WALLS HAVE EARS:

“Cops and Robbers”

108 Union Street

When Clinton dug his “Ditch” across the State things began to happen. With the Erie Canal two things came to Schenectady, first those harbingers of Spring, the “Long Eared Robins,” and second, “The Greek Revival.” Many of you remember the “Long Eared Robins,” the mules that hauled the barges on the Canal. Yes, when you saw them Spring was here. Many of you also remember when the Greek Temple at 108 Union Street, that almost “Paesteum’ in wood and brick, was the County Court House and Jail. I do because I lived across the street at One Eleven.

There are probably three reasons why, as a child, I remember so well. In retrospect I really don’t know how to classify their importance. Just because it was a hot summer’s day and all the windows were open, it was annoying to have my parents receive a call asking that the children be quiet. “Court is in session!” It was exciting to watch the horse-drawn “paddy-wagon” pull up with a new criminal. This was TV, a live show!

It was fun to have ice cream with the jailor’s daughter and the inmates of the Jail. Most assuredly the rumble of roller skates on flagstone sidewalks and the screams of laughter from kids playing -“Cops and Robbers” must have been annoying -to Judges and Attorneys who were playing the game for real. And, of course, in a child’s life ice cream is a treat no matter when or where, hut it was a special treat to have it with the “Bad Men.” It was thoughtful of the County to serve the inmates this treat so appreciated by I those picked up the night before for misconduct. It must have helped to quench the fire of last night’s debauchery. The Jailor was also most thoughtful in the disposition of the cells down in the basement, now lost to eternity since the recent remodeling of the building. I am told that, when two gay “young men about town” were impounded for having too good a time one night, they were placed in the cells facing Union Street so that they could wave and talk to their “Peacock Plumed” friends as they walked by. Nonetheless, there were problems, like the Jail Break!

The culprit, dashing across the street, jumped the then wooden gate between 109 and 111 with the not so agile cops in hot pursuit. Plants and hedges suffered that night but the escapee was apprehended. Then there was the night when my sister and I were drawn to the window by the drunk shouting, “Police, Police as he jumped from the paddy-wagon and ran up Union Street. Such was the Greek Temple. May it stand as a symbol of justice done in the past.

Design Third

39 Front Street

You find “Design Third” on page 22 of Volume I of Sloan’s “Model Architect” and you find a modification of “Design Third” at 39 Front Street.

I don’t know exactly when Thirty-nine was built. However, I do know that it must have been sometime around 1860, when Sloan’s volumes came off the press to influence the architect and builder alike. It is the period when Architecture was becoming a recognized profession, the period when men like Sloan felt the need for the development of an American Architecture.

He says,

“We Americans are not ashamed that we have nothing now venerable in years, but we may fear that our descendants will have cause so to be, and have few buildings to point out, saying ‘this is the work of our fathers’”

I don’t know whether an architect or builder designed this charming “Wedding Cake.” Nor do I know who had it built. But there is no question that it is the only building in the Stockade to point out, saying, “This is the work of our fathers.”

Apparently Sloan did not have much love for our earlier heritage which we of the Stockade Area seek to preserve and proudly point to as the work of our forefathers. Well, it was a free country then, as now, when in 1860, Samuel Sloan, Architect, published his new and revised edition of— “The Model Architect. A series of “Original Designs for Cottages, Villas, Suburban Residences, etc. Accompanied by Explanations, Specifications, Estimates, and Elaborate Details. Prepared expressly for the Use of Projectors and Artisans Throughout the United States.”

Architect Samuel Sloan was entitled to his opinion of our Architectural past, and he certainly did something about it. In his two volumes you can find almost any building type from the ornamental outhouse, the cottage and the villa, to the school and the church, all done in the time-honored styles of Gothic, Norman, and Italian with more Sloan thrown in than Architectural History.

The little house at 39 Front is done in “Debased Gothic.” In his essay which precedes the perspectives, plans, elevations, and details, Mr. Sloan is quick to point out that

“The term must not be understood in a bad sense, as depreciating the style, hut simply as referring to the fact, that during the time mentioned, i.e., from the last of the Perpendicular style until the total extinction of this species of architecture, there was a constant change being wrought in the principles of the general style, and a rejection of the abundance of exterior ornament which had previously prevailed.”

He further points out that this style is much more adaptable to domestic structures. Pure Gothic Architecture is admirably fitted for ecclesiastical purposes, but not for much else, he says. He continues by pointing out that the Debased style is principally characterized by its comparative plainness.

I sincerely hope that you will all rest easier now with the knowledge that within our cluster of historic buildings there is at least one which, by Sloan’s formula, is worth preserving.

101 State Street

Some Facts and Fiction

Let’s go back 200 years ago this last Fall and imagine a flotilla of bateaux and canoes plying down the River. It was a clear sunny day with crisp wisps of snow-white clouds drifting casually across the sky. The riffles of the clear water sparkled like diamonds. And the reds, yellows and russets of the hardwoods which populated the hills beyond the “Vlachte” stood in sharp contrast to their neighbors, the evergreens. Here and there on the fertile fiats, which line the Mohawk, were patches of golden grain, ripe for harvest, beyond which stood an old house that had withstood the ravages of War or a new one rebuilt on the foundations of another destroyed by the French and Indians during the recent conflict. Peace now reigned in the Valley and the day expressed the Peace.

The flotilla was led by a large bateaux partially covered by a crimson canopy under which Sir William Johnson and Molly, “the Brown Lady Johnson,” sat. They had left Fort Johnson some hours ago. Now the boats were approaching Schenectady where the Baronet had much work to do. Among other things he wanted to see what progress had been made on Saint George’s “Chappelle” in which he had a great interest. Be also wanted to see the new home of his friend, Daniel Campbell, where he and Lady Johnson would spend the night. If satisfied with both, he would sit down with Samuel Fuller, the designer and builder of these buildings, and discuss his dream of a Baronial Hall up on the hill above the River and his plans for building an entire new city on his great tracts in the West.

Yes, he and Molly would have dinner and spend the night with the Daniel Campbells. So let’s switch the scene to 101 State Street. Engeltjie Campbell, the mistress of the house, had been in a tizzy all day making sure that the house was in order and that the roast was done to a turn. Daniel, the Town’s prominent merchant, had returned home after doing some trading. He had ordered the best horses and carriage sent to the wharf. He had ordered that the best Jamaica be placed out, and he had personally selected the wines to be served at dinner.

As the flotilla came into the dock, the sun was sinking behind the hills, spreading a fiery glow on the Autumn foliage and tipping the lazy clouds with gold. The Baronet and his Lady stepped out of their boats into a carriage to be taken to the new residence of Daniel Campbell. As they arrived at the completely ordered building where they would dine and sleep, they must have felt the incongruity between this Georgian, (or shall I say Handbook?), Mansion standing beside the more Gothic Dutch houses which were its neighbors. Sir William’s son, John, would understand this better. He learned of the charm of Architectural Periods living well together when his father sent him to London to become a “Gentleman.” Nonetheless, the stately edifice with its porticoed doorway, dormers, and chimneyed end walls pleased the Baronet. It was entirely in the modem style brought over from Boston and exquisitely executed. Yes, seeing this and knowing the design of St. George’s, Sir William would employ this man on his project. He was even more impressed by the interior; beautiful fireplaces and mantles, silver sconces and chandeliers whose flickering light made the ladies look so beautiful. For sure he never saw, nor did Daniel Campbell ever see, the solid gold gasolier, (brass or bronze, possibly gold plated?). But he might have seen the stairway which now graces the front entrance.

The old Mansion has since undergone many changes.

An old map of 1895 shows it with its Victorian cupola and detail but the original dormers have gone. At some time the first floor was dropped to street level and the building was put to commercial use. Most of us remember how it looked when occupied by the Soda Fountain. Now, thanks to the vision and courage of a young Real Estate man it has again regained a feeling of its original splendor to make a fitting entrance to the Stockade Area.