Schenectady bar owner plans to build replica of firehouse

After years of delay, Clinton’s Ditch owner Tim Trier will finally rebuild the firehouse he demolished next to his bar.

This week, he will ask the Planning Commission for permission to begin the city’s first historic replica — a building designed to look like the historic structure it replaced. Trier plans to turn the firehouse into an addition that expands his bar by 50 percent.

The commission will review his plan Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall. In 2007, Trier demolished the firehouse next to his bar on South College Street. He said the building behind the facade was about to fall down but that he could remove the front, demolish the rest and rebuild. Historic preservationists said they doubted the building was too far gone to save — but when workers tried to remove the facade, it crumbled into pieces.

That ruined Trier’s first plan for replicating the building, leaving him with a far more expensive project of replicating the facade.

“They tried, but it was all rotted out. There was termite damage all through there,” Trier said after the facade fell apart.

Years later, he said he no longer has the few items that were salvaged. “We saved a couple bricks. I think they ended up in Erie Boulevard,” he said.

He had promised to rebuild shortly after demolition. But instead, he shocked city officials by putting the bar up for sale and turning the cleared firehouse space into a parking lot.

Preservationists began to whisper that they’d made a mistake. They should have gotten his promise in writing, they said. They gloomily predicted he’d never rebuild the firehouse.

He never sold the bar. Twice more, he promised to rebuild, but did not. This time, though, he says he’s serious.

He was spurred by John McDonald’s decision to turn the vacant building next door into a bagel shop.

“Honestly, I’m doing it to go hand-in-hand with what Jack’s doing,” Trier said. “I want to get it done, so we’re not in his way.”

That’s partly because Trier would have to put construction equipment on McDonald’s land.

“I might need just a little extra space [for machinery] to build the foundation,” he said. “I want to do that before he puts up a fence or whatever he might do.”

His goal is to start work this summer. The building would open for business in the fall, when his outdoor patio closes for the season.

At first, the firehouse would simply add seating for about 40 customers. But he may add brick pizza ovens and a bar in the new space, which would only be accessible from inside Clinton’s Ditch.

The firehouse facade would be fully functional, with a roll-up door. That might be opened in good weather, Trier said.

He’s happy with the design.

“I think it looks neat,” he said.

The design adds three elements to the original building.

Two were expected by city officials. The replica would be connected to Clinton’s Ditch. The facade would also post both the date of the original building — 1895 — and the last year of its existence, 2006.

The other change may be controversial. Architectural firm Re4orm has added a modern column of black glass to the far side of the building. No one will be able to enter through that column, although Re4orm had originally designed a door there, Trier said.

Historic preservationists declined to comment on the modern column last week.

But city councilwoman and preservationist Barbara Blanchard, one of many who predicted the firehouse replica would never be built, said she was willing to let the Planning Commission deal with that part of the plan.

She’s just happy the replica will finally be created.

“That’s great!” she said when she heard that Trier had filed plans with the city. “It’s going to be the first replica building we’ve had in the city. While preservation is, of course, the first thing you want to do with old buildings, some of them are worth replicating.”

She said the firehouse, which was too small to house modern firetrucks, was a perfect candidate for re-use as a restaurant.

“To replicate it gives him a really interesting exterior to his restaurant,” she said. “Also, it gives us a taste of what was there.”

But it will never be as good as it was, she said.

“Even if he used old brick, it won’t be the same. The mortar would be new,” she said.

And since he wasn’t able to save the bricks, he will likely have to use modern bricks, which are generally identical. A century ago, she said, the bricks had a different character. They weren’t perfect.

“It was a piece of our history,” she said. “Honestly, I wish it hadn’t been knocked down.”