Foster Complex (Foster Building)

The six-story Foster building opened in 1907 and survives as an outstanding example of the region's early-twentieth-century Beaux-Arts commercial architecture movement, and as a monument to a period of substantial population and industrial growth anchored by the General Electric Company. The exterior features exemplary decorated terra-cotta facades, which reflects the nation's City Beautiful movement of the era, made popular during the 1893 World's Fair (Columbian Exposition) in Chicago. The building's principal function was the city's luxury hotel, followed by operating as an apartment complex, on its upper floors with retail space on the lowest levels. Two doors down, the Schenectady Railway Building served as a bustling hub of the city's elevated trolley system from 1913 through the 1930s. The two historical buildings now make up half of a four-building, interconnected city block known as the Foster Complex. 

The Foster Building arose during a period of prolific growth for Schenectady following the 1892 consolidation of the Edison Machine Works with other companies to form the General Electric Company (GE). Between 1880 and 1910, the city's population quadrupled. Trolley lines, electrified by GE in 1891, connected the sprawling GE complex with downtown and a growing network of streetcar suburbs. Local entrepreneur, Charles Brown, owner of Schenectady's pre-eminent Edison Hotel (circa 1900), built the Foster Building to accommodate the growing need to house newcomers to Schenectady, salesman, and transient GE employees. 

The Foster Building's elaborate facade, executed in white glazed terra-cotta, an abundance of decorative details, and ancient Roman features, exemplifies the ornamentation associated with the Beaux-Arts style that prevailed in the U.S. until the arrival of the Great Depression. It also reflects the turn of the century City Beautiful movement, an outcome of the 1893 Columbian Exposition seen throughout the nation in prosperous urban centers. Another building exhibiting City Beautiful decor is the Schenectady Railway Building, which served the city from 1913 through the Great Depression. The railway building sits two doors down from the Foster Hotel and served as a primary hub for the city's elevated railway. The presence of such structures in downtown Schenectady indicates the wave of prosperity brought to the town by General Electric; Schenectady goes by the nickname "Electric City." 

The Foster Building consisted of retail space on its lowest two floors, mainly occupied by a piano and sheet music store from 1910 to the 1970s. The upper floors functioned first as a hotel, followed by an apartment complex. As a hotel, it served as the city's most luxurious with sixty furnished rooms, a bathroom and separate toilet on each floor, hot and cold water in every room, and an abundance of modern amenities and conveniences, including the chance to purchase elevator use for one dollar per day. 

The hotel remained in the Brown family through 1963 (meaning the piano store on the lowest floors survived longer than the hotel). For decades after the 1970s, owners changed hands, and success proved fleeting. A burst pipe during the 1990s caused severe water damage, exasperating the building's decline. However, the Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority (SMDA) led an effort in 2009 to force delinquent owners to sell the building, which they did to Sequence Development, LLC. A series of grants and tax incentives and years of renovation resulted in a four-building complex comprised of 21 luxury apartments, 7,000 square feet of commercial space, and several service-industry (restaurants, retail) operations. Thus, the buildings have always enjoyed an economical and historical link, primarily tied to GE and the broader early-twentieth-century Schenectady growth, and now they have a physical connection, as well. 

Cropley, John. "Renovation of Foster Building complex passes $7M mark." The Daily Gazette (Schenectady) March 9, 2018.

"The Foster Story." The Foster Hotel. http://www.thefosterbuilding.com/info-1.

Garofalini, Linda M."Nomination Form: Foster Building." National Register of Historic Places. arhives.gov. May 1, 1991. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75321673

Lamendola, Michael . "Metroplex to historic building’s owners: Sell it or we’ll take it." The Daily Gazette (Schenectady) June 11, 2009.

"Sequence Development Completes Latest Phase of the Foster Building Complex in Schenectady." Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority. http://www.schenectadymetroplex.com/news/sequence-development-completes-latest-phase-of-the-foster-building-complex-in-schenectady/