page_title: Abrams Building
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Abrams Building / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Former location of the Abrams Building at South Pearl Street (NY 32) and Hudson Avenue in Albany, NY, USA
context_page_description: The Abrams Building was located at South Pearl Street and Hudson Avenue in Albany, New York, United States. It was a brick commercial building constructed in the 1880s. In 1980 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
  Originally it was part of a row of similar buildings. By the time it was listed, all of the adjoining buildings had been demolished, and it was one of the few 19th-century commercial building in Albany's downtown that retained its original storefront. Seven years later, in 1987, it was demolished to make way for the future Knickerbocker Arena.
context_section_description: The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 onwards triggered growth in Albany that lasted well into the next century. It became an industrial and financial center in addition to the seat of state government. New residential neighborhoods, such as the Mansion and Pastures, were developed south of the city's core, and streets extended to them, with new development replacing earlier structures.
  One instance was the Abrams Building. It did not have that name at the time, but in 1885 Dr. John Bigelow, a professor at Albany Medical College, replaced an older, smaller structure his family owned. While there is no record of the architect, it bears a resemblance to the 1887 Albany Business College building, designed by the local firm of Ogden and Wright. Its Romanesque detailing was a popular style at the time.
  It was in use almost immediately. By 1890 the commercial space housed a liquor store. Later it would be a confectionery, jewelry store and drug store. The upstairs meeting space was also busy, with over a hundred different social and fraternal organizations active in Albany at that time. Among them were the Grand Army of the Republic and the Sons of Temperance (prior to the opening of the liquor store).
   
  In the late 20th century, the city's industries went into decline, and many of the buildings from its prosperous years suffered as well. Most were spared the wholesale destruction of urban renewal programs due to Albany politics, but some older buildings were demolished anyway. By the time the Abrams Building, which had taken the name of its then owner, was listed on the Register, it was the sole survivor of the row of similar buildings it once been part of.
  The owner hoped that the listing would help spur the restoration and redevelopment of the property, but instead it was condemned when the Albany Civic Center project (now the Times Union Center) was approved. Along with the Abrams, ten other historic buildings, some of them contributing properties to the Downtown Albany Historic District, were slated for destruction. Local preservationists tried to save them all. The federal Urban Mass Transit Administration denied the city a grant to build an elevated walkway connecting the arena to the government buildings at Empire State Plaza, since it indicated it would proceed with the demolition before a federal review required by the National Historic Preservation Act for any federal action that might affect Register-listed properties. The buildings were demolished early in 1987.
caption: The Abrams Building site in 2015, seen from across Pearl Street
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D3X", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS5 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2015:12:23 02:41:51", "Image ExifOffset": "216", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "982", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7943", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/125", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2015:08:19 10:59:53", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2015:08:19 10:59:53", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "870723/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "2485427/500000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "1/2", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "9/2", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "20", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Fine weather", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "62", "EXIF SubSecTime": "71", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "71", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "71", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "5508", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3738", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[2, 0, 2, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "62", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "5028808", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[28, 300, 7/2, 28/5]", "EXIF LensModel": "28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6"}