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Troy Architecture: Cottage Row. Part four in a continuing series. Walter Richard Wheeler. Cottage Row, constructed by Norton Sage and comprised of a group of three houses and two enclosed gardens on Second Street immediately to the north of Washington Park, has been the subject of much writing and speculation. Norton Sage [1804-1886] was active in Troy by 1827, and may have been a native. He is first listed as a carpenter in the Directory of 1830. Sage married Mary [a.k.a. Polly] Chambers at a ceremony in Troy on 27 December 1827. [1] The couple rented a house on Sixth Street near State; Norton operated his shop in the rear. They stayed in this location until their move to Second Street in 1838. [2] The first of the three houses that would later comprise Cottage Row can be reasonably dated to c.1837-38, since on 16 November 1837 Sage, received permission from the Troy Common Council to erect a cottage on Second Street between Liberty and Washington Streets. Sage had purchased the property on 2 June 1837. [3] It was specified at that time that the house be built of frame construction filled with brick and mortar, that it be of 1 -+ stories high, 22 feet wide, 34 feet deep with a kitchen 14 by 20 feet attached, and that it was to be 10 feet in line from the street, and to be covered with fire proof roofs, that is- slate, or metal. [4] This was to be a house for Sage himself, number 164, which he is documented as having occupied by mid-1838. [5] It later formed the center pavilion of what would become Cottage Row. Norton and Mary Sage's happiness in their new home was brief; she died on 4 September 1838 aged only 29 years. [6] Norton remarried within a year, however, wedding Caroline Deboe [a.k.a. DeVoe- 1816-1862] of Hyde Park, New York on 25 April the following spring. [7] A pair of portraits by Troy artist Abel Buell Moore [1806-1879] in the collection of the Rensselaer County Historical Society depict Norton and Caroline, probably in their wedding finery. Norton is shown holding a drawing of a Doric temple- evocative of his work as builder and designer in the Greek Revival mode. A second temple-form house was under construction contemporary with that being built by Sage for his family. Rev. E. S. Raymond was granted permission to build a wooden cottage on the west side of Second Street, between Division and Liberty. [8] This house is probably that which still stands at 157 Second Street; nineteenth century photographs show it to have been very similar to the Sage house in its original form, before it took its current appearance c.1885. The house at 170 Second Street, to the immediate south of Cottage Row and nearly identical to Sage's house, likely also dates to this time. It is probable that Sage had a hand in the construction of both of these houses. Sage assembled the property necessary to carry out his grand design between June 1837 and May 1842. [9] Soon afterward he began the construction of the houses and gardens to the immediate north and south of his own. A description of Cottage Row, written by Alexander Walsh on 12 June 1843, conveys a sense of the groups' original appearance just after they were completed. "The principal front is on Second street, occupying a space of one hundred and twenty-five feet, and consists of three cottages occupying the corner, center, and south lots; the two remaining lots are appropriated to tastefully arranged flower beds, grass plats, shrubbery, etc. The flower beds are fronted with a high fence or screen, finished in a style of architecture corresponding with the cottage fronts; it has openings similar to windows, which are filled with lattice work, which admit a partial and pleasing view of the ornamented grounds from the street; there is also through this screen a gate of entrance to the grounds. The cottages are finished in front with porticoes of the Grecian Ionic order, of four columns, supporting an entablature and pediment. The front is placed back from the line of the street about eight feet, leaving an enclosure for shrubbery. The principal floor is raised about three feet above the level of the street, admitting cellars, & c. The front on Liberty st., is composed of the flank of the corner building, with the entablature of the portico continued across it; at the east end of this front, is an inverted portico, leading to a room suitable for an office, which however is connected with the other parts of the house. The entire is finished in a neat and substantial manner, containing on the principal floor, the entrance hall, two parlors connected by sliding doors, a breakfast room, bedrooms, and several other smaller rooms; the second story, which is partly in the roof, is occupied for sleeping rooms. The buildings are small; but the three taken in connection with the screens, as a whole, present a chaste and pleasing appearance. This pretty spot was designed, built, and is now owned by that enterprising citizen, NORTON SAGE."[10] The wood engraving reproduced here was created to accompany the above description and was executed by David Hathaway, an architect/draftsman living in Troy at this time. He had started his career as a carpenter, and was associated with Sage at the time Cottage Row was designed and built. Thus despite the claim for Sage as designer of the row it is possible that Hathaway had something to do with the project. Sage would later serve as master carpenter in the construction of St. Mary's Church, Troy, completed in 1844 to Hathaway's designs. [11] Next Month: More on David Hathaway and Norton Sage. Franklin Place will be covered in a subsequent article. Notes.
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