1 Union St Schenectady

 Isaac I. Yates House
 
Isaac I. Yates purchased two lots on opposing corners of Union Street and Washington Avenue from the estate of James Murdoch in 1833.  The deed description recites that Murdoch had purchased the property at #1 Union St. in 1801 from the executors of the last will and testament of John Porteus, who had been a partner with John Duncan in the fur trade as early as 1765.  The deed description noted that the lot contained a building had been the store or storehouse of Porteus; the store building was one of many destroyed in the Great Fire of 1819.  Yates constructed the present Federal style house after 1833, and sold the property in 1843.  
 
Significant characteristics of the style include brickwork laid in a Flemish bond pattern, stepped gable end walls (see Washington Avenue side), classical entrance surround with fluted Ionic half columns, lintels above windows and door that are elaborately decorated with panels and rosettes, brownstone stair treads, and wrought iron railings and newel posts with aescanthus leaf ornaments.  The brackets at the underside of the cornice appear to be later additions.