General Electric Realty Plot
General Electric Realty Plot | |
 Houses on Stratford Road, 2008 | |
   | |
| Location | Schenectady, NY |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 42°48′58″N 73°55′12″W / 42.81611°N 73.92000°W |
| Area | 90 acres (36 ha)[1] |
| Built | 1900–27[1] |
| Architectural style | Various early 20th century styles |
| NRHP reference No. | 80002763 |
| Added to NRHP | 1980 |
The General Electric Realty Plot, often referred to locally as the GE Realty Plot, GE Plots or just The Plot, is a residential neighborhood in
Originally an undeveloped tract owned by the college, it was sold to
By 1927 approximately a hundred houses had been built, including
The Plot is no longer so heavily dominated by GE employees, due to the company's greatly reduced presence in the city. Houses in it remain highly valued, and residents pay some of the
Geography
The district is mostly bounded by streets, making it roughly quadrilateral in shape. At the west, Lenox Road divides it from the college campus. Nott Street forms the northern boundary, separating the Realty Plot from Ellis Hospital until West Alley, the rear property lines between houses on Lowell Road and Glenwood Boulevard, which marks the eastern boundary. After crossing Rugby Road, the line turns west to take in the houses on the south side of that street to its intersection with Wendell Avenue, then following Union Avenue back to Lenox.[1]
A small stream known as College Creek or Grooteskill flows west through the district to the Mohawk River, making a ravine 30 feet (9.1 m) deep and 100 feet (30 m) wide through the center of the district. It is spanned by four bluestone arch bridges, all included as contributing properties. Many mature trees grow throughout the district.[1]
The houses within are on
The Steinmetz Memorial on Wendell Avenue is the only significant open space in the district. It is named for Charles Proteus Steinmetz, the German-born electrical engineer whose research made alternating current possible. Steinmetz's house (at 1297 Wendell Avenue) stood on the grounds of the Memorial. He did research in a backyard lab, and both the lab and the house were demolished in 1944.[2] Steinmetz also chaired the city's school board. A separate public park in Schenectady, known as The Steinmetz Park, is located on Lenox Road but is outside the GE Realty Plot district.
The building at 1184 Rugby Road was developed as a primary school and remained in use for that purpose for many years.[1]
Only five buildings have been added to the district since its initial period of development in the first quarter of the 20th century. They include a modern church by
History
In 1899
They formed a
The plan for the neighborhood was developed by Parse and DeForrest, specialists in the new discipline of
Covenants in the deeds for each lot limited construction on it to one single-family house, to be sold or valued at no less than $4,000 ($146,000 in contemporary dollars), almost twice the median home value in Schenectady at that time, a value later raised to account for inflation. Construction had to commence within two years of the purchase of the lot.[1] The setback and lot size restrictions were also set at this time. Another provision limited the height of any fence between properties to 3 feet 6 inches (107 cm), to make sure they were purely ornamental in purpose. When the plans were finished, the property's surveyor claimed "We have here a suburban residential plot second-to-none between New York and Chicago, either in layout, restrictions, or the class of houses upon it."[4]
The streets were mostly named from a combination of the works of Sir Walter Scott and two prominent names in the history of New England, Adams and Lowell. Rugby Road was named due to the use of an adjacent field for rugby matches. Nott Road already existed and had been named for Union College president Eliphalet Nott. Lenox Road was originally spelled with two "n"'s.[4]
Every winter an area behind Brown School was flooded to create a skating pond for residents of the Plot, who received a special lapel tag to identify themselves. The fire hydrant built for this purpose is still extant.[4]
Houses were built and sold rapidly. Some non-GE residents moved in, including the city's then-mayor F.F. Eisenmanger. In 1912 another mayor,
The original map of the plot shows three large parcels in the Oxford Street area to the east. Not part of the original College Woods property, they were eventually purchased by the realty company in 1914 and developed. These lots lacked the covenants in the earlier ones, and as a result some of the houses on Rugby Road are closer together than the rest of the neighborhood.[4]
By 1927 almost all the lots were bought and built on. Since then only five new buildings have been constructed in the district.[4]
Preservation
The neighborhood is one of four historic districts recognized by the city of Schenectady. It comes under the purview of its Historic Commission, a seven-member body that meets once a month. Under the city's
There is also a
Union College owns several of the houses, and in the late 20th century decided to convert some of them to administrative offices and student housing. Residents objected, citing the deed covenants and zoning that prohibited business uses, and filed suit. In 2001 a state appeals court upheld a lower-court ruling in the college's favor. As a nonprofit the college was not a business, and its presence predated the creation of the Plot and its deed covenants, so the framers of those covenants would have likely included language explicitly restricting college-related activities if that had been their intent.[10] It converted the Parker-Rice estate at 1128 Lenox Road into offices for its fundraising and alumni relations departments. An attempt to have the state's Court of Appeals, its highest, hear the case was denied.[11]
Significant contributing properties
Most of the homes in the district that have additional significance have it because of their residents.
- 67 Union Avenue. In 1900, the first home built for Edwin W. Rice, a GE executive and president of Schenectady Realty, considered one of the three fathers of General Electric.[1]
- 1155 Avon Road. One of the first all-electric houses in the country when built in 1905.[1]
- 6 Douglas Road. The first all-electric "Gold Medallion" house in the nation in 1901.[1]
- Ernst Alexanderson House, 1132 Adams Road. Alexanderson, a pioneer in radio and television development, held 322 patents. The first television broadcast was received here in 1927. GE used it as a model for such houses[1]
- Ernst Julius Berg House, 1336 Lowell Road. Home of the producer of the first two-way radio program in the U.S.[1]
- William D. Coolidge House, 1480 Lenox Road. Home of the inventor of the modern X-ray tube. He served in his later years as GE's director of research[1]
- Caryl Parker Haskins House, 1166 Avon Road. Home of the entomologist when he taught at Union College.[1]
- magnetron, the later foundation for the development of radar and microwave ovens. He held 94 patents.[1]
- Irving Langmuir House, 1176 Stratford Road. From 1919 until his death in 1957, this was the home of Irving Langmuir, winner of the 1932 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and the first industrial chemist so honored. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985, this is the only contributing property in the district separately listed on the National Register.[1]
- Alfred E. Smith.[1]
- Chester Rice House, 1161 Lowell Road.[1] One night in the 1930s, Rice, a GE engineer, directed radio beams at nearby vehicles and got them to bounce back, one of the earliest practical demonstrations of radar.[2]
- Edwin Rice House, 1050 Avon Road. Rice built this house for himself in 1905.
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harwood, John (February 28, 1980). "National Register of Historic Places nomination, General Electric Realty Plot". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
- ^ Hearst Corporation. Retrieved September 11, 2009.[permanent dead link]
- ^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "History". Realty Plot Association. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
- ^ Schenectady Department of Development, "Historic Districts Brochure" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 27, 2010. Retrieved September 11, 2009., retrieved September 11, 2009.
- Hearst Corporation. Retrieved September 11, 2001.]
A neighborhood built decades ago for the top leaders at the General Electric Co.'s Schenectady plant, the Realty Plot boasts many of the largest homes in the city and the highest property tax assessments in Schenectady, which has the highest combined tax burden of any municipality in the Capital Region.
[permanent dead link - ^ "House and Garden Tour". Realty Plot Association. 2017. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
- Hearst Corporation. Retrieved September 11, 2001.]
A book on the neighborhood, "The Enclave of Elegance," was written by Bruce Maston and published in 1983. Newcomers are welcomed by the homeowners' association with a copy of the book and a bottle of champagne, says Sally Quinn, association president.
[permanent dead link - Hearst Corporation. Retrieved September 11, 2001.[permanent dead link]
- Hearst Corporation. Retrieved September 11, 2001.[permanent dead link]
External links
