Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Transforming Partition Street

Although Partition Street is a street and was in the earliest days of Hudson a major thoroughfare to the river, it is often thought of today not as a street but an alley. Very few houses face Partition Street. Its buildings are mostly accessory buildings for houses on Allen Street and Union Street, and several retain evidence of their past lives as carriage houses. Many Hudsonians have celebrated the unconventional beauty of our backstreets and called for the preservation of their unique character, but preserving the authenticity and charm, particularly of Partition Street, is becoming increasingly difficult. Today, another building was lost on Partition Street between Second and Front. 

The building, located behind 25 Union Street, was in sad shape. The following pictures were taken in 2018, soon after the west wall collapsed. Gossips did a post about its compromised state at that time: "The Force of Gravity."




After years of demolition by neglect, the actual demolition was completed today. Yesterday, when the work began, code enforcement officer Craig Haigh told Gossips that an engineer had confirmed that the building was unsafe and beyond repair. Haigh noted, "When they get ready to rebuild, they will need a CA"--that is, a certificate of appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Commission. Once again, the HPC will be called upon to judge the compatibility of a proposed new structure in the context of the accidental, hodgepodge character of Partition Street.

Interestingly, when the plans for restoring 25 Union Street, a building owned by the Galvan Foundation, were presented to the HPC on Friday, November 6, no mention was made of the accessory building and its imminent demolition.

25 Union Street, May 2013
COPYRIGHT 2020 CAROLE OSTERINK

4 comments:

  1. went to some parties in that garage. The upstairs had a good feeling, all old wood.

    The building was razed with the greatest care, very professional. But how it lasted this long free-standing is a wonder.

    The predecessor of Partition Street, the "wagon way," may be the oldest street in Hudson. Due to some differing statutes between alleys and streets, I've noticed that city officials sometimes refer to Partition as an alley and sometimes as a street, contingent on what makes life easier.

    Technically, shouldn't the USPS deliver to houses with Partition Street tax addresses? We spare the carriers that inconvenience, but pay a steep price for being dismissed as an "alley."

    ReplyDelete
  2. Slink Moss filmed a movie scene in the funky upstairs lounge here. It was a card game scene. James Corbett, you were in it. I played a ghost.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The property that lost its fabulous pine grove.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. https://gossipsofrivertown.blogspot.com/2011/07/once-more-with-feeling-timber.html

      https://gossipsofrivertown.blogspot.com/2011/07/hudson-chainsaw-massacre.html

      Delete