara

The History of Catherine 13-17 Catherine Street

13 Catherine is believed to have been constructed around 1840, however, the wood frame building shows Greek Revival details around the windows and doors indicating that it may be earlier and closer in age to 17 Catherine.

The first known owner was James Eaton, a mason who lived near by and operated it as an investment property. The first owner-occupant was Mrs. Joseph Myers, a tailor. It was also home to tailor Peter Johnn, Prussian born vest maker Catherine Johnn, German-born carpenter Bernard Shock and his wife Catherine.

15 Catherine replaced a wood frame building on-site circa 1840. The brick house’s first known owner was Lansing Pendleton, who was considered to be a housing speculator in the mid 19th century. The house was then home to jeweler James Mulhall or Mitchell and his wife Eliza during the 1870s, tailor Jacob Vanderwart, Dutch-born shoe cutter Michael Vandenburgh, clerk Theodore Denter, laborer Nicholas Dashiem, boilermaker Edward Dooley, Paul Harrison [Hansen], Vincent Murphy, Augusta Rice, and junk dealer Meyer Rosen.

17 Catherine is the oldest of the row, dating to before 1819, shortly after the Schuyler estate was divided up after Philip’s death in 1804. The house has Greek revival details on the first floor, pilasters and window surrounds but was “modernized” in the 19th century with the addition of potentially a second and third story with the mansard. The first known owner was Lansing Pendleton. The house was also home to Irish born private detective Guaswid Pendelton, prison keeper James Clark, Elizabeth Keller, Russian born sheet metal worker Manule Kitaif and Russian born tailor Samuel Lubinsky.

The residents of all three homes give excellent context to how the neighborhood developed once it ceased being a country estate, as a blue-collar immigrant community. Owner occupancy was infrequent, however, they were frequently owned by neighbors.

This is part of our #EndangeredAlbany series for 2021
We will be using the hashtag #EndangeredAlbany to do monthly blog posts about endangered buildings that are of concern to a member of the public. Updates to the past Endangered List buildings will be done monthly using #EndangeredAlbany as well.

Have your own endangered building you’d like to highlight? Email kparker@historic-albany.org to learn more.