Today Is The Deadline!

Join the Honorary Committee!

Today is the Print Deadline for 2023 Built Honorary Committee & Sponsorship! Sign up now to help us have a record breaking year!

What is Built?

Each year Historic Albany Foundation welcomes the community in celebrating our region’s unique architecture at a 4-day silent auction and art show. We invite everyone to enjoy and bid on up to 200 pieces of architecturally themed art - from paintings to photographs, sculpture to jewelry.  This year we will once again be hosted at the beautiful Argus Hotel on Thurlow Terrace in Albany and will be offering a ticketed opening reception, pay-what-you-wish evening soiree,  and open gallery hours free to the public. The event will run from November 2 - 5. Proceeds from this event support our organization’s mission of protecting Albany’s architecture. 

Become a Sponsor for Built!

The Repair Cafe is Next Week!

Saturday, September 9th

Be sure to sign up in advance to insure we get to your item. Not sure if we'd be likely to repair your item? Shoot us an email at [email protected].

More information Here!

Location: Honest Weight Food Co-Op (100 Watervliet Ave, Albany, NY 12206)

2023 Preservation Merit Awards

Tuesday, September 26th

Preservation Merit Award Spotlight: Special Guests Elizabeth + Ethan Finkelstein!

While Preservation Merit Awards are already something special, we decided to up the pomp a bit by adding an exclusive interview with our special guests to the evening's festivities. We are delighted that Elizabeth and Ethan Finkelstein of the Instagram account and HGTV show Cheap Old Houses will be joining us for a chat!

“We’re Elizabeth + Ethan Finkelstein. We’re dreamers. We love old things. And we believe that you’re being sold the wrong American dream. Contrary to what everyone else says, you don’t actually need to buy a million dollar house and go into extreme debt to live a satisfying and beautiful life. But don’t just take our word for it—we’ve brought together over 2 million people who feel the same way, and who are masters at celebrating the beauty of cheap old houses.  Our philosophy of life is simple. Work hard. Find something beautiful, something well-crafted. Something that needs you. Nurture it. Learn about it. Spend time honing your skills so you understand it. Teach your family to do the same. And give back to history while doing it.”

Join Elizabeth and Ethan in celebrating this year's outstanding Preservation Merit Awardees on Tuesday, September 26th 5:30-7:30pm at the Cathedral of All Saints, 62 South Swan Street.

Purchase Your Tickets Here

There's still a few spots on our Mansion Neighborhood Tour, now called Mansion 1. We offered this same tour last year and are bringing it back by popular demand!

Join Albany City Historian, Tony Opalka on a 90-minute tour as he shows you this delightful neighborhood.

Buy Your Tickets Here

What's New in the Warehouse?

It Gives a Lovely Light

Here it is! What so many of you ask for and we sigh and explain that we almost never get, and that when we do it flies out our showroom door almost immediately: a stained-glass window. (Ooooh… Aaaah…)

While everyone knows what you’re talking about when you say, “stained glass” (churches instantly come to mind), there are competing definitions out there for the term. So, if you instead say “colored glass,” you’ll be more accurate and everyone will be impressed with you. It’s also sometimes referred to as “art glass,” especially in old-house catalogs, though this term, too, is problematic as it is more general and could refer to any glass—uncolored or colored—used in an artistic manner.

“Colored glass” is exactly what the term suggests. It is glass made by adding certain metallic oxides to it when it is still molten during the manufacturing process to yield fully transparent glass that is a particular color all the way through.

To get even more technical, this staircase window from a circa 1927 house on Grove Ave. in Albany, is actually made up of three different kinds of a particular type of colored glass called “opalescent glass.” The three kinds of opalescent glass are “opal glass,” which is opaque and white; “mixed opalescent glass,” which is opal glass with streaks of color; and “opaque glass,” which is transparent but not clear and solid in color. In all cases, there tends to be a swirled or streaked character to the opalescent glass, leading it to also be called “streaky glass.”

Sometimes people will refer to windows comprised of transparent, uncolored glass assembled in patterns as “leaded glass.” People will also sometimes assume that all “leaded glass” is uncolored. And some folks might think that this often-beveled glass is called “leaded glass” for the same reason that gives faceted “lead crystal” its name: that lead has been added to the glass during the manufacturing process to yield exceptional clarity.

But none of this is true. “Leaded glass” is used to refer to any glass—clear or colored—that is held together with other pieces of glass using lead metal strips called “caming.” Lead is perfect for this as it is easily shaped to grip and form around the often-complex patterns used in art glass windows.

This is all to say: Come and get this opalescent art glass window before it’s gone!

Dimensions: 54” x 24”
Condition: very good, some sagging, crack in one piece of glass
Price: $600, $480, members

Labor Day
Labor Day began in the late 1800s to celebrate workers, and it’s once again time to do that this weekend. Stop on by and wish our chief worker in the Warehouse, Manager Dave, a happy 4-year work anniversary! We’ll be open our regular hours: that’s Friday 12-6 and Saturday 9-4.

News

Hennepin Advocacy

Advocacy Update: Follow Up to Last Week's Article on Foreclosure

For those who were interested in last week's article on the foreclosure situation created by the Hennepin County legal case, here are a few articles and resources to check out to learn more.

Policy Brief: Tyler v. Hennepin County: Analysis and Policy Reform Options for State and Local Governments 
https://communityprogress.org/publications/tyler-hennepin-policy-brief/

What Tyler v. Hennepin County Means for the Future of Property Tax Foreclosure Systems Across the Country
https://communityprogress.org/blog/tyler-hennepin-future-property-tax-foreclosure/

Reimagine Delinquent Property Tax Enforcement: How to Reduce Vacancy, Advance Racial Equity, and Improve Public Services
https://communityprogress.org/publications/reimagine-delinquent-property-tax-enforcement/

The Care and Feeding of Old Houses

Old houses and those that love them find out it's not all woodwork and stained glass.

I grew up in an old house. I spent 17 years in a large Italianate farmhouse in a small town in upstate New York called Gilbertsville, population 400. The house was built in the 1850s or 1860s, a vernacular Victorian farmhouse with a wrap-around porch overlooking a beautiful valley. We moved upstate from Queens when I was six, and I can still remember the first time we walked into the house. My parents bought the property, which came with 254 acres, sight unseen, on the recommendation of my paternal grandmother. She and her family, for some never explained reason, moved up there from Harlem some years before. My parents paid $10,000 for it, which sounds like nothing now, but still came with a mortgage...

Read the Full Blog Post Here

Webinar on Reusing During Deconstruction

The problem we are taking on is Construction & Demolition Waste, the largest source of waste in the country that contributes about half of all the fill in landfills. Who says it's okay to let WHOLE BUILDINGS get thrown away to perish and rot?

Learn how to discover opportunities and solutions while learning about a problem.  

Register Here

Click Here for more information about Historic Albany Foundation Weekly Newsletter - September 4, 2023