Albany Felt Company Complex

Built in stages between 1902 and 1954, the Albany Felt Company mill and its supporting structures are located at 1373Broadway in the Village of Menands and City of Albany, Albany County. The nominated property is located on the east side of Broadway. The Albany Felt Company Complex is situated on the west side of the Hudson River and south of the Menand Park Historic District, which encompasses 21 residences in the bungalow and prairie style designed in the early20th century. The roughly nine-acre site is bounded by railroad tracks and the Canal Road (formerly the Erie Canal) to its east, and Broadway, the historic road that connected Albany to Troy, to its west. The landscaped parking lot, a 1980saddition, is located south of the building on a parcel in the City of Albany. Privately held parcels are located to the northand south of the property on Broadway.

This turn-of-the-century industrial complex consists of a large, three-story brick mill comprised of seven connected buildings. At the north are the manufacturing wings with smaller office and administrative wings gathered at its south entrance facade. Due south of the entrance is a small man-made pond (ca.1920s) which separates the building from a landscaped parking lot. To the east of the mill, at the rear of the lot, is an asphalt-paved parking area where two warehouses (1902 and 1941) are situated. To the west of the mill, between it and Broadway, is a large green space that includes a man made pond (1928) along with four scattered pump houses (ca.1920s). An ornamental cast-iron fence (1902) separates Broadway traffic from Albany Felt Company property. All the buildings and structures aforementioned are contributing to the significance of the nomination. These additions and alterations were necessitated by the technological advances in the paper manufacturing process and also by company growth. The sole non-contributing building is the Gate House at the south driveway entrance, designed in the late 1980s.The sole non-contributing object is the fence that surrounds the pond west of the mill.

At the turn of the century, commercial and industrial growth was pushing development north of Albany. As a part of this development, industries were moving into what had been a residential area along Broadway, the north-south arterial that connected Albany to Troy. Today, many of the neighboring early twentieth century industrial structures have been demolished, though over twenty were accounted for in the Village of Menands, one hundred years ago.