Genesee Flats/Olbiston Lecture

[fiona]

Here's a handsome laughing fellow from the South side of the building. He is covered with moss. Mabye that's why he's laughing. He is rather shy, you can only view him from November to April, the rest of the time he hides under the ivy.

[fiona]

Here's another interesting fellow, sort of a modified Green Man type. I call him "The Thinker."

[fiona]

This fellow guards the far South end of the building, fronting onto Clinton Place. He is a modified Green Man and I call him Nobel Hopkins. Mr Hopkins lived directly above this spot on the 7th floor and this spot is almost on top of the spot where the remains of his body was found ( lodged up against the South facing wall of the basement)

[fiona]

Now here's another photo of "Mr. Hopkins" showing the relationship of the carving to the side of the building.

[fiona]

here is a drawing from 1895 of the Genesee Flats. I have tried to include whatever documentation could be found about those killed by the fire. The only information I found on Mr Hopkins was from the march 7th edition of the (Utica NY) Saturday Globe. The artical stated that Mr. Hopkins was 62 years of age and either a shoe salesman or the owner of shoe stores.

[fiona]

Mr Hopkins either worked for or was the owner of Reynolds shoes in downtown Utica. This very fine ad is from around 1880.

[fiona]

Here is an earlier ad for Reynolds Shoes, from the mid 1870's. Note the name of the owner on the bottom: Nobel Hopkins.

[fiona]

Here is the last carving. This wonderful gentelmen with the great mustaches lives and guards the far North corner of the building. He is also a type of "Green Man" and note the foliation above the head is somewhat different from all the others. He also looks like a very good representation of an image of Pan from ancient Greek mythology. Especially the eyes and the ears.

[fiona]

here is our fellow in relationship to the side of the building.

[fiona]

And that concludes our tour of the faces and architectural details of the front. Let's go inside again and up to the 7th floor. We'll take our coffee and enjoy it while gazing at the spectacular view from what was once the Olbiston Cafe. The Cafe closed after WW2, but I don't imagine the view of Genesee Street and West Utica has changed all that much. Lunch anyone? It's on me.

[fiona]

Oops! Sorry. You know that laughing fellow above who likes to hide? He's quite shy, you know. But he wants you to know that this is where he lives during the summer. If you pass by beginning in November, though, you may see him peeking out from amongst the leaves. PS: He told me he may have been a fireman at one time. Let's see what he has to tell us a little later on.

[fiona]

How can I ever get upstairs get upstairs if I keep getting stopped by little Green Men?

[fiona]

Looking West from the 7th floor. A summer's day with a storm coming in across the valley. One can almost feel the air crackle. That's the Utica Club Brewery and the old Globe Mill in the distance. I took this in July 2002.

[fiona]

Looking North-West towards Marcy.

[fiona]

I love this picture. The tops of the homes are really lovely. Detail you can never see from the ground. The house in the foreground is the Planned Parenthood Building, formerly the Albright House.