242 Union St Schenectady

 John Ohlen House
 
John Ohlen was a merchant with a store on State Street that, according to an 1841 advertisement, was a “Wholesale and retail dealer in China, Glass and Earthern Ware; Looking Glasses and Looking Glass Plates; Astrol and Hanging Lamps; Brittannia and Plated Ware, Cutlery, and a general assortment of Gentleman’s, Ladies’ and Children’s Boots and Shoes.”  His business later expanded to include “Staple and Fancy Dry Goods, Carpetings, Oil Cloths, Rugs, Paper Hanging, &c.”  In 1850, he acquired this lot on Union Street which may have contained an earlier house, and constructed the present two story on raised basement house designed in an Elizabethan or Tudor Revival version of the Gothic Revival style.  In 1871, Ohlen’s heirs sold the property to Edward H. Wheeler, a prominent local physician who maintained an office on Liberty Street.
 
The house is constructed of brick with brownstone front façade, which was covered with a brown tinted cementitious coating, a common repair treatment during the mid-20th century.  The Gothic detailing at the front entrance and balcony, cornice, and battlements are wood that was originally painted and dusted with brownstone sand to simulate the appearance of natural stone.  The lancet shaped one-light over one-light double hung windows are painted wood, separated by wood spandrel panels with lancet-shaped panels between the first and second floor windows.  Flattened Tudor arches with drip-molds are located above the heads of second floor windows.  Shallow wrought and cast-iron balconies are found at the first floor windows.