Colonie Animal Hospital (Gone)
Colonie, NY Photo courtesy Dirk Burhans
Colonie, New York's pride and joy. it's theColonie Animal Hospital. And
yes, the building does look a bit institutional, although from an angle
(and if you squint your eyes) it resembles an ocean liner. Then again, anything
could look like an ocean liner if you squeeze your eyes hard enough.
Located along Central Avenue (Route 5), this streamlined Art Moderne structure dates back to the 1940s when it was founded by Dr. Jack Mindell. With its crisp white walls, rounded corners, and industrial steel sash grid windows, you can definitely see where the cruise ship comparison comes from as you cruise down the highway. For decades, the clinic was an absolute staple along the roadside, complete with old-school freestanding metal cutout letters perched right on the roofline. The practice served local pets and their families for over seventy continuous years before the site was modernized.
UPDATE: The building has been repurposed as a PetMedic Urgent Care veterinary clinic, and the vintage rooftop letters have since been removed. 08-26
Springfield Town Library (Formerly Spafford Library Building)
Springfield, VT Photo courtesy Richard Weiss
Built in 1895, the Springfield Town Library is a brick landmark in Springfield, VT. The library was formerly called the Spafford Library Building.
Perched right along Main Street in downtown Springfield, this handsome Romanesque Revival building was designed by Boston architect Russell W. Porter. It was funded through a generous twenty-thousand-dollar bequest from local resident Henry Harrison Spafford, who wanted the town to have a permanent, fireproof home for its growing collection of books.
Take a look at that deep-red pressed brick and heavy Longmeadow brownstone trim. The main entrance is framed by a massive stone archway, with the original name "Spafford Library Building" hand-carved right into the stone above the doors. To keep up with the town's expanding literary stash, a matching two-story brick wing was added to the back in 1939, keeping the historic character intact. 07-07
UPDATE: The historic Romanesque building continues to serve the community as the active Springfield Town Library. 08-26
Thames National Bank (Closed)
Norwich, CT Photo courtesy Richard Weiss
At one time there must have been some serious money rolling through here judging from the sheer quality and craftsmanship of this old bank building. No expense was spared on this one, and this level of monumental architecture was usually reserved for big-city financial districts. 08-13
The Thames National Bank was originally chartered back in 1825 as the second banking institution in Norwich. Believe it or not, its early maritime charter legally required the bank to dredge and maintain a ten-foot-deep shipping channel in the Thames River, even giving them the right to collect physical tolls from passing commercial ships heading upriver to the docks!
Thames National Bank
Norwich, CT Photo courtesy Richard Weiss
The pictured bank building was built between 1910 and 1911 to replace the institution's cramped, outmoded 1860s storefront. Designed by the prominent New York architectural firm of Rowe & Keyes, the two-story granite landmark was crafted as a classic Neo-Classical temple of commerce. From the massive fluted columns framing the entrance to the heavy stone pediment and deep dentil molding along the roofline, it looks like something plucked right off Wall Street and dropped into eastern Connecticut.
UPDATE: While the teller windows have long since closed, the monumental granite building has been preserved and repurposed for commercial professional offices along Chelsea Harbor Drive. 08-26
Capital City Rescue Mission
Albany, NY Photo courtesy
Rick Ibsen
The red neon on this Jesus Saves cross lights the way to the Capital City Rescue Mission in Albany. Two simple words cross each other in bright red tubing against the white background, making this old sign quite a beacon after dark. 10-09
Capital City Rescue Mission was founded in 1949 and operated for many years at 50 Hudson Avenue. The cross once hung on the brick building beside painted lettering that read, “The way of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.”
The mission moved to South Pearl Street around 2000, but the old sign was not forgotten. It was saved when the Hudson Avenue building was demolished in August 2016 and later placed on the newer mission building.
UPDATE: The Jesus Saves cross survives and still glows above the Capital City Rescue Mission at 259 South Pearl Street. 08-26
Colonie Animal Hospital (Gone)
Springfield Town Library (Formerly Spafford Library Building)
Thames National Bank (Closed)
Thames National Bank
