Albany, NY

The other day I was making fun of NY State's assessor's manual very outdated description of buildings built-in the Contemporary Style. From page 68:

This classification is used to describe a dwelling style that is somewhat unique in structure. It is usually custom built with any variety of story heights from 1 to 2, varied rooflines, and is a structure given to open living with many combinations of the traditional room layouts. Large overhangs, split and drop floor levels, large amounts of fixed glass, and unique wood and stone facings typify these homes. The roof may be traditional, shallow or steep gable, flat, hip, mansard, or a unique combination of these. Dwellings of this style are normally considered to have a construction grade of Grade "A" - Excellent or Grade "B" - Good. An exception to this would be the A -Frame style house which usually has a construction grade of Grade "C" - Average or below.

Here is a map of all the Contemporary Buildings in the Albany area.

Originally when the NYS Thruway was built through Albany, they acquired land and graded ramps to New Scotland and Delaware Avenue. I don't know if this was originally part of a local highway, but the ramps have long been removed and replaced with housing and other buildings and are no longer owned by the Thruway Authority. Aerial photography on the left is from 1952.

The Capital Region Urbanist group was discussing Crossgates Commons and the historic Rapp Road community and I thought I needed a quick map of it. Contemporary Albany County Tax Map overlaid.

2018 — Left

1952 — Right