United States historic place
The
Schenectady Armory
is located on Washington Avenue in
the city of the same name
in the U.S. state of New York. It is a brown brick building dating to 1936.
New York's
state architect
at that time, William Haugaard, used the
Art Deco
architectural style
for the exterior of the building and the
Tudorbethan
mode for the interior. The armory remains virtually intact today. It was home to two units of the
New York Army National Guard
until it was closed in 2008. In 1995 it was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
.
Building
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The armory is on a
one-way
extension of Washington Avenue just north of its interchange with
Interstate 890
and just south of
Schenectady County Community College
's
Elston Hall
opposite, the former Hotel Van Curler. To its east is Fuller Street and some industrial buildings.
Exterior
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It is on a 1.9-acre (0.77 ha) lot with one other building, a modern garage not considered a
contributing resource
to the Register listing. The armory itself is a T-shaped building of brick on a
steel frame
structural system. The main block is three and a half stories in height with slightly asymmetrical two-story side wings. It has a projecting entrance
pavilion
on the west (front) elevation, with a segmented arch over its
sally port
, filled with two heavy oak doors with
medieval
-inspired hardware. The
facade
is otherwise embellished with details representing both the Art Deco and Tudorbethan styles.
[1]
Projecting perpendicularly to the main administration building on the east is the drill shed, a
gable
-roofed wing with its windows spaced by
buttresses
with stone caps. The brick-faced
concrete block
garage is to the southeast.
[1]
Interior
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The main entrance
vestibule
is a two-story octagonal space with
concrete
wainscoting
painted to look like red
sandstone
. Doors leading to offices off the entrance have half-sidelights and scored concrete surrounds. Corridors on the first story are
cross-vaulted
, with those on the second story using
barrel vaults
. Both have concrete ceilings and brick walls.
[1]
At the end of the north wing's first story, the company meeting room, later converted into a bar and dining room, features
paneled
wainscoting,
stuccoed
concrete walls and a concrete ceiling encasing the support beams. The offices elsewhere in the wing have generally been subdivided and modernized, although the second-story corridor's barrel vault, accentuated by
spandrels
supported by brick piers, is intact.
[1]
In the drill shed, the ceiling is wainscoted, with steel
trusses
, exposed brick walls and an intact
balcony
at the west end. The original hardwood flooring has been covered with wooden tiles.
[1]
History
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Schenectady's first armory was built in 1868 to serve two local units, the Washington Continentals and the Citizens' Corps. The former, formed in 1839, had first served in the
Mexican War
. It was broken up during the recent
Civil War
but reformed afterwards. The Citizens' Corps was not formally organized until 1873. It joined the
New York National Guard
in 1880, becoming the 36th Separate
Company
.
[1]
Their armory was built with a $30,000 ($624,000 in contemporary dollars
[2]
)
appropriation
from the state obtained by newly elected
assemblyman
Robert Furman. A three-member commission including Furman chose the hill in Crescent Park overlooking the city as the site for a three-story red brick building with a
polychrome
slate roof. Records show an "83rd
Regiment
" drilling in the armory until it disbanded in 1874. It may have become the 36th and 37th Separate Companies.
[1]
In 1890, sentiment began to grow to build a new armory. State architect
Isaac Perry
's new building was completed and built on the same site in 1898, just in time for the
Spanish?American War
. It was well-received locally and continued to serve the local Guard units as they prepared and mustered for
World War I
, where they were designated as the 105th Infantry of the
American Expeditionary Force
, a name that remained associated with Schenectady for many years. After the war, as many as five separate companies were using the armory, and throughout the 1920s they began lobbying for another new armory.
[1]
The state finally began construction of the current building in 1936. Unlike other armories built in New York during the
Great Depression
, Schenectady's was located in the core of the city, near the hotel, the
General Electric
plant a quarter-mile (400 m) away, and businesses that had flocked to Erie Boulevard, the recently filled former route of the
Erie Canal
. The old armory in Crescent Park was demolished in 1946.
[1]
The armory continued to serve local military needs through
World War II
, the
Korean War
and the early years of the
Cold War
. In the early 1960s it was isolated in the neighborhood when I-890 was built. The hotel went
bankrupt
but was quickly reused as
Schenectady County Community College
's Elston Hall.
[1]
By the 21st century the armory had again grown outdated, and the state's
Division of Military and Naval Affairs
closed it down on November 10, 2008, to save heating costs. College sporting events and other gatherings that had been held in the armory were likewise suspended. The 206th
Military Police
Company, which had been based there, moved to a new facility in
Latham
, and the other tenant, the 501st
Explosive Ordnance Disposal
Battalion, moved to the new
Scotia
Armed Forces Reserve Center at the
Schenectady County Airport
.
[3]
The state sold the armory at auction in July 2012 for $260,000.
[4]
It was purchased by partners Ray and Jeff Legere. It now operates as Armory Studios NY,
armorystudiosny.com
the region's largest, dedicated, qualified New York State soundstage and a major entertainment destination. Large production companies have utilized its 30,000 sq ft Studio A, the former Drill Hall, for sets and or as a location, as well as many of the other spaces throughout the facility. In 2020 AMAZON STUDIOS
AMAZON STUDIOS
taped their
MODERN LOVE
at Armory Studios NY and utilized much of the facility, with Studio A being sectioned into multiple shooting spaces. In 2022 HBO MAX taped PRETTY LITTLE LIARS ORIGINAL SIN
Pretty Little Liars Original Sin
turning Studio A into an indoor amusement park using both bespoke elements and a full complement of full sized, actual amusement park rides including a ferris wheel. Throughout, independent films have used multiple locations including freestanding Studio B, listed above as the modern garage. In 2022 Armory Studios NY welcomed Van Gogh, The Immersive Experience to Studio A, which ran from June of that year until October 2023. Following that successful run, Monet The Immersive Experience was installed and remains running. Van Gogh Expo attracted upwards of 140,000 visitors and to meet that challenge, Armory Studios NY opened Armory Lounge NY, the former Visiting Officers Lounge, serving coffee, cocktails and light fare. The mess hall was converted to THE OFFICER’S CLUB, a flexible event and catering space, to meet growing demand.
See also
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References
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External links
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