Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Galloway Galley: Exhibit 29 Revisited

Last week, Gossips reported that Galvan Partners owns 618 State Street, the house next door to the proposed site of "Galvan Quarters." Gossips was promptly informed--by someone in real estate and someone in city government--that this was not true. The property has been subdivided, but both parcels are still identified as 618 State Street. The parcel that Galven Partners owns is the one in the rear, on which this building which faces the alley is located.

The photograph of 618 State Street appeared on Gossips for less than a day before the post was withdrawn for revision, but that was long enough for a reader with a very good eye to note the similarity between 618 State Street and the central part of 67-71 North Fifth Street. 




It is generally believed that 67-71 North Fifth Street was originally a single house to which wings were added on either side. Since it is not uncommon to find houses of the same design, built by the same builder, in different locations in a city, it is quite possible that 618 State Street and the original part of 67-71 North Fifth Street were essentially the same house, constructed by the same builder following the same design.

4 comments:

  1. Wow. Cool. Someone has a really good eye.

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  2. I would agree that the modification to the center mass of 67-71 North Fifth Street may have been altered by the same builder who constructed 618 State Street. The original, timber framed roof (shown here http://preservationinaction.blogspot.com/2012/08/on-common-ground-successful-proposal-at.html) has a lower slope and profile and still exists inside the attic. The extant timber frame vs. balloon frame makes the century mass pre-1870’s, generally, and likely circa 1850 or a little earlier.

    Further, the builder of 618 repeated the cymarecta and upper fillet profiles across the bottom of the tympanum in the same dimension and scale as the cornice of the rakes of the roof. This is aesthetically different from the Armory House and “wrong” for a gable end. At 67-71, the detail is completed as a cornice return, more in keeping with a gable end (although it’s a dormer) whereas the detail at 618 is more appropriate for a dormer (but it’s the gable end.)

    Indeed it could have been the same builder at 67-71 and, knowing that he was putting a new gable roof above the original gable end, finished it as such. This supports the assertion that the center mass was, originally, a temple-front structure. I couldn’t access the Multiple Resource Document from SHPO’s SPHINX system for 618 but it would be interesting to learn more about the building (Dunn, Shirley (August 1985). "National Register of Historic Places nomination, Hudson Historic District". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.)

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    Replies
    1. Sorry, typo:

      "The extant timber frame vs. balloon frame makes the center mass pre-1870’s, generally, and likely circa 1850 or a little earlier."

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  3. The building at 67-71 North Fifth Street is asymmetrical, while the rendering of the proposed rebuild show the door of the middle section will be centered, adding symmetry to the 'new' building.
    Is that the intention and will it make for an awkward interior floor plan?

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