The Cannon Building in Troy, New York is located on Broadway between First and State streets. It is the oldest building on Monument Square. It was designed by Alexander Jackson Davis and built in 1835. In 1970 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is also a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...

to the Central Troy Historic District, listed on the Register in 1986. Davis, who collaborated with Ithiel Town on the building, used the then-popular Greek Revival style to produce one of the rare surviving large-scale commercial buildings in that style. After two fires in the years after the Civil War, a

mansard roof A mansard or mansard roof (also called a French roof or curb roof) is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. The ...

, usually associated with that era's Second Empire style, was added to the top of the building to create an unusual combination. It continues to be used as a retail-office building, although a developer is redoing the upper floors as an extended-stay hotel.

Building and history

The Cannon Building is five stories high, 22

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...

wide by five deep. It is made of

load-bearing A load-bearing wall or bearing wall is a wall that is an active structural element of a building, which holds the weight of the elements above it, by conducting its weight to a foundation structure below it. Load-bearing walls are one of the ea ...

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

augmented by wooden floor joists inside. The upper story is a mansard roof with bracketed

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

and pedimented dormers. Originally, it was four stories in height. The mansard roof was added in 1870 during reconstruction in the wake of two fires. The easternmost storefronts are original. In the later 19th century, the building was home to Frear's Troy Bazaar, at the time one of the city's premier retailers. A piano manufacturer and jewelry store were among the later tenants. In the early 2000s film producer and developer Sandy Horowitz was looking for properties to buy to offset, for tax purposes, the sale of others he had owned in New York City. A broker led him upstate to Troy, where he bought Cannon and several other Monument Square properties. Which he now owes Troy $323,000 in back taxes. He redeveloped the upper three floors into 30 units named Cannon Place for an extended-stay hotel, seeing visiting faculty at nearby

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

and

Russell Sage College Russell Sage College (often Russell Sage or RSC) is a co-educational college with two campuses located in Albany and Troy, New York, approximately north of New York City in the Capital District. Russell Sage College offers both undergraduate ...

who wanted to live within walking distance of those institutions as a target market. He also added amenities such as a

spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneoth ...

and Internet cafe to the ground floor. In September 2009, the ground floor restaurant was closed for back taxes.

References

External links

Cannon Extended StaysNational Register of Historic Places
{{National Register of Historic Places in New York Hotels in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Troy, New York Greek Revival architecture in New York (state) Commercial buildings completed in 1835 Buildings and structures in Troy, New York Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in New York (state) Buildings with mansard roofs New York State Register of Historic Places in Troy