Keeping Up with Morgan Jones' Mansion

In May, Gossips reported on the restoration and the alterations proposed for 317 Allen Street, the house designed by Marcus Reynolds for Morgan A. Jones and completed in 1906. Among the proposed changes were introducing a bay window at southwest corner of the second floor and adding a large, tall window, extending two stories, on the southeast corner.   

At a public hearing for the project held by the Historic Preservation Commission on April 28, those who spoke objected most strongly to the bay window, arguing that it was "totally out of character with the original intent of the building." In the case of this house, nobody needs to guess what the original intent was. All of the original drawings for the building are preserved at the Albany Institute of History and Art, and photographs of the house appeared in a publication called Brickbuilder in 1910, just four years after construction was completed. Below is one of those photographs, showing the rear facade of the house as it was meant to be. 

On Friday, the architect for the project returned to the HPC with a new proposal, responding to the public comment and concerns expressed by members of the Historic Preservation Commission. The bay window had been abandoned, but in its place was a large four paned window, involving the two existing window openings and the space in between. 

In the southeast corner of the house, which is the location of the kitchen, the single tall window became two, with another two similar windows on the east side of the house.

HPC member John Schobel observed, "This is a very important house. Drastic changes to it go against historic preservation." He called the proposed new fenestration "significant changes in style and integrity of the house." Phil Forman, who chairs the HPC, commented that protecting original material as much as possible was high up in the hierarchy of concerns for historic preservation, but he went on to say he was empathetic to the applicants' desire to bring in more light. 

HPC member Hugh Biber said of window proposed for the southwest corner, "Those flat panels are different from anything else in the house." He suggested they consider putting a window that replicated the existing windows centered between the two windows. He maintained that there should be a way to allow more light into the room with a solution that "looks like it's always been there." Other members of the HPC concurred with Biber. 

In the end, Forman asked the applicant to "consider solutions that are visually closer to what is." HPC member Jeremy Stynes restated the ask, "Can we get to a solution that achieves what you want to do with the least alteration to the existing structure?" It was agreed that the architect would return with "some other thoughts."

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