A midcentury modern home in Niskayuna built for a General Electric physicist with more than 60 patents to his name has hit the market for $695,000, complete with a mahogany-paneled library, a hidden bar and a lower-level room featuring a recessed wall opening. The property at 1202 Hedgewood Lane sits on 1.74 acres and was designed for GE inventor James M. Lafferty by architect Victor Civkin.
A Home Built by GE's Kitchen Design Guru
According to the Times Union, Civkin designed the home in 1950 for Lafferty, who commissioned the residence. The Daily Gazette, however, has reported that the home was built in 1947, while a listing from Carr Real Estate Group describes it as built in 1950, and a New York governor's office announcement once referred to it as a 1948 Modern home — accounts that differ on the exact year. The listing describes the property as a four-level midcentury modern home, though other accounts, including one from All Over Albany, have described the Lafferty House as built on five levels dedicated to different uses.
Civkin was no ordinary architect. He served as director of GE's Kitchen Institute, also known as the Home Bureau, from the 1930s through 1952, and he designed GE's Kitchen of the Future for the 1939 World's Fair. Civkin helped popularize the kitchen work triangle, a layout he established for General Electric in the 1930s, per the Times Union, and All Over Albany has described him as an early proponent of the work-triangle design. Over his career he designed hundreds of residences, according to the Times Union report.
Inside the Design: Fireplaces, Teak and a Secret Projection Nook
Inside, the main living area includes a gas fireplace and hidden bar, while the mahogany-paneled library — now used as a bedroom — offers its own wood-burning fireplace. The home features redwood siding, a low-pitched roof and a prominent stone chimney, along with teak wall coverings and polished concrete floors warmed by radiant heat. The kitchen includes African granite countertops and modern cabinetry.
A Civkin-designed comparable elsewhere in Schenectady County offers a glimpse of his recurring design instincts. The home owned by Clementine and Ronald Zawadzki has a stone wall that extends outdoors, with three fireplaces built into the wall at different levels, the Times Union reported.
Landscaped Grounds Once Tended by Lafferty's Wife
Outside, the grounds include an outdoor kitchen, a spa and a built-in fireplace, set among landscaped grounds.
Current owners Danielle Marquis and Bryan Cudmore found original blueprints inside the house. Listing agent Melissa Woodcock, owner of Stated Nest Real Estate, described the home as more than a beautiful residence — a remarkable piece of architectural history.
The Man Behind the Patents
Lafferty joined GE in 1940, and a separate Daily Gazette account states he started at the company in 1940 as a physicist working on electron tubes for radar use. During the war he conducted research on the proximity fuze at the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C. He went on to manage GE's Power Electronics Laboratory, earned more than 60 patents, and helped develop the modern vacuum circuit breaker. The Daily Gazette has reported he earned 67 patents during his time at GE. He was also the inventor of the lanthanum boride cathode, according to the Engineering and Technology History Wiki.
The home's architectural pedigree once drew interest from the state. A New York governor's office announcement listed the property among 27 properties recommended for the State and National Registers of Historic Places. Civkin's own kitchen legacy extended well beyond Niskayuna — he worked to redesign the White House kitchen in 1935, per an earlier Daily Gazette report on the house.
