The Central Troy Historic District is an irregularly shaped, 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.
In 1986, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), superseding five smaller historic districts that had been listed on the Register in the early 1970s.Peckham, p. 3 (Two years later, in 1988, the extension of the previous River Street Historic District north of Federal Street was added separately to the NRHP as the Northern River Street Historic District.) In late 2014, the State Historic Preservation Board began considering an adjustment to the district's boundaries that would be a net expansion, particularly in its southeast; that increase was made official in 2016. Most of the buildings, structures and objects within the district contribute to its historic character. Two of Troy's four National Historic Landmarks, the Gurley Building and Troy Savings Bank, are located within its boundaries. Nine other buildings are listed on the Register in their own right. Among the architects represented are Alexander Jackson Davis, George B. Post, Calvert Vaux and Frederick Clarke Withers. There are many buildings designed by the regionally significant architect Marcus F. Cummings. The downtown street plan was borrowed from Philadelphia, and one neighborhood, Washington Square, was influenced by London's squares of its era.
The district reflects Troy's evolution from its origins as a Hudson River port into an early industrial center built around textile manufacture and steelmaking. During this period it was rebuilt twice in the wake of two devastating fires, resulting in its mix of architecture styles. After the decline of its industries in the mid-20th century, downtown Troy was threatened by urban renewal efforts that galvanized local preservationists, leading to the early NRHP listings and eventually the creation of the district.
Today, the city of Troy protects and preserves the district with special provisions in its zoning and programs which, with assistance from the state of New York, encourage and subsidize property owners who maintain and restore historic buildings. These efforts have paid off with increased attention from developers, the revival of much of the area, and praise from visitors to the city. With the collaboration of nearby Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Troy is hoping to make the district a center for the development of cutting-edge technologies, a "Silicon Valley of the 19th century."
Geography
The district boundary was drawn to include the highest concentration of historic resources. The street plan dates to 1787 and the most recent historic building dates to 1940, making those years the period of significance. While some newer buildings are inevitably located within the area, the boundary, where possible, excluded significant mid and late 20th-century buildings like the city hall, low-income housing projects, and the Uncle Sam Atrium, a large shopping mall downtown. All of the original five historic districts are included in full, along with other historic neighborhoods, for a total of 10% of the city's area.Peckham, p. 11
It is centered around the axes of US 4 and NY 2, both of which divide into one-way streets (Third and Fourth, and Congress and Ferry, respectively) to facilitate traffic flow through the city. Monument Square, the center of Troy since the late 19th century, along with all the buildings around it (save for the late 20th-century brutalist City Hall, demolished in 2011) are located within its northwestern corner. At its western end it is partially bounded by the Hudson River and the former River Street Historic District.Peckham, pp. 4–5, 155
To the south it includes the older buildings of Russell Sage College, Washington Square Park and the houses on Adams Street, the district's southern boundary. The mostly regular southeastern boundary follows Clinton Street until it reaches Ferry. Then it becomes ragged and irregular, reaching the district's northernmost extent at the former Grand Street Historic District. This extension allows it to include as well the Gurley Building and its surrounding neighborhood, formerly the Fifth Street-Fulton Street Historic District.
To the east of the district Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Troy's most notable institution of higher learning, is situated on a low rise overlooking downtown. RPI has played an increasing role in the district in recent years, and now owns several notable buildings.
The entire district is densely developed, primarily residential in its northern and southern portions, with commercial use concentrated in central blocks near Monument Square. The only significant open spaces within it are the one-block Washington Park near its southern end and Seminary Park, the main quad at Russell Sage. Most of the major streets and the central area of the district are lined with multi-story dwellings that are primarily commercial but with a mix of office and residential space on their upper floors. On the side streets, there are smaller-scale residential townhouses. Institutional use is limited to Russell Sage, a few churches, RPI's buildings and governmental structures like the county courthouse and post office. No industrial use, past or present, is within the district, with the notable exception of the Gurley Building, and even that has been scaled back in recent years.
2016 expansion
In 2014 the State Historic Preservation Board considered a boundary adjustment that removes a small area at the northeast corner but adds far more, primarily at the southeast. It would include a total of 200 new contributing properties and extend the district's period of significance to 1978, to take into account the city's urban renewal era. Most of the new areas had been found to be consistent with those already included in the district or accidentally excluded when the district was originally designated.LaFrank, 5–8 Two years later the National Park Service officially approved the expansion.
The most significant change to the district is the extension on the southeast, to the boundary of the city's Eighth Ward in 1870. Between Adams and Ferry streets, three blocks would be added, with the new boundary following the west side of St. Mary's Avenue, excluding a newer house at the northwest corner of the Washington Avenue intersection, and then rear property lines to Kennedy Lane and Hill Street just south of Adams.LaFrank, 60 Two-story rowhouses predominate in this area, many built as worker housing during the 19th century, some as early as the Federal period. Some have intact storefronts. It also has the only significant industrial building in the proposed expanded district, the former Lusco Paper Works on the northwest corner of Fifth and Liberty streets. The area has begun to see some restoration efforts, such as some Greek Revival rowhouses on Liberty Street near Fourth, which will benefit from state tax credits should the area be added to the district.
On the west side the boundary would be extended a block, from First to River Street at the Congress Street Bridge approaches, between Division and Ferry streets. This includes a large brick dorm complex built by Russell Sage College (RSC) in the early 1960s. It was the college's last large-scale construction project in the city; with its inclusion all of RSC would be within the district. To its south another proposed extension reaches across a small park on First to include the 1905 Beth Tephilah synagogue, a neoclassical brick structure that retains most of its integrity.
Two other changes take in other significant buildings. Along the north side of Ferry at the district's east, just north of the Eighth Ward addition, the boundary would be extended east, taking in another set of rowhouses on the west side of Fifth and the city's former jail and sheriff's office at the northeast corner of Ferry and Fifth. On the north, the Uncle Sam Atrium shopping mall and parking garage complex, occupying most of the block between Broadway and Third, Fourth and Fulton streets would now be included. Built in 1978, it is the only significant example of modern architecture in the district and the last large-scale project built in downtown Troy.
Other, smaller areas proposed for inclusion are a group of brick houses, some of them blighted, along the south side of Washington Street between First Street Alley and River; a rowhouse and community garden on the corners of Adams Street and Second Street Alley; and another group of rowhouses along the west side of Fifth Street between State and Congress Streets. The only areas proposed for removal are large portions of the blocks on the west side of Sixth Avenue on either side of Fulton. At the time the district was established, they were occupied by large industrial buildings, both of which were later demolished and replaced by parking lots.
History
The history of the Central Troy Historic District is, particularly in its earlier years, the history of Troy itself. Until the later 19th century, the present downtown area was the city. Two devastating fires, along with changes in the economy brought about by industrialization, shaped the district into today's architecturally diverse downtown.
Pre-industrial years
Prior to independence, there had only been a few scattered Dutch farmers settled on the Hudson above Albany. In 1787, a group of New Englanders headed west and persuaded one Jacob Vanderhyden to sell them a large tract which they then subdivided and named Troy.Peckham, p. 138 The dividing line between two of the family's farms was called Grand Division Street, later shortened to Grand Street. ()|quote=Formerly called Grand Division Street, the thoroughfare once formed the boundary between the northern and middle farms of Dirk Van der Hyden, one of the earliest settlers of the Troy area.
They based its grid-like street plan on Philadelphia's, with numbered north-south streets running inland from the river after River Street, the city's first commercial center. Lots there, at the time, ran all the way to the river's waterline, giving their owners the unusual advantage of river and street frontage. The sloping bluff also allowed them to build multi-story warehouses and granaries closer to the unloading points along the river. ()
In 1793, the new settlement was designated the Rensselaer County seat. Two years later, the visiting Duke de la Rochefoucauld noted the "neat and numerous houses" and active businesses engaged in river-based trade. "The sight of this activity is truly charming", he said, in one of the earliest published descriptions of the city. In 1798 Troy incorporated as a village.Weise, Arthur James; Troy's One Hundred Years; William H. Brown, Troy, New York; 1891; 44, cited at Peckham, p. 138
The village's population more than tripled in the first 15 years of the new century, leading it to reincorporate as a city in 1816.Peckham, p. 140 With River Street getting built out, banks began taking advantage of the street plan and locating on First Street, previously a residential area. By 1807, another visitor from abroad, British painter John Lambert, described a town that had already grown considerably from what de la Rochefoucauld saw a dozen years earlier: