In September of 2011, through a grant from the Preservation League of New York State, the Delaware Avenue neighborhood of Albany hired Landmark Consulting to provide preservation consulting services, specifically to survey the first portion of the combined commercial and residential streets within the larger Delaware Avenue community. This reconnaissance-level survey sought to identify individual properties and potential district boundaries based on age and retention of integrity to warrant further study for possible inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places as a designated historic district. The methodology involved researching the history of the development of this part of the city, establishing a period of significance, and to provide a context for evaluating the historic significance of the surveyed properties. In total, 180 properties were surveyed using a custom building inventory/survey form based on the State Historic Resources Building Inventory form. This project involved the coordination and oversight of a student intern for the duration of the project.
The resulting inventory and study report was submitted to the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) and the City of Albany’s Planning Department, and several walking tours and presentations resulted based on the information we uncovered and historic significance we identified. Additional survey efforts still need to be conducted on the rest of the Delaware Avenue neighborhood, and it remains the hope of Landmark Consulting and the preservation community that this neighborhood will be designated a national or local historic district in the coming years.
Download the Reconnaissance-Level Survey of the Delaware Avenue Neighborhood.