Albany Felt Company Complex facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
|
|
Albany Felt Company Complex
|
|
Main building, south elevation, 2015
|
|
 Location in New York
Location in the United States
|
|
| Location | Menands and Albany, New York |
|---|---|
| Area | 14.45 acres (5.85 ha) |
| Built | 1902, 1910, 1920s, 1938, 1941, 1954. |
| Architect | Lockwood, Greene and Company |
| Architectural style | Neoclassical, Colonial Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 14000001 |
| Added to NRHP | February 14, 2014 |
The former Albany Felt Company Complex is now known as The Lofts at One Broadway. This historic group of buildings is located in eastern Albany County, New York, in the United States. Most of it is in the village of Menands. A small part is in the city of Albany. In 2014, these buildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1902, the Albany Felt Company built its first factory here. They made special industrial felt. This felt was used by the region's paper industry. Soon, this building became their main office. The company grew a lot in the first half of the 20th century.
The property has two ponds. These ponds were first built as reservoirs for putting out fires. The factory was far from any fire stations back then.
Later in the 20th century, the company kept growing. They expanded their products and reached more places. They even changed their name to Albany International. By the early 2000s, they mostly made composites instead of felt. In the 2010s, the company moved its main office to New Hampshire. They sold the Albany buildings. Part of the complex is now used for storage. The main office building is being changed into apartments.
Exploring the Factory Buildings
The factory complex covers about 14.45 acres. Most of it is in Menands. The southern part is in Albany's North Albany area. It's the northernmost historic property listed in Albany. The area around it is mostly city-like. There are homes and businesses.
The land is shaped like a rectangle. It runs north-south, next to Broadway. Broadway is also part of New York State Route 32. To the north are two empty lots. East of the factory is a rail line. Next to it is Canal Road, which was once the Erie Canal. A sewage treatment plant is on the other side. South of the complex is another smaller industrial area.
A fancy cast iron fence with brick posts runs around most of the property. The east side has a modern chain-link fence. There are also many old trees along Broadway. You can enter from Broadway near the north and south ends. The south entrance has a small gatehouse.
Inside the fence are three main buildings. The largest building has many parts. It runs from north to south. To its east are two smaller warehouses. The northern warehouse is bigger than the southern one.
South of the main building, in Albany, is a small pond. It's about the same width as that end of the building. The pond has nice landscaping and concrete paths. A driveway goes around it from the parking lot to the main entrance. To its south is an unpaved parking lot. Other roads lead east, past the warehouses, to more parking lots. Another pond, mostly rectangular, is on the west side of the main building. It has a fence around it.
The Main Building: A Closer Look
The main building is about 602 feet long. Its main part was built in different stages. But today, it looks like one big section. The oldest part is the largest. It is three stories tall. Its brick walls are very thick, about 2 feet at the bottom. The roof is flat.
The building has many windows on its east and west sides. They are evenly spaced and have a gentle arch at the top. Each window is about 6 to 8 feet wide. They have a central bar dividing them into many small panes. Some windows can open from the bottom. The window arches have special brick designs. The roof has a wooden eave supported by brackets. Shrubs and trees are planted along the ground floor.
The southern part of the building has a five-story stair tower. It is about 22 feet square. A newer entrance section sticks out from the south side. Above it, on the third floor, are two unique windows. They have 20 small panes. The brickwork on the tower changes every few rows. The fourth-story windows are on all sides. They have stone sills and large brick tops.
At the very top of the windows, bricks stick out like corbels. Above these, a stone band marks the fifth story. On each side of the fifth story are two square windows. They have an "X" shape made by their bars. These windows also have stone sills and brick tops. Above them is a brick cornice and frieze. The tower has a peaked roof with wide eaves. It is covered in metal tiles and has a blunt decoration at the top.
The entrance section has three parts. A central part with a metal hipped roof rises above the rest. All its walls are made of brick.
The main entrance has modern glass and steel doors. Above the doors is a marble sign that says "Albany International." The same brown marble is used at the base of the entrance.
The windows here are like those on the main building but have only four panes. A stone band separates the two stories. Two large security cameras are near the entrance. A similar window is above the front entrance. The roof is surrounded by a low wall with stone on top.
The south part of the building has two slightly different sections. The western part is larger. It extends towards Broadway and has a flat roof. Some parts are covered in ivy. In the fifth section from the tower, there is an older wooden main entrance.
This entrance has a low stone porch. Two smooth columns with fancy Corinthian tops support a molded cornice. Above it is a frieze that says "Albany Felt Co." There's also a decorative cornice and a balustraded balcony. The entrance itself has a pair of doors with side windows and a fanlight above.
Other windows on the first floor are double-hung sash windows with stone sills and brick tops. The second floor has smaller double-hung windows. A stone band separates them from the third floor.
The windows on the third floor are similar. A plain stone cornice divides them from the fourth-story windows. These windows rise from a plain stone course, which was once the top of the wall before the fourth story was added.
The west side of the building continues the same window styles. On the north, there's a special bay window on the first floor. The windows on the floors above are not perfectly regular.
On the east, this part of the building is five sections wide. It also sticks out a bit from the tower. The designs on this part are the same as on the west.
The southeast addition is also three stories high. It has a flat roof. The main entrance is on the south side. It has modern steel and glass doors. A metal roof supported by two brick pillars covers the entrance.
The windows on the first floor are rectangular with 18 panes. Some can open from the bottom. The second floor has 12-over-12 double-hung windows with small top windows. The third floor has 8-over-12 double-hung windows with small top windows. The roofline has an eave with brackets.
Inside the Main Building
The south part of the building used to be offices. Now, they are being changed into apartments. Each floor has a central hallway. The sections to the north have open spaces with high ceilings, about 15 feet tall. The floors are made of thick wooden planks. Three rows of wooden pillars support the exposed wooden joists on the ceiling.
Warehouse Buildings
There are two warehouses on the east side of the property. The older, southern warehouse is a one-story brick building. It has a long brick addition on its side. The main entrance is a large garage door with a regular door next to it. To the east are three large glass block windows. A former window in the roof peak has been filled with bricks. Inside, the building is open with a wooden floor and exposed wooden trusses.
Just north of it is the other warehouse. It is a flat-roofed, square, five-story brick building. It has entrances on all its sides, including large loading dock doors on the south. A stone band separates the first floor from the upper ones. Inside, it has concrete floors and round columns.
Other Important Structures
At the south entrance, there is a small gatehouse. It's an eight-sided, one-story brick building with a metal roof. It was built later in the 20th century. Because it's newer, it's not considered a "contributing" part of the historic listing.
There are also four small pumphouses on the west side of the factory. They are near the fire hydrants that were built at the same time as the factory. These pumphouses are considered important historic structures. The ponds on the south and west sides of the building are also important. The pond on the south is the only major historic feature in the city of Albany part of the property. However, the fence around the western pond is newer and not considered historic.
A Look Back: The Company's History
For most of its life, the history of this complex is the story of the Albany Felt Company.
How It All Began: 1895–1901
In 1895, three partners started the Albany Felt Company. One of them was Parker Corning, who later became a U.S. Congressman. They started the company when a skilled felt maker named Duncan Fuller became available. His previous workplace had burned down. Felt was very important in Albany at that time. Albany was a big center for papermaking in the late 1800s. This was because of the nearby Adirondack Mountains with their many evergreen forests. Felt material was needed for the large paper machines. It helped to support and dry the paper rolls.
The partners invested $40,000 and hired Fuller. They rented space on Thacher Street in North Albany. This was about a mile south of the current buildings. Fuller had recently invented a new way to make felt. Within a year, the company had 36 employees. Albany Felt had an advantage because it was close to wood sources. It also had good money and a skilled manager. Before 1900, they were doing so well that they hired a salesman. He visited paper mills all over the Northeast.
The company grew along with the paper industry. By 1901, their sales had quadrupled. The company realized they needed bigger facilities. Albany Felt bought five acres of land just north of the city line. This area was then part of the town of Watervliet.
Building the Plant: 1902–1920
The new site was good because it was near major transportation routes. These included the Watervliet Turnpike (with trolley lines), the Erie Canal, and the Hudson River. The Albany Northern Railroad tracks ran just east of the site. They built a special track to help with building the factory. The smaller of the two warehouses was also built then. It was used to store building materials. When the new building opened in 1902, the company had 150 employees. A small dye house was built north of the warehouse.
There was one problem, though. At that time, Watervliet had no fire department. The closest one was several miles away in downtown Albany. Such a slow response time was too risky. So, the Felt Company created its own fire department for the plant. To get water for fires, they used Rendert's Stream. This small stream flowed through the site. They directed it into a 390,000-gallon reservoir with fire hydrants.
Later, another pond was added on the south end. There were sometimes small fires, but no big ones. The ponds were later turned into decorative ponds. This happened when a sprinkler system was installed, making them unnecessary for fire fighting.
By 1910, more production space was needed. Albany Felt bought more land. They added a northern wing that doubled the factory's size. In 1918, the company's leaders decided to move their offices to the new plant. They designed a new office wing on the southwest corner. At first, only two stories were needed.
The paper industry grew very fast. This led to many mergers in the 1910s. By the 1920s, two large companies, International Paper and American Writing Paper, were very powerful. Albany Felt, with 223 employees, became the second-largest company in its field. They sold to both International and American. But Parker Corning, who became company president in 1920, wanted more customers. He started looking at markets in other countries. That year, the plant's size was tripled. A new section was added to the northeast. It used more modern windows and steel framing to handle the machine vibrations better.
Growing in Menands: 1920–1941
The good economy of the Roaring Twenties increased demand for paper products. This helped Albany Felt grow even more. By 1925, they were making $2.5 million in sales each year. Even then, Corning thought that this fast growth might not last. He made sure the company worked very efficiently. This helped them get through any future economic slowdowns. His worries didn't stop the company from adding two more stories to the office wing in 1927. They also added some fancy decorations.
When the Great Depression finally hit in 1929, Corning's plans worked well. Albany Felt recovered quickly. They stayed profitable and even grew. By 1937, they had $3 million in annual sales. They expanded the main building again, tripling its original size. They added the wing at the southeast. A boardroom was also created on the first floor of the office wing. Its original woodwork is still there. The bay window was added on the north side.
In 1941, the U.S. entered World War II. This increased the need for paper products. Albany Felt was worth $5 million. Corning, in his last years as president, had a new five-story warehouse built. It was on the site of the old dye house. This warehouse stored raw materials.
Finishing the Facility: 1942–1954
Corning died two years later. His cousin, Lewis Parker, became the new company president. He continued to see growth and investment after the war. In 1948, another two-story office wing was built on the southeast of the building. It matched the administrative wing on the opposite side.
By 1950, the company was worth $14 million. Two years later, they started a Canadian branch. This helped with their growing international business. The last major addition to the factory happened in 1954. Two more stories were added to the southeast wing. This made it as tall as the southwest wing. This gave the building its current shape.
Changes and New Uses: 1955–Present
After 1954, the company expanded and built new facilities in other places. In 1969, they changed their name to Albany International. This was because they had bought other companies. They started making other industrial materials besides felt. Their main office stayed in Albany for a while. Some improvements were made inside the building. A research laboratory was added in 1966. A new stair was added ten years later. In the late 1970s, the main office moved to a nearby office park.
During the 1980s, boiler rooms were added to the west side. More space for equipment was also added. Inside, the second floor was updated. A new HVAC system was installed. In 1988, the newest building in the complex, the gatehouse at the south entrance, was built. An entrance area and a parking lot were also added.
After these changes, most production moved to a new plant in East Greenbush starting in 1988. This allowed the old building to be used as the company's headquarters again. Most later updates focused on making it better for office use.
By the early 2000s, the company was very international. They also worked with many different materials. So, they needed less headquarters staff. PrimaLoft, a company that made insulation for outdoor clothing, started its own office in the southeast wing.
In the early 2010s, the company left the building after over a century. The last felt was made there in 2011. Albany International moved its headquarters to Rochester, New Hampshire, in 2013. This was where their growing aerospace composites division was located. PrimaLoft also moved to a bigger office in nearby Latham that same year.
A local developer named Uri Kaufman bought the property for $30 million. He had already changed another old factory into apartments. He rented part of the Albany complex to a storage business. In 2015, he announced plans to change the main building into 145 luxury apartments. He also planned to add things like a preschool, an outdoor pool, tennis courts, and a golf simulator.
Images for kids
-
Main building, south elevation, 2015
