The Nicholaus Building Is Now A Pile of Rubble: Schenectady, New York

Those were the days...  The Nicholaus Building stood at the corner of State Street and Erie Boulevard for well over a century.  It was built in the 1800s when the Erie Canal flowed through downtown Schenectady.

Things went terribly wrong last spring.  An adjacent building was removed and cracks opened up ed in the walls and floors of the Nicholaus.  The tenants were hastily evacuated (evicted).  Lanes were closed on State Street and Erie Boulevard.  Supports were installed along the west wall to stabilize the Nicholaus Building, and everyone waited.....

I took this picture

last May.

On April 7, 2017, just over a year after being endangered by its neighbors demolition, an inspection showed that the Nicholaus Building was ready to collapse.  The initial demolition took place over night.





This is what I found on
Friday, April 14, 2017.

The view from State
Street.





A worker sprays down the debris with water.  I don't know if it's in case of fire, or to keep the Asbestos from drying and going airborne.  This old, outdated insulation material is a cancer causing agent and no one wants this substance in his or her lungs.

There's a lot of bricks

waiting to be removed.

I poked my camera lens
through the chain link
fence to get this
close up shot.

This picture was taken from across Erie Boulevard.

Some of the debris is
covered by tarps.

Erie Boulevard, facing
toward State Street.





The Letters to the Editor Section of The Daily Gazette has numerous postmortems on the demise of the Nicholaus Building.

The many, many lawsuits that have been filed against the City of Schenectady and contractors will work their way through the courts.  Eventually, something will built on this corner and new memories will be made here.

In the meantime, the owners of the former Nicholaus Building filed a second lawsuit against the city.

For updates on the lawsuits that are making their way through the courts four years later, read Court Fight Continues Over Demolition of Lanmard Nicholaus Building in The Daily Gazette,.

August 27, 2022: Piyamas "Pui" DeMasi,  owner of the Nicholaus Building, and Viroj and Malinee Chompupong , owners of the Thai Thai Restaurant received a $1.075 Million Dollar Settlement.  The City and adjacent Property Developers deny any wrongdoing.  Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy stated that the City of Schenectady settled this "Nuisance Lawsuit."