All Over Albany

The Elouise and milk bottles

The Elouise is at the corner of South Lake and Western / photo: Tim Jackson

At South Lake Avenue and Western Avenue in Albany stands an eight-story building. Built in the late 1920s in the Classical Revival style, it's a landmark of the Pine Hills neighborhood, surpassed in height only by the Royce on the Park apartment building on nearby Hudson Avenue.

Outside the building a bronze plaque that greets all who enter simply reads: "Elouise Apartments 11 So. Lake Ave."

A growing city

The Elouise is within a stone's throw of Washington Park, along with many other historic brownstones, row houses and other private residences that line South Lake Avenue from end to end. This is no coincidence.

When Washington Park opened in 1872, the area that would become South Lake Avenue, then-known as Perry Street, was undeveloped land. That all changed in 1875 when the Albany Common Council approved the expansion of horsecar service from Madison Avenue to New Scotland Avenue, according to Albany Architecture: A Guide to the City.

photo: Tim Jackson

That change ended up drawing many people to parts of Albany that were west of Lark Street, and over the next two decades many residences were built along South Lake Avenue that still remain there to this day.

Around the same time, Western Avenue was going through its own changes. Originally known as the Great Western Turnpike, this road, at one time covered by wooden planks, was built to connect Albany to the western part of the state. Between 1876 and 1877, Western Avenue was repaved. Water, gas and sewer lines were installed, and maple trees, set at forty-foot intervals down the street, were planted. This was done with the intention of having Western Avenue serve as the "grand approach" for all those looking to enjoy what Washington Park had to offer, as explained in Albany Architecture.

Slowly but surely, the area that would become the Pine Hills neighborhood began to take shape.

The construction of 11 South Lake Avenue

photo: Tim Jackson

The Albany-based firm of Cassidy & Gallagher, which specialized in masonry, took on he construction of 11 South Lake Avenue. Starting in the late 1870s, Peter Cassidy, the company's founder, together with his business partner Thomas Gallagher, would go on to construct many buildings throughout the city of Albany during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Some of those buildings include:
+ Public School No. 1 in the South End (1889)
+ The brownstones located between 139 and 145 Eagle Street, across the street from the Executive Mansion (1891-1892)
+ Albany Fire Department Steamer No. 1 firehouse at Western and Washington (1892)
+ St. John's Church on Green Street in the Pastures (1900-1908)
+ The Albany Home Telephone Company in 1902 (now City Beer Hall)
+ A cigar/vinegar factory in 1885 for the company Hennessey & Nolan at 50 Morton Avenue.

The Cassidy & Gallagher company got a building permit for construction of the apartment building in 1926, with an estimated project cost of $750,000 (about $10.7 million in 2018 dollars). By this point, both Peter Cassidy and Thomas Gallagher had died, and Gallagher's sons -- Philip Gallagher and Thomas A. Gallagher -- were running the business.

The job took about two years and it was was not without a few bumps in the road, among them a strike. On May 3, 1927, the Albany Evening News published an article about plumbers and painters striking throughout Albany to demand higher wages, and states that Thomas A. Gallagher agreed to pay painters the $10-a-day wage that they demanded, which got them back to work. Meanwhile, plumbers who worked on the construction of 11 South Lake demanded a $12 a day wage, which they were also given.

The Elouise opened in 1927, with ads touting the apartments as "absolutely sound proof and fire proof," with the "most modern of equipment," including electric refrigerators, gas ranges, and maid and valet service. Rents ranged from $65 to $180 per month (about $930-$2500 in 2018 dollars).

The crash

The boom times of the 1920s in the United States hit the wall with the "Black Tuesday" stock market crash of October 1929, and the start of the Depression. The Elouise was a newly-built luxury apartment building in an economy that suddenly had many fewer people able to pay such high-end rents. And that was a problem for its backers.

By 1935 the owners of the Elouise Corporation were in federal court seeking permission to reorganize after defaulting on $373,000 in bonds. According to family lore, the Gallaghers ended up selling their stake in the building at a huge discount.

And the person to whom they sold? The third shareholder of the Elouise Corporation, Norman A. Henderson.

A fortune in milk bottles

Henderson had made a fortune thanks in large part to his invention of a type of milk bottle that included a cream separator inside the bottle. The Albany-based -- and aptly-named -- Cream Top Bottle Corporation was awarded the patent on the invention in March of 1925, with Henderson listed as the inventor. (The company had also patented a previous version that included a small in-bottle ladle.)

The drawing from the Cream Top Bottle Corporation's patent on Norman Henderson's invention. / image via Google Patents

The company advertised its new product: "From the same bottle, either cream or milk instantly available--rich, whole milk for the children, or golden, thick cream... Have your milk delivered in the new, modern, sanitary Cream Top Milk Bottle--insert the handy separator and!... the cream pours off, the milk stays in the bottle." Another advertisement from October 1940 stated: "Besides bringing you new conveniences and economics, Cream Top gives you daily proof of milk richness." The Cream Top Bottle Corporation licensed the invention to bottle makers, and Henderson became rich on the royalties.

Norman Henderson ended up having a long association with the Elouise. He and his wife lived there for decades -- and still maintained a residence there when Henderson died in 1964 at age 91, according to Times Union. In that "Around The Town" column, Edgar S. Van Olinda -- himself a tenant of the Elouise for three decades -- describes Henderson as "a gentleman, and a gentle man, in all dealings with dwellers under his corporate roof, both employees and paying guests."

Some evidence of that claim: When Henderson died, his will left $20,000 each to his longtime housekeeper and chauffeur, a married couple who also lived at 11 South Lake. (Henderson's will also called for his ashes to be scattered from an airplane at an elevation of no less than 5,000 feet.)

The administration of Henderson's estate also marked the sale of the building to Morris Massry in 1964 for $750,000.

But even today the Elouise still bears an association with the Hendersons -- its name. The apartments were named after Norman Henderson's wife, Ella Louise.

The Elouise Apartment building today

Overlooking South Lake Avenue, Elberon Place and other parts of the Pine Hills neighborhood. / photo: Tim Jackson

Today, the Elouise still functions as an apartment building in the Pine Hills neighborhood of Albany, with 94 units. It's currently owned by the Parkash South Lake LLC and is valued at $5,900,300 according to city of Albany records.

Authors note: With the help of my friend Martha Mahoney, who is the great-great granddaughter of Thomas Gallagher, I was able to speak with her mother, Margaret Carroll, as well as Margaret's cousin, Craig Gallagher, who are two of Thomas Gallagher's great grandchildren. Since they both were young, they have been told the history of Cassidy & Gallagher and the Elouise apartment building from Thomas Gallagher's daughter-in-law, their grandmother, and have in turn passed down this history to the next generation(s) of their family. Additionally, Craig Gallagher has conducted extensive research on Cassidy & Gallagher and the firm's impact on the architectural landscape of Albany and the surrounding area. I want to thank both Margaret and Craig for their help during the writing of this post, it was invaluable.

Justin Devendorf is a resident of the Pine Hills neighborhood of Albany. He currently goes to Albany Law School and created the Photozofalbany Instagram page, where he shares the history and beauty of New York State's capital city and the surrounding region one post at a time.

Earlier: The Glynn Mansion and the story of Martin Glynn