There was plenty of “rubber-necking” in Albany Monday morning and throughout the day as people drove by and stopped and stood to watch for awhile as a demolition crew brought down one of Albany’s iconic buildings.

The Hunley building has stood at the corner of Cross Street and Clay Streets in one form or another for many decades.

An addition to the structure in the rear expanded the building’s square footage when it was completed in the late 1940s.

Most recently best known as the Guy Hunley Garage, the building was the site for several businesses through the years, mostly automobile related.

One of the original owners and perhaps the builder of the building was Ira B. Dyer.

The building was also once home to a Hudson automobile dealership before being purchased by brothers Guy and Paul Hunley and operated as a automobile repair business and gasoline service station.

Paul Hunley, who now operates Hunley Gas with his son, Jeff, at their west Albany location on Burkesville Street (Ky. 1590), told the Clinton County News that he and his brother, Guy, first moved from the building now occupied by the Corner Stone Restaurant, to the location that was demolished Monday.

In addition to several residential apartments that were situated in the upper floor of the building, it was also for many years the location of the dental practice of Dr. Daniel Robinson.

Laura Robinson Wilkens, commenting about a video posted of the demolition Monday by the Clinton County News, noted that her father, Dr. Robinson, had kept his practice in the location during the latter years of his practice in an effort to keep his overhead and thus his charges, to a minimum.

Wilkins said that when her father retired, in 1997, he was still only charging $12 to extract a tooth.

Gene Ferguson, with Lay-Simpson Furniture Company, recently bought the building and lot when it sold at auction.

With the building being in such bad condition structurally, Ferguson decided it would be best to simply demolish the structure rather than attempt to save it.

He told the NEWS this week that immediate plans are to remove the debris and gravel the lot that is adjacent to the Lay – Simpson Furniture Company business, with future plans being to eventually use the lot for expansion of the furniture business.

Parrish Construction of Byrdstown, Tennessee was in charge of this week’s demolition and removal operations.