Old Timey Buildings of Utica, New York.

Utica is a treasure trove of old buildings, especially for those with the ability to recognize them under their sometime disguises.

" Munn's Castle ".  No. 1 Rutger Park. Italianate villa circa 1850 designed by prominent Victorian A.J. Davis. The original architectural plans are in the archives of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Rutger Park was an exclusive compound for a small Utica elite developed in the mid Victorian period. It is sited on a high hill with one of the finest sweeping views north of the Mohawk Valley. An interesting story claims that when the Erie Canal was first built across the valley below one of the park's high class female residents complained that "Clinton's Ditch " so destroyed her view that she was moving. I hear that the same was said by many of the Eiffel Tower " monstrosity " when it was first built in Paris.

Interesting how time can change widely held aesthetic opinions. Will people be referring to the giant new electric generating windmills across America as " romantic " in another fifty to one hundred years?

We are very fortunate that Munn's Castle has been preserved by our Landmarks Society very much as an authentic period piece inside and out. Nevertheless it seems rather sad that it has been vacant for years. It might be good if one or more of the corporations involved with Utica's evolving multi billion dollar nanotech industry could invest new life in the castle. Perhaps for a nanotech museum? It would be an stunning and dramatic contrast to have the history of this very modern, cutting edge technology displayed in an almost Gothic or " steampunk " setting.

Manse, First Presbyterian Church. Genesee Street, circa 1900.

430 Columbia Street. Downtown. Decorative Victorian cornice with painted terracotta tiles circa 1880.

Handcut porch brackets circa 1855 at 225 Rutger Street.

" Chamberlin of Utica ". One of the oldest extant commercial buildings in Utica. Note the "eyebrow" windows. Chamberlin closed around 2012. Building is circa 1835. Varick Street, west Utica.