We have started accepting items for the Feast 2023 virtual auction. As in previous years the auction will be open to the public and helps to raise funds for our organization.  

Do you have

> Art

> Ephemera 

> Collectables
> Antiques

OR 

Would you like to donate 
> A themed gift basket
> A service (a consultation for your business for your business)
> An experience (tickets, overnight stays, memberships, tours) 

For businesses, donation provides a great opportunity to show their support for a local non-profit, as well as marketing their products/services to our audience of over 6,000 people! 

Each year we also have many generous individuals who donate to the auction, giving us unique items, putting together a basket of their own choice, or supporting a local business by buying gift certificates/gifts.

All auction donors will be listed in the program, and all donations are tax-deductible.  Call Kim on 518 465 0876 ext. 110 for more information. We are happy to pick up donations.

I want to Donate to the Auction

There's Still Time to be Part of the Feast Honorary Committee

Join our Honorary Chairs, Brad and Paige Allen

Honorary Committee members will receive tickets to the event and be publically recognized in the invitation, program, and signage.
Prices per person begin at $150.   

Join here

Book Club is Nearly Here!

Mon Feb 27th 6.15pm

One more week until our virtual book club begins, in partnership with the NYS Writers Institute. There's still time to grab a copy from the Book House in Albany! Explore life in old Albany through the pages of this coming-of-age story set in downtown in the 1930s.

Below: a vintage Emerson radio, which is featured in the novel.

Join for Free

The Tool Library
Reaches 100 Members

This week the #ToolLendingLibrary reached a wonderful milestone - we welcomed our 100th member! We celebrated by bestowing our '100 Member Hammer' to Garett as a prize. Initially, we had an aim of 50 members for the entire year, so to have already doubled that figure is fantastic. 
Thanks to everyone out there for spreading the word, for becoming members, and most importantly for USING the library

The library is open at 89 Lexington Ave tomorrow 9-12 pm, check out all the items here. 

Tool Librarian Training Next Week
Become Part of the Team!

We will be having Tool Lending Library Training Wed  Feb 22nd and March 1st, 5-6pm, at 89 Lexington Ave 12206. If you would like to learn more about becoming part of the program, please feel free to join. You can also call Kim on 518 465 0876 ext 110 for more information. If you can't make these times but are still interested, contact us.

We ask all librarians to volunteer 20 hours over the year, and everyone receives a complimentary membership. 

I want to become a Librarian

What's New in the Warehouse

Barrister bookshelf

This combination glass-front barrister bookcase and secretary in tiger-striped oak is one of the nicest, most useful pieces of antique furniture to ever come into the Warehouse!

Manufactured by the Cincinnati-based Globe-Wernicke Company, the inclusion of a fold-out writing desk option, patented in 1903 by Alfred F Wernicke, was an advancement over other examples of sectional-type bookcases and organizational storage components then on the market.

“Sectional”—or as Globe-Wernicke referred to them in its literature, “elastic”—bookcases were not new. The patent acknowledges that the mechanism for doing so is “an old well-known manner of uniting the unit sections.” Components were stackable and could connect side by side, offering handsome built-in looks, mobility, versatility, and the “ability to grow as your library grows.”

The example of Globe-Wernicke modular furniture we have for sale here features the earliest version of the company’s labels, suggesting it was manufactured very near to the 1903 patent date stamped inside the desk drawer. The drawer features a face with beautiful ogee profile and dovetailing, and the desk is stabilized with patented legs, here in a saber-design. The writing surface folds down on special hinges, and there is a full compliment of cubbies, slots, and drawers for filing inside.

Available in five styles—Sheraton, Colonial, Mission, Art Mission, and Standard Utility—Globe-Wernicke’s offerings could be had in full and three-quarter size and in eight different finishes. Ours is designated “Grade 299 1/2”, which the 1907 catalog identifies as “quarter-sawed figured oak, dead golden finish, dull brush-finished brass hardware.” 

We were surprised to learn that the bottom barrister bookshelf component, which appears identical to the upper one, is technically different according to its label. “Grade 299” is described as “golden quarter-sawed figured oak, deep rich golden finish, highly polished with brass oxidized hardware.”

Globe-Wernicke was the amalgamation of two companies in 1899 with roots back to 1882. In its heyday it boasted over 1,500 agents and “branches or agencies everywhere” including Canada, the United Kingdom. France, and Germany. 

Over the years, the company underwent the same process of acquisitions and mergers that many successful Gilded Age firms did, until even its name was digested when the company’s assets became part of ATAPCO Office Products in 1987.

Total height: 61”; total width: 34”
Shelf component height: 14 3/8; total depth 11”
Desk component height: 22”; total open depth 32 1/2”

Barrister bookshelf glass is intact; the legs need some repair, but all parts present

$325 (member price $260) plus tax

Instagram: @architectural_parts_warehouse
Facebook: HistoricAlbanyPartsWarehouse

Come see us next Wed 12-6pm
Tool Lending Library - open 9am-12pm the following week

News

The Former St. Jospehs Church is For Sale  

"High potential for federal and state funding, including Historic tax credits, Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI), Community and Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding."

Learn more >>