50th Anniversary Gala News

50th Anniversary Gala
Saturday, May 18, 2024

Thank you to all of our current sponsors to date!  If you or your company would like to join these sponsors for the 50th Anniversary gala, please see our sponsorship package for 2024.

As always at our spring event, the silent auction is a huge highlight of the night, and this year will be no exception!  We are seeking gift baskets, tickets, experiences and more.  If you would like to donate an item, please contact [email protected] for more information.

To review the sponsorship package, CLICK HERE.
To review the auction form, CLICK HERE.
To learn more about how you can support HAF CLICK HERE.

History Corner

HAF has had many different homes since 1974. For decades, the Parts Warehouse and HAF offices were in separate buildings. In July 1996, we moved into our current building at 89 Lexington Avenue, putting everyone together under the same roof for the first time ever. Here's the newsletter article featuring the ribbon cutting.

Programs & Events

Bagels & Business

Bagels & Business was first started by preservation trades specialist Ken Follett over 30 years ago. In 2011, John Stahl began hosting the events in New York City.

B&C is a chance for New York historic preservation professionals to gather in a social environment with the sole purpose of meeting others involved directly (or indirectly) with preservation in New York.

This will be the first (of many) Bagels & Coffee Events outside of New York City. Come and meet others from the growing Upstate NY preservation community.

If you would like to be added to the B&C email mailing list to be informed of upcoming events, contact John Stahl at: [email protected]

March Sponsor:
Dura-Fix Flexible Wood Repair Epoxy.
www.dura-fix.com

The Venue:
The Historic Albany Foundation's Architectural Parts Warehouse located at:
89 Lexington Avenue, Albany NY 12206.

March 19th, 2024
8:30am-10:00am

This is a FREE event.
To RSVP CLICK HERE.

Plastering Flat Walls and Patching Holes
Saturday, March 23, 2024
9am-4pm
STEAM Garden, 279 Central Avenue

This workshop will expand on the techniques learned at the introductory workshop. Attendees will get hands-on experience with tool skills, application techniques, and proper surface preparation for repairing large holes in plaster walls and replastering whole walls where the plaster has been completely removed.

Tools will be provided by the Tool Lending Library. Lunch will be provided.

$100 HAF & Tool Library Members/ $150 General Public

Thank you to Home Depot for their sponsorship of this workshop.

To register CLICK HERE.

Secondhand Stories: Exploring Architectural Salvage

Are you restoring a period home, redecorating a room, or building a new house? Architectural salvage warehouses offer a fantastic array of extraordinary everyday items, from vintage doorknobs and escutcheons to fireplace mantels, appliances, doors, sinks, stained glass windows, and eclectic one-of-a-kind treasures. Salvaged materials are often taken from demolished or modernized residential and commercial buildings. Architectural salvage warehouses can be invaluable for historic property owners and green-minded individuals to source hard-to-find, period-appropriate parts. Besides being a great way to bring pieces with character and history into your home, shopping salvage means that rather than seeing quality items tossed into landfills, they can be recycled and repurposed elsewhere.

Join AARCH as we explore the world of architectural salvage with Pam Howard, executive director of Historic Albany Foundation, and Susan Holland, executive director of Historic Ithaca. We will discuss their organizations' long history with architectural salvage and stories of running their warehouses.

To register for this webinar, CLICK HERE.

Lecture Series

HAF and the Albany Institue of History & Art have teamed up to present a new lecture series. All lectures will be held at the Albany Institue located at 125 Washington Avenue. The dates and links to purchase tickets are listed below.

Thank you to our generous sponsors:
Society of Architectural Historians, Turpin Bannister Chapter 
James Gaughan and Keith Lee
Fort Orange General Store

Matthew Bender IV Lecture
48 Hudson Avenue and the Stories it Tells

Thursday, March 28th from 5:30pm to 7:30pm.

Complimentary Reception at 5:30pm
Lecture at 6pm

Tickets Can be purchased HERE

HAF and AIHA members - $10
Non-members - $15

Project architect, Matthew Scheidt at John G. Waite Associates, Architects, will be talking about clues found within the building itself that have educated the design for its restoration.  Take this sketch of the rear anchor beam of the house for example. Though the entire back wall is missing, we now know that there were two windows and a door. We learned all of this by looking at the notches in the anchor beam to see where the vertical supports for each would have been. You never know what you'll find hiding in plain sight!

Great Camp Sagamore

Thursday, April 18th from 5:30pm to 7:30pm.

Tickets can be purchased HERE

HAF and AIHA members - $10
Non-members - $15

HAF Book Club Scheduled!

Island at the Center of the World by Russell Shorto

The annual HAF Book Club has been scheduled for Thursday, April 4th at 6:30 pm via Zoom
 
In honor of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Manhattan and Fort Orange, we have selected a perennial favorite book on the topic, Island and the Center of the World.  And, the author, Russell Shorto will be joining us live on the Zoom!  The evening will be moderated by Paul Grondahl in partnership with the NYS Writers Institute.

To register CLICK HERE.

If you haven't started reading ... start now.  It's going to be a great program!

This event is in partnership with the NYS Writers Institute.

Advocacy Update

Graceland Cemetery Receiving Vault Nominated for Listing on the National Register of Historic Places 

At Thursday's Historic Resource Committee meeting, a nomination for listing the receiving vault at Graceland Cemetery on Delaware Avenue was presented. The Cemetery is looking to list the building so it will be eligible for grants for restoration so the building can be used again in a variety of ways. 

The history presented was fascinating. Graceland Cemetery was founded in 1902. The cemetery and receiving vault were designed by Garnet Baltimore, the first African American graduate of RPI. Baltimore was a civil engineer, occasionally noted as a landscape engineer and architect. A lifelong and dedicated resident of Troy, some of his most well known works are Prospect Park and Forest Park Cemetery.  He was also the architectural engineer for Oakwood Cemetery, laying out newer sections. 

The receiving vault is a generously sized granite building with Romanesque, Neoclassical, and Gothic features, and was quite something for its time. The vault can hold up to 60 caskets waiting for burial and was quite in demand, often housing caskets from other cemeteries awaiting burial. 

Read more about the building and its history CLICK HERE.

Update on 48 Hudson Avenue

Wednesday night we held an online Q & A with our consultants in Buffalo to answer questions about our tax credit offering for the restoration at 48 Hudson.  If you weren't able to join or think you might have some of the same questions, we've updated our online Q & A on the Common Owner page with all the new questions.  

Take a look here: Van Ostrande-Radliff House Rehabilitation | Common Owner

To watch the Q & A on our youtube channel CLICK HERE.

What's New in the Warehouse?

Do you have cool old stuff tucked away in a closet, your attic or basement?  Does your relative have cool old stuff, does your neighbor have cool old stuff? We do pickups up to 40 miles out from Albany. 

Warehouse hours:
Wednesday 12-6 pm
 Friday 12-6 pm
Saturday 9-4 pm

Address:
89 Lexington Avenue, Albany NY 12206

NEWS

A New Initiative to Protect Black History Starts With Coltrane

The Philadelphia rowhouse once owned by the jazz musician John Coltrane will be restored through the Descendants and Family Stewardship Initiative. This new program by the National Trust’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund will enable Black descendant communities and families to become integral stakeholders in the preservation and storytelling of their culture and legacy at historic sites.

To read the full article CLICK HERE.

What’s Hidden in Woodlawn’s Mausoleums? Extraordinary Stained Glass.

Many artworks commissioned by the rich and powerful for their final resting places have rarely been seen by the living for the last century.

To read the full NY Times article CLICK HERE.

Click Here for more information.