295 Hudson Avenue by Pam Howard

I fell in love with this entire neighborhood when I worked at the Albany Institute of History & Art.  My many lunch time walks around these streets and Washington Park made me want to live in a quaint historic row house.   On December 31, 1998, my first husband and I closed on 295 Hudson Avenue, and we moved into the home on January 1, 1999.  I was thrilled to own my first home, which was a wonderful brick row house originally built in 1857 by a gentleman named John Kennedy.  

“I created a beautiful secluded and private perennial garden and dining space in the tiny back yard.  However, we loved nothing more than sitting on the front stoop to relax with a glass of wine and catch up with our neighbors.”

I loved updating, painting and working on the home to make it our own.  The seemingly contemporary openness, with touches of its historic past with glimpses of tin ceiling tiles, radiators and high ceilings were charming.  I created a beautiful secluded and private perennial garden and dining space in the tiny back yard.  However, we loved nothing more than sitting on the front stoop to relax with a glass of wine and catch up with our neighbors.

I had learned from the previous owner when I purchased the home that he had bought it in 1979 for $1 as a vacant shell, and lovingly brought it back to life with the help of the Historic Albany Foundation’s Revolving Loan Fund.  At the time that didn’t mean that much to me, but now as I serve as the Executive Director of HAF, and I have researched our history, it brings my knowledge of the house full circle.  The home was left vacant after Hudson Avenue was slated to be demolished for an exit ramp from the newly-built Empire State Plaza.  Some of the early founder of HAF, along with the neighborhood associations were able to get that initiative stopped, and thus was the beginnings of the formation of Historic Albany Foundation.

I lived at 295 Hudson Avenue until about 6 years ago when life took me in a different direction personally.  I remember the day I closed on that sale.  I parked across the street to say my goodbyes.  I have a lot of memories of that wonderful townhouse.  Some of the best and some of the worst times in life.  The house saw a lot of great parties and celebrations, as well as a few great losses.  It was and is a great house, and I hope the new owners are enjoying it as much as I did, as we are all a small part of its varied 163 year history.

Kenwood Preschool & the Convent of the Scared Heart by Stephen Kerwin

Each time I drive down Southern Boulevard into Albany and I see the entrance to Kenwood I remember the many morning commutes from my childhood home in Bethlehem. My parents both worked for the state, and so every weekday from 1988-1993 was spent at Kenwood Preschool.

For my classmates and I, the Preschool was a cavernous maze which seemed to never end (all the more exciting as we were rightly not allowed to explore unsupervised!). The windows in each classroom stretched impossibly tall to our young eyes, and the grounds served as an amazing place to adventure when the weather permitted. I remember our class sitting near the Gatehouse on South Pearl on the stone wall, encouraging passing truck drivers leaving the Port to tug their air horn for us (a very exciting activity for preschoolers as you might imagine).

“I remember our class sitting near the Gatehouse on South Pearl on the stone wall, encouraging passing truck drivers leaving the Port to tug their air horn for us

The building seemed to stretch into eternity, and though we didn’t have any interaction with the students at nearby Doane Stuart, we did visit the convent to see the nuns occasionally . I remember every year we would walk through the convent for our Halloween Parade to show them our costumes.

My favorite part of preschool (as you might have guessed) was the playground! It was a large wooden structure very typical of the time - I still have a scar on my knee from a rather serious game of tag.

I was surprised when the school closed down, it introduced me to one of my oldest friends and I appreciated even back then what an impressive (and slightly daunting!) building it was. I hope to see it back in reuse again soon - I’d love to visit and see what other memories came back to me.

The Hurlbut St. Garage by Ken Klapp

A few days ago I had the opportunity to drive through the Albany neighborhood where I spent the first 15 years of my life! I had mixed emotions as drove past 72 Hurlbut Street which is now an empty lot (Photo 1). Most readers will probably remember that site as the former Carosello Bakery, popular for about 30 years for extraordinary baked breads and pastries. I remember dozens of people raving about Carosello’s but I, regrettably, never stopped in.

My memories go back to the 1950’s when that building was home to the Hurlbut Street Garage (Photo 2). From the 1920s to the early 1960s my grandfather, Matthias Klapp, owned and operated a service station and storage facility there (Photo-3). As with most family businesses, my father and uncle both worked in the garage until they enlisted in the army when the U.S. entered World War II.

The garage was located next to School #18, where I spent my elementary school years (1955-1962) and I would often stop by. My grandfather was a talented mechanic and I would usually find him underneath a car. No lifts in those days; cars were jacked up using a huge floor jack. Repairs that are routinely performed standing up today were done laying on your back on a ‘skateboard’ like contraption called a mechanics creeper. Every so often he’d ask me to hand him a wrench - usually I’d get the wrong size but he was patient with me. I still have a few of his old tools (photo-4)!

“As with most family businesses, my father and uncle both worked in the garage until they enlisted in the army when the U.S. entered World War II”

Additional space in the garage was rented by a local bakery (I think it was the New York Bakery) to park their delivery trucks overnight. I remember the place never smelling like oil, grease or gasoline for it always had the aroma of bread and donuts coming from the trucks. Occasionally one of the drivers would leave a bag of hard rolls with him and he’d drop them off at our house.

“I remember the place never smelling like oil, grease or gasoline for it always had the aroma of bread and donuts coming from the truck”

Sadly the building was demolished back in June of 2019, but thanks to the Historic Albany Foundation we were able to salvage the original sign (nearly 100 years old)! Two more generations of Klapps get to stand by it (photo-5)!

After he retired, I can still remember my grandfather’s favorite quote about the quality of the current mechanics - “The best mechanics are six feet under!”

#WeSaveAlbanysStories

Thank you so much to Ken for sharing is family’s story and their connection to the garage - we couldn’t think of a better beginning to this project.

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Photo 4

Newsletter - An advocacy success at 41 Ten Broeck, a 'Capitol' donation, & online reading options for our The Turn of the Screw Virtual Book Club