Schenectady Armory
Encyclopedia
The Schenectady Armory is located on Washington Street in the city of the same name
in the U.S. state of New York. It is a brown brick building dating to 1936.
New York's state architect at that time, William Haugaard, used the Art Deco
architectural style
for the exterior of the building and the Tudorbethan mode for the interior. The armory remains virtually intact today. It was home to two units of the New York Army National Guard
until it was closed in 2008. In 1995 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
.
and just south of Schenectady County Community College
's Elston Hall
opposite, the former Hotel Van Curler. To its east is Fuller Street and some industrial buildings.
to the Register listing. The armory itself is a T-shaped building of brick on a steel frame
structural system. The main block is three and a half stories in height with slightly asymmetrical two-story side wings. It has a projecting entrance pavilion on the west (front) elevation, with a segmented arch over its sally port
, filled with two heavy oak doors with medieval
-inspired hardware. The facade
is otherwise embellished with details representing both the Art Deco and Tudorbethan styles.
Projecting perpendicularly to the main administration building on the east is the drill shed, a gable
-roofed wing with its windows spaced by buttresses with stone caps. The brick-faced concrete block garage is to the southeast.
is a two-story octagonal space with concrete
wainscoting painted to look like red sandstone
. Doors leading to offices off the entrance have half-sidelights and scored concrete surrounds. Corridors on the first story are cross-vaulted, with those on the second story using barrel vault
s. Both have concrete ceilings and brick walls.
At the end of the north wing's first story, the company meeting room, later converted into a bar and dining room, features paneled wainscoting, stucco
ed concrete walls and a concrete ceiling encasing the support beams. The offices elsewhere in the wing have generally been subdivided and modernized, although the second-story corridor's barrel vault, accentuated by spandrel
s supported by brick piers, is intact.
In the drill shed, the ceiling is wainscoted, with steel truss
es, exposed brick walls and an intact balcony
at the west end. The original hardwood flooring has been covered with wooden tiles.
but reformed afterwards. The Citizens' Corps was not formally organized until 1873. It joined the New York National Guard in 1880, becoming the 36th Separate Company
.
Their armory was built with a $30,000 ($ in contemporary dollars) appropriation
from the state obtained by newly elected assemblyman
Robert Furman. A three-member commission including Furman chose the hill in Crescent Park overlooking the city as the site for a three-story red brick building with a polychrome
slate roof. Records show an "83rd Regiment
" drilling in the armory until it disbanded in 1874. It may have become the 36th and 37th Separate Companies.
In 1890, sentiment began to grow to build a new armory. State architect Isaac Perry's new building was completed and built on the same site in 1898, just in time for the Spanish-American War
. It was well-received locally and continued to serve the local Guard units as they prepared and mustered for World War I
, where they were designated as the 105th Infantry of the American Expeditionary Force
, a name that remained associated with Schenectady for many years. After the war, as many as five separate companies were using the armory, and throughout the 1920s they began lobbying for another new armory.
The state finally began construction of the current building in 1936. Unlike other armories built in New York during the Great Depression
, Schenectady's was located in the core of the city, near the hotel, the General Electric
plant a quarter-mile (400 m) away, and businesses that had flocked to Erie Boulevard, the recently filled former route of the Erie Canal
. The old armory in Crescent Park was demolished in 1946.
The armory continued to serve local military needs through World War II
, the Korean War
and the early years of the Cold War
. In the early 1960s it was isolated in the neighborhood when I-890 was built. The hotel went bankrupt
but was quickly reused as Schenectady County Community College
's Elston Hall.
By the 21st century the armory had again grown outdated, and the state's Division of Military and Naval Affairs
closed it down on November 10, 2008, to save heating costs. College sporting events and other gatherings that had been held in the armory were likewise suspended. The 206th Military Police
Company, which had been based there, moved to a new facility in Latham
, and the other tenant, the 501st Explosive Ordnance Disposal
Battalion, moved to the new Scotia
Armed Forces Reserve Center at the Schenectady County Airport
.. The state will be auctioning off the armory in late 2009, for a minimum bid of $500,000.
Schenectady, New York
Schenectady is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 66,135...
in the U.S. state of New York. It is a brown brick building dating to 1936.
New York's state architect at that time, William Haugaard, used the Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
architectural style
Architectural style
Architectural styles classify architecture in terms of the use of form, techniques, materials, time period, region and other stylistic influences. It overlaps with, and emerges from the study of the evolution and history of architecture...
for the exterior of the building and the Tudorbethan mode for the interior. The armory remains virtually intact today. It was home to two units of the New York Army National Guard
New York Army National Guard
The New York Army National Guard is a component of the New York National Guard and the Army National Guard. Nationwide, the Army National Guard comprises approximately one half of the US Army's available combat forces and approximately one third of its support organization...
until it was closed in 2008. In 1995 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Building
The armory is on a one-way extension of Washington Street just north of its interchange with Interstate 890Interstate 890
Interstate 890 is a long auxiliary Interstate Highway in the vicinity of Schenectady, New York, United States. The highway runs southeast–northwest from an interchange with the New York State Thruway northwest of Schenectady to another junction with the Thruway south of the city and passes...
and just south of Schenectady County Community College
Schenectady County Community College
Schenectady County Community College is a two-year college associated with the State University of New York located in Schenectady, New York. It was established in 1967 in the Van Curler Hotel in Downtown Schenectady and has undergone multiple expansions through the following decades. The...
's Elston Hall
Elston Hall
Elston Hall, formerly the Hotel Van Curler, is located on Washington Street in the city of Schenectady, New York, United States. It is a tall brick building constructed in 1925 in the Classical Revival architectural style....
opposite, the former Hotel Van Curler. To its east is Fuller Street and some industrial buildings.
Exterior
It is on a 1.9 acre (0.7689034 ha) lot with one other building, a modern garage not considered a contributing resourceContributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
to the Register listing. The armory itself is a T-shaped building of brick on a steel frame
Steel frame
Steel frame usually refers to a building technique with a "skeleton frame" of vertical steel columns and horizontal -beams, constructed in a rectangular grid to support the floors, roof and walls of a building which are all attached to the frame...
structural system. The main block is three and a half stories in height with slightly asymmetrical two-story side wings. It has a projecting entrance pavilion on the west (front) elevation, with a segmented arch over its sally port
Sally port
The primary modern meaning for sally port is a secure, controlled entryway, as at a fortification or a prison. The entrance is usually protected in some way, such as with a fixed wall blocking the door which must be circumvented before entering, but which prevents direct enemy fire from a distance...
, filled with two heavy oak doors with medieval
Medieval architecture
Medieval architecture is a term used to represent various forms of architecture common in Medieval Europe.-Characteristics:-Religious architecture:...
-inspired hardware. The facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
is otherwise embellished with details representing both the Art Deco and Tudorbethan styles.
Projecting perpendicularly to the main administration building on the east is the drill shed, a gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
-roofed wing with its windows spaced by buttresses with stone caps. The brick-faced concrete block garage is to the southeast.
Interior
The main entrance vestibuleVestibule (architecture)
A vestibule is a lobby, entrance hall, or passage between the entrance and the interior of a building.The same term can apply to structures in modern or ancient roman architecture. In modern architecture vestibule typically refers to a small room or hall between an entrance and the interior of...
is a two-story octagonal space with concrete
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
wainscoting painted to look like red sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
. Doors leading to offices off the entrance have half-sidelights and scored concrete surrounds. Corridors on the first story are cross-vaulted, with those on the second story using barrel vault
Barrel vault
A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault or a wagon vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve along a given distance. The curves are typically circular in shape, lending a semi-cylindrical appearance to the total design...
s. Both have concrete ceilings and brick walls.
At the end of the north wing's first story, the company meeting room, later converted into a bar and dining room, features paneled wainscoting, stucco
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
ed concrete walls and a concrete ceiling encasing the support beams. The offices elsewhere in the wing have generally been subdivided and modernized, although the second-story corridor's barrel vault, accentuated by spandrel
Spandrel
A spandrel, less often spandril or splaundrel, is the space between two arches or between an arch and a rectangular enclosure....
s supported by brick piers, is intact.
In the drill shed, the ceiling is wainscoted, with steel truss
Truss
In architecture and structural engineering, a truss is a structure comprising one or more triangular units constructed with straight members whose ends are connected at joints referred to as nodes. External forces and reactions to those forces are considered to act only at the nodes and result in...
es, exposed brick walls and an intact balcony
Balcony
Balcony , a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade.-Types:The traditional Maltese balcony is a wooden closed balcony projecting from a...
at the west end. The original hardwood flooring has been covered with wooden tiles.
History
Schenectady's first armory was built in 1868 to serve two local units, the Washington Continentals and the Citizens' Corps. The former, formed in 1839, had first served in the Mexican War. It was broken up during the recent Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
but reformed afterwards. The Citizens' Corps was not formally organized until 1873. It joined the New York National Guard in 1880, becoming the 36th Separate Company
Company (military unit)
A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 80–225 soldiers and usually commanded by a Captain, Major or Commandant. Most companies are formed of three to five platoons although the exact number may vary by country, unit type, and structure...
.
Their armory was built with a $30,000 ($ in contemporary dollars) appropriation
Appropriation (law)
In law and government, appropriation is the act of setting apart something for its application to a particular usage, to the exclusion of all other uses....
from the state obtained by newly elected assemblyman
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652...
Robert Furman. A three-member commission including Furman chose the hill in Crescent Park overlooking the city as the site for a three-story red brick building with a polychrome
Polychrome
Polychrome is one of the terms used to describe the use of multiple colors in one entity. It has also been defined as "The practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." Polychromatic light is composed of a number of different wavelengths...
slate roof. Records show an "83rd Regiment
Regiment
A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...
" drilling in the armory until it disbanded in 1874. It may have become the 36th and 37th Separate Companies.
In 1890, sentiment began to grow to build a new armory. State architect Isaac Perry's new building was completed and built on the same site in 1898, just in time for the Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
. It was well-received locally and continued to serve the local Guard units as they prepared and mustered for World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, where they were designated as the 105th Infantry of the American Expeditionary Force
American Expeditionary Force
The American Expeditionary Forces or AEF were the United States Armed Forces sent to Europe in World War I. During the United States campaigns in World War I the AEF fought in France alongside British and French allied forces in the last year of the war, against Imperial German forces...
, a name that remained associated with Schenectady for many years. After the war, as many as five separate companies were using the armory, and throughout the 1920s they began lobbying for another new armory.
The state finally began construction of the current building in 1936. Unlike other armories built in New York during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, Schenectady's was located in the core of the city, near the hotel, the General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
plant a quarter-mile (400 m) away, and businesses that had flocked to Erie Boulevard, the recently filled former route of the Erie Canal
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a waterway in New York that runs about from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of...
. The old armory in Crescent Park was demolished in 1946.
The armory continued to serve local military needs through World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
and the early years of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. In the early 1960s it was isolated in the neighborhood when I-890 was built. The hotel went bankrupt
Bankruptcy in the United States
Bankruptcy in the United States is governed under the United States Constitution which authorizes Congress to enact "uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States." Congress has exercised this authority several times since 1801, most recently by adopting the Bankruptcy...
but was quickly reused as Schenectady County Community College
Schenectady County Community College
Schenectady County Community College is a two-year college associated with the State University of New York located in Schenectady, New York. It was established in 1967 in the Van Curler Hotel in Downtown Schenectady and has undergone multiple expansions through the following decades. The...
's Elston Hall.
By the 21st century the armory had again grown outdated, and the state's Division of Military and Naval Affairs
New York Division of Military and Naval Affairs
New York State's Division of Military and Naval Affairs is a New York State agency responsible for the state's New York Army National Guard, New York Air National Guard, New York Guard and the New York Naval Militia....
closed it down on November 10, 2008, to save heating costs. College sporting events and other gatherings that had been held in the armory were likewise suspended. The 206th Military Police
Military police
Military police are police organisations connected with, or part of, the military of a state. The word can have different meanings in different countries, and may refer to:...
Company, which had been based there, moved to a new facility in Latham
Latham, New York
Latham is a hamlet in Albany County, New York, United States. It is located along U.S. Route 9 in the town of Colonie, a dense suburb north of Albany.-History:...
, and the other tenant, the 501st Explosive Ordnance Disposal
Bomb disposal
Bomb disposal is the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe. Bomb disposal is an all encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functions in the following fields:*Military:...
Battalion, moved to the new Scotia
Scotia, New York
Scotia is a village in Schenectady County, New York, United States, incorporated in 1904. The population was 7,957 at the 2000 census.The Village of Scotia is part of the Town of Glenville, partly contiguous with Schenectady, New York and is connected by the Western Gateway Bridge over the Mohawk...
Armed Forces Reserve Center at the Schenectady County Airport
Schenectady County Airport
Schenectady County Airport is a joint civil-military public airport located three miles north of the city of Schenectady in Schenectady County, New York, USA....
.. The state will be auctioning off the armory in late 2009, for a minimum bid of $500,000.