Grand Street Historic District

Grand Street in downtown Troy contains a one-block historic district between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, with buildings on both sides of the street. Its two- and three-story masonry structures sit at a uniform distance from the curb. Nearly all have brick facades, and No. 513 has a brownstone front. They follow the typical Troy rowhouse plan, with high basements, side entrances, three-bay facades, stone water tables, ornate cast iron or stone lintels and sills, and elaborate cornices. Commercial uses occupy the buildings at Nos. 503 and 521. Most of the present buildings went up in the late 1860s and early 1870s, after the Great Fire of 1862 destroyed earlier structures. The street was once called Grand Division Street and marked the boundary between farms of the Van der Heyden family. Listing recognized the block's well-preserved nineteenth century character and its close fit with the adjoining Fifth Avenue-Fulton Street district.