{"nrhp_refnum":"04000999","name":"Myers, Stephen and Harriet, House","other_names":["Vigilance Committee Office"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"194 Livingston Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Albany","county":"Albany County","state":"NY","lat":42.66114017900003,"lon":-73.75465539999993,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2004-11-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Black","Social History","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-one-half-story brick Greek Revival townhouse at 194 Livingston Avenue in the Arbor Hill neighborhood of Albany, New York, built in 1847.","why_significant":"It served as the office of Albany's Vigilance Committee, a key Underground Railroad group that helped fugitives travel north to Canada. It was also the home of Stephen and Harriet Myers; Stephen chaired the committee in the 1850s. The form also finds it a highly intact example of a brick Greek Revival townhouse, and nominates it for national significance.","narrative":"Built in 1847 on Livingston Avenue in Albany's Arbor Hill neighborhood, this brick townhouse was the home and office base of Stephen and Harriet Myers. Stephen Myers chaired Albany's Vigilance Committee in the 1850s. The committee was the main group guiding freedom seekers through Albany on the route toward Canada, and it assisted hundreds of fugitives. Myers appeared at conferences and speaking events with Frederick Douglass, and Douglass named him as the Albany contact on this eastern route. Harriet Myers also worked on the newspaper her husband published. The house is the only known site where Myers lived and worked in this period. The building is also a well-preserved Greek Revival townhouse, with a recessed entrance, Doric pilasters, sandstone lintels and sills, and an eyebrow-windowed attic story. It is unusual in this part of Arbor Hill. Although structurally deteriorated and vacant, much original interior trim and floor fabric survives.","period_of_significance":"1847-1858","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Mid-19th Century Greek Revival","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Privately owned and deteriorated, with missing bricks, a collapsed interior basement wall section and some rear wall failure; listed as multiple dwelling (vacant). A sponsor hopes to acquire and interpret it.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:53.49476-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/04000999.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000999/05fd68379d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000999/05fd68379d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Tfurco","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meyersresidence-600x980.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Tfurco</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meyersresidence-600x980.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"88001445","name":"Clinton Avenue Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/new-york/clinton-avenue-historic-district-88001445/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75316281","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_and_Harriet_Myers_Residence","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7610915"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/albany-county/myers-stephen-and-harriet-house-04000999/"}