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Feb.
24, 2003 |
School of Architecture Lends Helping Hand in
Preserving Local History
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| Thomas Griffin |
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Thanks largely to the efforts of a School of Architecture
graduate program, the memorable "signal building" in
downtown Troy recently was placed in the National Register of
Historic Places.
The 1920 structure on State Street, officially
known as the Fire Alarm Telegraph and Police Signaling Building,
was used by dispatchers to monitor city and emergency calls. The
building, now owned by Rensselaer County, has been vacant since
the 1960s.
The effort to include the building on the federal
list began two years ago when the county legislature contacted
Fred Cawley, director of Rensselaer's Master of Science in Building
Conservation Program. Cawley launched an initiative to study ways
in which the building might be preserved and provide useful space.
Graduate students in the Recording Historic Structures class
began by recording the dimensions and other details of the historical
building.
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Thomas Griffin
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In the fall 2001, Rensselaer instructor Peter
Shaver offered the building as a research project for the same
class. Architecture graduate student Karen Roth's final paper
provided the documentation for the federal register application
process that Shaver completed. Shaver is program analyst for the
state Historic Preservation Office that nominates properties to
the state and national registers of historic places.
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