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Thomas and Walter Monteith House (1848-1850)
518 Second Street

	The Monteith House in 1922 after it was modernized for re-use as a private residence.

The house, as built.
Just a year after their arrival, the Monteith brothers began construction of the first wood frame house in Albany. Completed in 1850, it was two-stories, five bays, with a full length two-storied porch across the front and a story and a half kitchen wing at the rear with wood shed and a timber sill foundation on stone footings. There were nine rooms, with three interior end chimneys, and two fireplaces.

Physical change over time.
As noted, the one-story rear kitchen wing became two stories after a fire in 1855. After 1880, the Monteith House underwent more extensive changes. In 1922 (see photo, above), the distinctive two-story front porch was removed and the roofline altered. An entrance portico took the place of the earlier porch. Fixed shutters and exterior chimneys were added. By the early 20th century, the Monteith House looked startlingly different than it did in its period of greatest significance in the mid-to-late the 19th century.

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