Building bearing Henry Johnson mural demolished

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — On the corner of Henry Johnson and Clinton in Albany was a mural of the boulevard's namesake Henry Johnson. It's all gone now and the city of Albany says it's because the building had to be condemned.

337 Clinton Avenue has been reduced to cinder blocks and bricks. It's like something out of a war zone, ironic in that the building once housed a mural of a war hero. 

Sargeant Henry Johnson was part of the famed Harlem Hellfighters who single-handedly held off a German raid and saved a fellow soldier in World War I. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President Obama in 2016. This mural was painted about two years later. 

“I have been driving by that mural since it was installed,” said Sean Maguire. The executive director of Albany County Land Bank which managed the abandoned property says it was a joint county and city decision to tear down the building. 

“So we went up with our engineer took a look inside and saw the extent of the deterioration on that building," said Maguire.

337 Clinton was just one of many blighted buildings in Albany.

“This is a neighborhood where my great-grandfather had a home on Orange Street. So this area is something that I've known all of my life and it's really unfortunate that folks had labeled this as a place to not invest" said Maguire.

But there will be life on the land plot again. 

“There's housing coming in there about 2500 sq ft of first-floor retail type use across a number of different properties assembled in that area" Maguire revealed.

But what about the mural?

“It had always been our goal and intent to retain that mural at that corner as part of the redevelopment” Maguire reassured.