The building, constructed in the 1800s, had been the county’s poor house until 1936 when it became the Schenectady Museum. The museum’s galleries were located downstairs. The artist’s residence and studio, and a large conference room, were upstairs. Blood’s son Peter lived there with his parents from age 1 to 8, and remembers the old museum well. “When the movie ‘Night at the Museum!’ came out, it occurred to me that I had spent over 2500 nights at that museum. The old place had high ceilings and lots of character, even bats and a belfry, but living in a museum was actually fun for me. I slid down the long banisters every day when I left for school. The custodian gave me rides on his hand truck. Down the hall from our apartment was a huge conference room where I madly peddled laps attempting to break the indoor land speed record for tricycles. I had a plastic toy soldier with a working parachute and I remember one day repeatedly dropping it from the upstairs living area and watching him float down into the gallery. The people who stood admiring exhibits were surprised by the small intruding paratrooper. And when kids at school did not believe that I lived in a museum, I gave them a tour. In my child’s mind, I thought owned the place. After all, the staff just worked there during business hours but I lived there 24/7. One morning I discovered a break-in. A window was open and muddy footprints covered the office floor. The thieves were looking for money, but the museum was not a bank and nothing was taken. Once the science curator asked Dad to babysit the museum’s tarantula, so Dad put it and its terrarium on our kitchen table which did not make Mom happy at all. I had trouble sleeping, afraid I’d see our large arachnid guest creeping across my blankets.” In 1968, the old museum was torn down, the Martin Luther King Elementary School was built in its place, the new Schenectady Museum opened on Nott Terrace Heights, and the Bloods moved to Niskayuna.