Dr. Hun Houses | |
Formerly listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
![]() Historic American Buildings Survey photo of 149 Washington Ave., west profile and south elevation, 1934. | |
Location | Albany, NY |
---|---|
Coordinates | 42°39′21″N73°45′41″W / 42.65583°N 73.76139°W |
Built | c. 1830 (149), 1920s (1491⁄2) [1] |
Architectural style | Federal style |
Demolished | 1972 |
NRHP reference No. | 72001587 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | September 19, 1972 [1] |
Removed from NRHP | December 11, 1972 [1] |
The Dr. Hun Houses were located on Washington Avenue (New York State Route 5) on the western edge of central Albany, New York, United States. They were a pair of brick buildings constructed a century apart, the older one around 1830, in the Federal style. In 1972, three months after they were listed on the National Register of Historic Places, they were demolished and subsequently delisted. [1]
The older house was considered one of the finest Federal homes in the city. Its architect is unknown, although it has been speculated to be Philip Hooker. It was likely built for John F. Bacon, a lawyer and clerk of the State Senate, who may only have lived there for a year and eventually sold it to another lawyer. Near the end of the 19th century it was acquired by Dr. Henry Hun, who adapted the house for his practice and built a smaller, architecturally sympathetic house toward the rear of the property as a residence.
The two houses were on the same lot on the north side of Washington between Dove and Lark (U.S. Route 9W) streets in a densely developed urban neighborhood two blocks west of the state capitol, a National Historic Landmark. It is at the point where the large office and state government buildings that characterize the city's central development begin to yield to smaller residential and mixed-use buildings. [2] The terrain is level, still rising gently towards the west from the Hudson River a mile (1.6 km) to the east, but less steeply than it does downtown. [3]
There are several other Register-listed properties in the area. The Washington Avenue Armory is to the west. [4] On the east end is the University Club of Albany, designed by Albert Fuller. [5] The Albany Institute of History & Art, with a Marcus T. Reynolds-designed building, is across Dove from the University Club. Across the street is the Italianate Walter Merchant House, [6] with Fuller's Harmanus Bleecker Library on the corner with Dove. [7] Beyond them a block to the south is the large, primarily residential Center Square/Hudson–Park Historic District. [8]
Large buildings like those mentioned dominate the block, as they did when the houses stood. To the north, across Elk Street, is a large parking lot; beyond it is Spruce Street and the ground's drop into the Sheridan Hollow neighborhood. [3] West of Lark the buildings similarly drop in size. [2]
The two houses were located near the front of the lot. The larger house, 149 Washington, had the same setback as the other buildings on the street, while the smaller, 1491⁄2 Washington, was a little further back. In the rear was a lawn; a flagstone-paved parking area and garage gave egress to the Elk Street side of the property. [1]
149 Washington was two and a half stories on the south (front) elevation and three and a half in the north, with an exposed basement. On both elevations it was five bays wide. It was built of brick laid in Flemish bond with wooden trim. The roof was flat in front and sloped in the rear. Inside end chimneys rose from the east and west. [1]
The house's centrally located main entrance was sheltered by an elaborate wooden porch. Wooden steps with a railing rose from the street to a pair of round fluted Ionic columns on pedestals. They were echoed by similarly-treated pilasters framing the doorway. Above them was a plain wooden entablature beneath a second-story balcony with balustrade. [1]
Windows throughout the house were two-over-two double-hung sash with plain sandstone sills and lintels. The balcony window was flanked with wooden inset louvered shutters. Above the third floor windows was a decorative brick frieze and cornice, with another balustrade along the roofline. The north elevation featured a two-story porch which extended to the east side of the house. Three dormer windows pierced the south roof. [1]
The doorway had an elliptical arch topped with a sunburst pediment. It opened into an interior with much of its original finishing remaining at the time of demolition. They included ornate woodwork, parquet floors, marble and wood mantels, and the light fixtures. Hun's office, in the southwest corner of the first floor, had a brass plaque with his name on the door. Inside were bookcases running the length of the walls, and prints of Albany street scenes set in the woodwork above the mantelpiece aside a Latin quotation. [1]
The house at 149½ Washington is similar in overall design. It is a two-and-a-half-story building, three bays wide, of pressed brick, also in Flemish bond, with marble trim. On top is a roof similarly divided between a sloped front pierced by dormers and a flat rear. All windows were six-over-six double-hung sash with brick lintels and stone sills. Its front door also had an elliptical arch atop, but was trimmed in marble and topped with a triangular pediment. At the roofline was a dentilled stone cornice; a single chimney rose from the west profile. While it had been used as a medical office earlier in its history, at the time of demolition the Huns had subdivided it and were renting out apartments within. The interior plan reflected that conversion and use. [1]
Two different versions have been offered of the early history of 149 Washington. The National Register nomination dates it to around 1830, identifying the owner as John F. Bacon, then a local lawyer and clerk of the state senate. Contemporary records show that he bought the property in 1828, and already owned the neighboring lot. The architect is, according to the nomination, unknown. [1]
However, Herman Loth, who sketched and photographed the property in 1934 for the Historic American Buildings Survey, dates its construction to 1820. He identifies the first owner as a "Mr. Wood" and strongly believes the architect to have been Philip Hooker, designer of the original Albany Academy building in Academy Park, from the same era, and the First Church in Albany. "The characteristics of the interior unquestionably point to the fact that Philip Hooker was responsible for the design of the house if he was not actually the architect," he wrote in his report. [9]
"Mr. Wood" seems to have been Bradford Wood, a younger lawyer who bought the house with his new wife, Eliza, from Bacon in late 1834. The older man had lived there for only one year, and then went to live at the boarding house where he and Wood had both previously lived. Over the 50 years that they lived in the house, the Woods gradually purchased all the land on the block between Dove, Elk, Lark and Washington, as the city slowly grew around and past it. [1]
In 1892 another young professional, Henry Hun, bought the house with his new wife. The Huns would record an equally long tenure in the house. A physician and professor at what is today the Albany Medical College, he was from a prominent local family descended from the city's early Dutch settlers. He specialized in neurology, and after writing several early textbooks in the field chaired the American Neurological Association for two years. The house's proximity to what was then Albany Academy for Girls was also important to Hun, as he was an alumnus of the boys' school and chaired the combined schools' board of trustees for many years. [1]
Shortly before his death in 1924 the second house, at 149½ Washington, was built when Hun's daughter Lydia married Kenneth Reynolds. Its similarities to the original house placed it firmly within the new Colonial Revival mode. Hun's new son-in-law, a second cousin to prominent Albany architect Marcus T Reynolds, was himself an architect and worked in his cousin's office at the time. He may have designed the house. [1]
Hun's own son, a physician also named Henry, moved into the main house and took over his father's practice the next year. He continued to live and work there until his own death in 1924. At some point the large rear porch was added to 149 Washington. After his death the houses were listed on the Register and then demolished. [1] Nothing has been built on the site; it is a courtyard [2] between the state headquarters of two large labor unions, the Civil Service Employees Association [10] and Service Employees International Union. [11]
The Washington Avenue Armory, officially known as the Washington Avenue Armory Sports and Convention Arena and listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Washington Avenue Armory, is now a multi-purpose arena on the corner of Washington Avenue and Lark Street in downtown Albany, New York. The Armory has a capacity of 4,300 for concerts and conventions and 3,600 for sports events.
Monterey State Historic Park is a historic state park in Monterey, California. It includes part or all of the Monterey Old Town Historic District, a historic district that includes 17 contributing buildings and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1970. The grounds include California's first theatre, and the Monterey Custom House, where the American flag was first raised over California.
The U.S. Post Office in Beacon, New York, is located on Main Street. It serves the ZIP Code 12508, covering the entire city of Beacon and some of the neighboring areas of the Town of Fishkill. It is a stone structure in the Dutch Colonial Revival architectural style built in the mid-1930s. In 1988 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places along with many other older post offices in the state.
The Albany Institute of History & Art (AIHA) is a museum in Albany, New York, United States, "dedicated to collecting, preserving, interpreting and promoting interest in the history, art, and culture of Albany and the Upper Hudson Valley region". It is located on Washington Avenue in downtown Albany. Founded in 1791, it is among the oldest museums in the United States.
The U.S. Post Office in Delmar, New York is located on Delaware Avenue in the middle of the hamlet. It serves the 12054 ZIP Code, covering Delmar and its surrounding area. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. To date it is the only current post office in Albany County on the Register.
The Central Troy Historic District is an irregularly shaped, 96-acre (39 ha) area of downtown Troy, New York, United States. It has been described as "one of the most perfectly preserved 19th-century downtowns in the [country]" with nearly 700 properties in a variety of architectural styles from the early 19th to mid-20th centuries. These include most of Russell Sage College, one of two privately owned urban parks in New York, and two National Historic Landmarks. Visitors ranging from the Duke de la Rochefoucauld to Philip Johnson have praised aspects of it. Martin Scorsese used parts of downtown Troy as a stand-in for 19th-century Manhattan in The Age of Innocence.
The Clinton Avenue Historic District in Albany, New York, United States, is a 70-acre (28 ha) area along that street between North Pearl and Quail streets. It also includes some blocks along neighboring streets such as Lark and Lexington.
There are 75 properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Albany, New York, United States. Six are additionally designated as National Historic Landmarks (NHLs), the most of any city in the state after New York City. Another 14 are historic districts, for which 20 of the listings are also contributing properties. Two properties, both buildings, that had been listed in the past but have since been demolished have been delisted; one building that is also no longer extant remains listed.
The building at 426 South Main Street is located in Canandaigua, New York, United States. It is a two-story brick dwelling in the Italianate architectural style built around 1880. In 1984 it and its neighboring barn were listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The U.S. Post Office in Ballston Spa, New York, is located on Front Street in the village's commercial center. It is a brick building constructed in the mid-1930s, serving the 12020 ZIP Code, which covers the village and the surrounding areas of the Town of Ballston, Town of Milton, and Town of Malta
The U.S. Post Office in Granville, New York, United States, is located on Main Street in the center of the village. It is a brick building serving the ZIP Code 12832, which covers the village and surrounding areas of the Town of Granville.
The Jacob Ten Broeck Stone House is located on Albany Avenue in Kingston, New York, United States. It is a stone house built in the early years of the 19th century and modified later in that century.
Hook and Ladder No. 4, originally Truck No. 4, is a firehouse located at Delaware Avenue in Albany, New York, United States. It is an elaborate brick structure in the Dutch Colonial Revival architectural style, designed by Albany architect Marcus T. Reynolds, and completed in 1912. In 2001 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The architecture of Albany, New York, embraces a variety of architectural styles ranging from the early 18th century to the present. The city's roots date from the early 17th century and few buildings survive from that era or from the 18th and early 19th century. The completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 triggered a building boom, which continued until the Great Depression and the suburbanization of the area afterward. This accounts for much of the construction in the city's urban core along the Hudson River. Since then most construction has been largely residential, as the city spread out to its current boundaries, although there have been some large government building complexes in the modernist style, such as Empire State Plaza, which includes the Erastus Corning Tower, the tallest building in New York outside of New York City.
The Benjamin Walworth Arnold House and Carriage House are located on State Street and Washington Avenue in Albany, New York, United States. They are brick structures dating to the beginning of the 20th century. In 1972 they were included as a contributing property to the Washington Park Historic District when it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1982 they were listed individually as well.
The Walter Merchant House, on Washington Avenue in Albany, New York, United States, is a brick-and-stone townhouse in the Italianate architectural style, with some Renaissance Revival elements. Built in the mid-19th century, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.
The former Harmanus Bleecker Library is located at the intersection of Washington Avenue and Dove Street in Albany, New York, United States. It is a brick and stone Classical Revival building constructed in the 1920s. In 1996 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Arbor Hill Historic District–Ten Broeck Triangle, originally the Ten Broeck Historic District, is a seven-block area located within the Arbor Hill neighborhood north of what is today downtown Albany, New York, United States. In 1979 its easternmost third, the Ten Broeck Triangle, the second oldest residential neighborhood in the city, was recognized as a historic district and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Four years later, the district was increased to its current size and renamed to reflect its expansion to include some of the rest of Arbor Hill.
The Center Square/Hudson–Park Historic District is located between Empire State Plaza and Washington Park in Albany, New York, United States. It is a 27-block, 99-acre (40 ha) area taking in both the Center Square and Hudson/Park neighborhoods, and Lark Street on the west. In 1980 it was recognized as a historic district and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The University Club of Albany, New York, was founded at the start of the 20th century. It is currently housed in a Colonial Revival brick building at the corner of Washington Avenue and Dove Street. In 2011 that building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.