albanyweblog.com
Updated
September 26, 2007
Reprinted from the Times Union
Albany couple's home comes down
South End residence had been flooded by water from vacant building
By JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST
Last updated: 7:35 p.m., Thursday, September 13, 2007ALBANY - Despite the best efforts of city officials to spare it, a South End couple saw the home they lived in for decades demolished Thursday afternoon, two days after it was flooded by water from a neighboring vacant building.
"They're here tearing it down right now," Rebecca Lawson said by telephone Thursday evening as she watched the demolition.
Lawson said she and her husband, Robert Lawson Jr., learned Thursday afternoon that their home at 45 Alexander St. was too damaged and unstable to remain standing. The news came just a day after the city razed five neighboring decrepit buildings that they said posed an "imminent threat" to public safety.
The demolition came too late, however, to save the Lawsons' home, which authorities have said was damaged by water from neighboring 43 Alexander St., which is owned by a Queens woman.
Earlier Thursday, Fire Chief Robert Forezzi said officials hoped to spare the building and halted demolition after dark Wednesday with an eye toward minimizing damage to the Lawsons' home.
"I didn't want to cause that building to come down because of our demo," Forezzi said before engineers had a chance to finish their assessment.
Officials had already declared the home uninhabitable after a torrent of water gushed through the living room ceiling Tuesday morning, causing a partial collapse that narrowly missed their 1-year-old great-grandson.
After the buildings at 41, 43, 47, 49 and 51 Alexander St. were demolished, the Lawsons' home stood alone for a time Thursday on its section of the block - which, according to a 2006 city study, has as many as 20 vacant buildings.
Lawson said she did not know whether she and her husband would try to rebuild.
"Right about now, I haven't even thought about it," she said. "I'm just sitting here watching my house go down in rubble."
The demolished buildings around the Lawson home date to the 19th century, but in recent years had been vacant, dilapidated and devoured by rot and leaks, officials said. Preservationists hoped to spare them.
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