Schenectady's Gillette House proposed as bagel shop

The city finally has a possible use for the historic Gillette House, which has been vacant for more than 20 years.

The proposal: turn it into an independent bagel shop.

The price: add a modern drive-through.

The building is at the entrance to the Historic Stockade District. The drive-through would be just as visible, using Union Street and South Church Street to propel customers in and out.

And while the Stockade Association was enthusiastic about finally filling the vacant building, some residents have serious reservations about a drive-through.

The city’s Board of Zoning Appeals will decide the issue next year. The earliest a decision can be made is January. The building is zoned residential; neighbors had supported the less-intensive office use, but not a commercial use.

Proponents note that the shop would be managed by the McDonald family, which also runs the Stockade Inn and, more recently, The Van Dyck. Both are historic buildings in the Stockade.

John M. McDonald, in his application to the BZA, argued that the Gillette House should be a restaurant. It’s next to Clinton’s Ditch, a bar, and on the dividing line between the downtown commercial zoning and the Stockade’s historic residential zone.

“From a practical viewpoint, it is a commercial location,” McDonald wrote, adding that it is “best suited” for commercial use and won’t hurt the neighborhood.

“Being that the building is on the corner, the changes required to make the building into a restaurant use will not have any substantial impact on the neighborhood,” he wrote.

But the drive-through will bring vehicles into the residential area just behind the building. And it will shuttle them in and out through a driveway that is often crossed by pedestrians.

Gloria Kishton, chairwoman of the Schenectady Heritage Foundation, said she wants to research the plans before deciding whether the drive-through would hurt the Stockade’s goals of historic preservation.

She opposed the Hampton Inn’s parking lot entrance on State Street because it would impede pedestrians. That entrance the only place on that block where a car can suddenly cross over the sidewalk.

“People are really not expecting that there,” she said. “In the Stockade, there are many driveways on Union Street. I think people are expecting that. I’m not saying that’s good or bad. People here are a little more cognizant of cars crossing the walkway.”

noise questions

She also wants the BZA to look closely at the possible noise from the drive-through. “You have to take into consideration the residences next door,” she said.

She says the city erred when it allowed Clinton’s Ditch to open a back patio, where patrons can drink and listen to music late at night.

But while the noise from a drive-through speaker doesn’t carry on as long as a party, the drive-through at Burger King is louder than the music that can be heard from Clinton’s Ditch, according to measurements taken by The Daily Gazette during the 2006 controversy over outdoor bar parties.

The bagel shop could wake residents up early with its drive-through: the shop would open at 7 a.m. But it wouldn’t keep people up late — McDonald plans to close the shop at 3 p.m. every day. He only plans to be open five to six days a week.

Kishton said the BZA must also consider the value of having someone use the Gillette House.

“One of the basic ways to save historic housing is to have it used,” she said. “If it’s vacant, no one’s taking care of it.”

Dr. Elizabeth Van Rensselaer Gillette lived and worked out of the house from about 1900 until her death at age 90 in 1965. The house then fell into disrepair.

She was the first female physician in Schenectady County. She also became the first woman elected to the Assembly a year before women won national suffrage.

Half a million dollars was pumped into the house in the last decade by Schenectady County in an effort to restore her home as a visitor’s center for the Chamber of Commerce. But the money only paid for the exterior facade, the clean-up of lead paint chips that had contaminated the grounds, and a complete gutting of the interior.

All historic elements inside the house were lost. Then the county’s plans fell through, and the Chamber sold the building to the McDonalds.

Kishton said she doesn’t oppose turning the interior into a restaurant, since the building was gutted — although she wishes the inside could have been saved.

Still, she said, the BZA must also consider reality.

“We have quite a history of plans falling through for the building. I think we’re at a point where we have an individual who wants to do something,” she said. “ It’s an entranceway…We all want the historic [preservation] laws to work perfectly, but especially in Schenectady we are not living in a perfect world. We really should keep our eye on the prize, which is saving the architecture.”

McDonald has proposed a commercial facade facing Erie Boulevard, next to Clinton’s Ditch. On the opposite side, facing the neighborhood, he said he would make only “minimal” improvements to maintain the historic architecture.

McDonald is now filling out the long environmental assessment form, required because the building is in the historic district. The earliest the BZA will meet to discuss the plans will be at the Jan. 5 meeting at City Hall, but an agenda for that meeting has not yet been set.