The Barnes Lodge (or Bungalow), built in 1909 on the top of the
highest Pine Bush sand dune in McKownville, north of Waverly Place,
adjoining the Albany Country Club grounds. It was designed by
Marcus T Reynolds, a well-known
Albany architect of the time. William Barnes used it as a
retreat, in his political
activities as Albany County Republican chairman, and
editor/owner of the Albany Evening Journal. On losing control of the
Albany political scene to the Democrats in 1921, Barnes sold
this property. The Lodge was owned from 1923 until 1953 by
Katherine L Perkins; her husband John Perkins was manager in the
1920's of
Cottrell and Leonard, a quality mens and womens clothing store
in Albany. From 1953 to 1965 it was the home of Donald F Noord, a
local plumbing and heating contractor. As part of the property
sales in the early 1960's connected with the replacement of
the Albany Country Club by the construction of the uptown campus of
the State University of New York at Albany, the Lodge and some of
its grounds were acquired by the Capital Area Council of Churches.
They repurposed the Lodge as an interdenominational chapel for
students, calling it the "Chapel House".
It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in
November 1982 under
that name. On 26 May 1985 it was gutted
by fire, and no visible trace remains, but it is still (in
2022) listed on the National
Register (search for reference number 82001057).
Photo taken in 1966 [Jim Lund photo, Turnpike Record file,
Guilderland Historical Society]
Fire at the Barnes
Lodge/"Chapel House" 26 May 1985
Fred Abele (Altamont
Enterprise article 3 Nov 1983) claimed this was a photo of the
Barnes House interior, but the two articles in the Turnpike Record
by Joyce Durgerian published 8 December
1966, and 15 December
1966, say that it is of a nearby structure called the Woods House.
Durgerian's first article contains a description of the interior of
the Barnes Lodge, but we have not found photos definitely identified
as showing parts of it. The original plan of the ground floor of the
Barnes Bungalow shows a position and geometry of the
staircases not compatible with this photo, so it is most probably of
the Woods House interior, as stated by Joyce Dergerian.
[photo from the archives of the Guilderland Historical Society]
Judge John E Holt-Harris, who lived in a house built about 1949 in
the original Barnes lot, nearer Waverly Place, and was a long-term
trustee of the University, purchased
at different times parts of Barnes original 5 acres and of the
adjacent "Nicholas Lane" property, preserving them purposefully as a
largely wooded natural area in the residential neighborhood of
McKownville. This greatly valued neighborhood amenity is now
owned by the University at Albany, and the potential threat of
the destruction of this woodland has been strongly protested by
residents and has been the subject of a formal statement and resolution by
the Guilderland Town Board.
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