R.C. Reynolds was once a major furniture store in both Albany and Troy, selling carpets, stoves, upholstery, china, glass, etc. When Mr. I.H. Vrooman of 294 Hamilton St. in Albany picked up 5-1/3 yards of linoleum remnant in 1914, Reynolds had stores at 36-38 N. Pearl Street in Albany and in the landmark McCarthy Building on Monument Square in Troy. One of Don Rittner’s great Arcadia picture books of Albany shows Reynolds in the building that now houses the 74 State Street boutique hotel.
R.C. Reynolds was a citizen of note. he was a director of the Troy Trust Company. He was on the board of the Troy Automobile Club in 1908, when there were 270 auto owners in Troy. He was an honorary vice president of the Mohawk and Hudson Humane Society. He was actively involved in maritime interests, and served on the Atlantic Deeper Waterways Association. A local ferryboat, built in 1896 and running from Maiden Lane to Troy, was named for him. That was possibly ironic, as a 1903 Troy fire that started on the steamboat pier burned his building and several others on River Street. He opened his new store in 1904 and 10,000 people attended the grand opening, which was recounted in the American Carpet and Upholstery Journal:
“The store is a five-story structure . . . with a polished terra-cotta front . . . An interesting feature is an unique Oriental room finished in Moorish style and richly furnished with Oriental draperies and
furniture. The upholstery section is fitted with the latest display devices, while in the rug department the track system, which displays eighty rugs at the same time, is in use. A large space on the north side of the main floor is devoted to an artistic combination of furnishings in a model five-room apartment house, consisting of a parlor, reception-room, library, dining-room and bed-room. The parlor is noticeable for its flowered tapestries and carved mahogany furniture, the reception-room in gold, the library with its golden oak outfit, the weathered-oak dining-room suite and the bedroom with heavy brass bed,complete lace bed set and bird’s-eye maple furniture.”
The buyer was Isaac H. Vrooman jr. a member of one of the old Dutch families- one which had a good bit of money in the 19th C. That part of Hamilton St. was still a good upper middle class residential district in 1914. Most of the side where his house stood is a large parking lot.
This is interesting. My husband is87 and one the old families owning a Troy business back in the 1920’s or possibly before. He purchased 4 mahogany framed pictures ,2 of which we have.He remembers it was an elegant store