ALBANY -— Once, it was a grand retirement home for a man who built much of Albany. Today, that house and five of its neighbors sit unfortunately empty, waiting for a future that seems likely to include demolition.

These six houses are along Holland Avenue, near an ever-expanding Albany Medical Center and across from Stratton VA Medical Center. Maybe you've driven by them. And maybe you've noticed them — striking residential architecture in a busy section of the city.

The houses, built in the 1930s, are probably Albany's best example of Tudor-style design. They're special, but they're being allowed to slip away, to fade into memory like so much of the city's impressive past.

"They're just sitting and deteriorating, little by little," said Susan Holland, executive director of the Historic Albany Foundation, a preservation nonprofit.

The houses are hardly the only vacant structures in the Capital Region, of course. But they differ from most of the area's empty buildings in ways that make their decay especially frustrating.

For one, these six houses, which were occupied less than five years ago, wouldn't seem to need heavy investment before somebody could move in. A little light rehab would seemingly do the trick.

And the houses, unlike many abandoned structures, aren't held by an out-of-town investor or someone without the wallet to pay for their care. Nope, city assessment records show that these houses are owned by Picotte Cos., a prominent real estate firm that's headquartered in Colonie and is best known as the developer of the Corporate Woods office park.

So what does the company have planned for the Tudors on Holland Avenue?

Well, nobody seems to know.

The Historic Albany Foundation hasn't been able to find out. The city, meanwhile, knows of no plan involving either the houses or their demolition, according to Mike Yevoli, its commissioner of planning and economic development.

This week, I tried to extract comment from Michael Picotte, the company's chief executive; Nancy Carey Cassidy, its chief operating officer; and John Picotte, its chairman.

Sadly, I'm forced to report that nobody returned my calls or emails.

That's a shame, because I think Albany residents deserve to know what Picotte has planned for the houses. Instead, the company's deafening silence is leading many to fear the worst: That Picotte is letting the houses rot so it will have an eventual excuse for demolition.

"They'll say, 'Oh, they're so far gone that we have to tear them down,'" said Susan Holland. "It's demolition by neglect."

That would be an awfully cynical strategy for a local company that should want the best for the region's biggest and most important city.

But everyone knows that leaving a house vacant and unoccupied is a great way to destroy it. If Picotte plans a future for the houses, why leave them empty year after year?

On Wednesday, I took a stroll around the Tudors, leaving fresh footprints in the newly fallen snow. I peeked into living rooms where children likely played, and looked up at bedrooms where the weary rested for the days to come.

The houses looked to be in decent shape, but weren't being maintained to protect them from the elements. Some windows, for example, were broken or otherwise open.

Still, it was easy to see the original elegance in the construction by Jesse Leonard, a developer who built large swaths of the city, turning fields and woodlots into neighborhoods of solid homes that still stand.

Leonard paid particular attention to the Tudors, because the house at 100 Holland Ave. was where he planned to live out his retirement. And he did just that — staying until 1956, when he died at the age of 94.

So says city historian Tony Opalka, who snared an impromptu tour of Leonard's house when he went to a yard sale there about a decade ago. He still remembers the home's striking details, including a tiled indoor fountain and elaborately designed plaster reliefs.

"I've never seen anything like those architectural features in a house in Albany, and I've been in a lot of houses," Opalka said.

Some believe the Tudors don't have a residential future, that no one would want to live on such a busy road. But to me the houses, which have rear garages and are set behind old trees and broad lawns, aren't unlike the beautiful homes that line busy streets like Route 9 in Loudonville or Van Rensselaer Boulevard in Menands.

The Tudors might also have a future as medical offices or even housing for medical students at the nearby hospital.

But — and I hate to say this — I'm not optimistic. The houses seem primed for an unfortunate end, to be razed for yet another bland building or, even worse, a parking lot. They'll be another piece of Albany history reduced to dust.

We've seen this story before.

Advocate@timesunion.com • 518-454-5700 • @chris_churchill • To comment on this story, visit the Advocate blog at blog.timesunion.com/advocate