Bringing a 225-Year-Old Market Back to Life
Haley Whalen (pictured) bought the building at 35 North Ferry Street in Schenectady’s Stockade Historic District in December of 2018. Arthur’s 1795 opened its doors on March 4, 2021.
This is a story about rehabilitating an old building. It’s also a story of building community.
The red brick building on the corner of North Ferry and Front Streets in Schenectady’s Stockade Historic District was first opened as a market in 1795. Its namesake, Arthur Polachek, opened his market in the 1950s. He and his son Pete were neighborhood fixtures until their retirement in 2003 (Pete took over from his father in 1989, although Arthur continued working in the shop). In 2009, the plaza where Arthur’s sits was (unofficially) designated “Polachek Square” in their honor.
Arthur’s 1795, as seen from across Front Street, sits at the heart of Schenectady’s Stockade Historic District. The Stockade is on the Mohawk-Hudson Bike Trail, a regional amenity that brings people from all over through Schenectady. The revamped Arthur’s will be a destination for tourists and locals alike.
Ownership of the building and management of the market changed several times after the Polacheks retired. The beloved neighborhood institution wasn’t quite as much of a community anchor as it had been. When the building went up for sale again in 2018, Stockade resident Haley Whalen took a look and made an offer. The building was not in good shape, but she saw the potential of Arthur’s to be something really special. She closed on the building in late 2018 and spent the next two years bringing it back to life.
On a personal level, I was quite excited when I heard someone had bought Arthur’s and planned to rehab it. I moved to Schenectady in 2018, so I had none of the local historical insight into what Arthur’s had been. I just wanted a good local coffee shop and that corner in the Stockade seemed like such a perfect place for one. From a preservation perspective, it’s always encouraging to see investment in a historic building. When the new Arthur’s opened earlier this year, it seemed like a preservation success story worth telling.
I reached out to Haley to hear more about her experience rehabilitating and modernizing Arthur’s. She was new to historic restoration, but she was committed to respecting the original structure and its history. As soon as she bought the building, she began hearing from neighbors about all their happy memories of Arthur’s. They shared stories and pictures. Friends and family shared their time. It was truly a labor of love. I asked Haley if opening a coffee shop was something she had always intended to do. She said it was something she thought about doing many years down the road, but in creating her version of Arthur’s, she built what she wished existed in the Stockade.
The existing storefront windows were not original to the building and were not in good condition. Through a grant from the Schenectady Heritage Foundation, Whalen was able to install new energy efficient windows that are more in line with the original storefront design. They are also functional — the transoms open to allow for more air circulation.
The beam running the length of the ceiling in the cafe was installed during renovation to provide structural support. The original timbers had been cut several times over the years (the space formerly had a staircase, for example) and were no longer structurally sound.
When people buy old buildings, they often hope to find gorgeous wood floors underneath carpeting or original fixtures hiding in the attic. Arthur’s didn’t come with that kind of built-in charm, but it did have a strong legacy, natural light, and a square footage that made sense for the business Haley envisioned there. The space had undergone many renovations over the years — not all of them for the better. A lack of structural support led to the floors in the upper apartment being very bouncy. The midcentury storefront windows were neither efficient nor aesthetically pleasing. The storefront no longer had its original floors and the floors in the kitchen (also not original) were rotted. Haley worked with local architect Beth Mosall, AIA, to figure out how to reconfigure the space, and make it both more efficient and more inviting.
This wall features historic photos and paintings of Arthur’s Market. The cafe is to the left and grocery to the right, with the newly built bathroom behind.
There had been glass block windows along the back wall that were removed to build a doorway leading to the back patio. This additional point of entry allows the space to be ADA accessible. A restroom was also added, which neatly divides the grocery from the cafe. The old flooring in the kitchen that needed to be removed allowed them to gain headroom without touching the original roof structure above. Having a fully functional kitchen allows the cafe to have a full menu of baked goods and grab-and-go options. The exposed brick walls were repointed by a mason to match the original. And looking at these walls allows you to get a glimpse of how the space has evolved over time. In one section you can see a lintel where a doorway used to be, bricked over long ago.
Just as Arthur Polachek did when he ran the market, Haley and her partner live in the upstairs apartment. That space had been oddly chopped up over the years and needed to be completely redesigned. But unlike downstairs, the upstairs retains its original wood windows. These were all restored, and they plan to install shutters like the ones that had existed there in the past.
Haley described her experience of learning and discovery as thrilling. She compared the process to detective work, trying to unravel what had been there and why certain changes had been made. When the kitchen floor needed to be removed, there was also a bit of archaeology involved. A group from Schenectady County Community College did a dig on site — and found a cistern. She also talked about the amount of research she did to decide on materials and fixtures and so many other minute decisions through the restoration process. Finding the perfect door handles, overhead lighting, and kitchen sinks, deciding on the perfect shade of dark green paint for the cafe wall, all of these decisions were made with an eye toward respecting the history of the space. Architectural salvage stores, Fort Plain Antiques & Salvage and Historic Albany Foundation’s Warehouse in particular, and Facebook Marketplace allowed her to source period-appropriate pieces on a reasonable budget.
Arthur’s has operated as a neighborhood market for over 200 years. In revitalizing the space, it was important for Haley that it retain a market component. She views the business as having three pillars: the grocery, which carries a mix of everyday staples and specialty items; the cafe, which serves coffee, tea, and house-made baked goods; and their take-and-bake offerings.
Like me, Haley is not a Schenectady native. She moved to the area in 2017 and settled in the Stockade. She was immediately charmed by the historic houses, but also by the deep sense of community. That sense of community is something she is hoping to foster with Arthur’s. The to-go window (a feature planned pre-COVID, but something that is especially convenient now) allows folks to stop by to grab a quick coffee while walking their dog through the neighborhood. It’s a place for friends to meet before heading out for a bike ride along the Mohawk. It’s a convenient place for neighbors to pick up dinner or a gallon of milk. And the cafe is a comfortable place to enjoy a latte. Haley is creating a “third place” for the neighborhood — and she’s doing it in a building that has been an integral part of its community since 1795.
You can follow along with Arthur’s 1795 on Instagram or visit their website.