Alicia
Solsman |
(clockwise
from top left) An apartment complex for people with
disabilities on Dove Street in Albany was featured in
the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., this
spring as an example of how affordable housing can also
have good design; the long-awaited new marquee finally
graced Albany’s Palace Theater in May; though the Wellington
Hotel on State Street in downtown Albany has been deteriorating
for more than a decade, its condition suddenly became
an issue when a portion of the cornice began to sag
dangerously at the end of August, and had to be removed.
Several protests and legal fights later, its future
is still uncertain; Mary Liz and Paul Stewart of the
Underground Railroad Project used their detective skills
to uncover an Underground Railroad landmark—an old safe
house that hosted hundreds of freedom seekers and abolitionist
meetings—at 194 Livingston Ave. in Albany. They got
the building on state and federal historic registers,
and acquired it from the county in order to make it
into a museum; as the Wellington weakened, St. Joseph’s
Church in the Ten Broeck Triangle was stabilizing. Though
it’s got a long way to go, this year marked the first
time in many years it was considered safe for anyone
to go inside.
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