New York State Capitol - Albany, New York
Posted by: 
elyob
N 42° 39.153 W 073° 45.439
18T E 601858 N 4722980
The Capitol is the focus of downtown Albany.
Waymark Code: WM10FZ6
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 05/01/2019
Views: 3
It took thirty-two years and teams of architects to complete construction of the state capitol in 1899. The Old State Capitol was in use from 1812 until 1879. Before then, the Old Albany City Hall was used to host meetings of the state legislature. The following text is borrowed from the NRHP inventory nomination form.
The Capitol covers five and a half acres. The structure measures four hundred feet in length by three hundred feet in width. The walls are load-bearing masonry. Construction was begun in 1868 and proceeded until 1874 in the Second Empire style. In 1876 the style was altered, particularly the interiors and was completed in 1899 in the French Renaissance or Francis I style. The finished structure was supervised by Isaac Perry, State Architect.
The structure suffered a disastrous fire in the State Library (western side) in 1913. It was rebuilt in the Beaux Arts style under L. F. Pilcher, State Architect.
The main part of the building consists of five stories plus a basement and attic. The towers consist of four stories plus a basement and attic.
The east (main) elevation is fifteen bays wide.
The building is square in plan with a central courtyard and a tower located at each corner, the walls are constructed of masonry faced with dressed granite blocks.
A modified hip roof crowns the structure.
The east entrance consists of seventy-seven steps which lead up to three arched entrance ways.
The building has tall stone gabled dormers along each elevation.
The Capitol interiors are the work'of both Leopold Eidlitz and Henry Hobson Richardson. Eidlitz designed the Assembly and Senate stairs, the second floor "golden corridor" (demolished), the Court of Appeals, the Assembly Parlor and Assembly Chamber which contains the world's largest stone vault. Richardson is responsible for the South and West rooms and their facades, the Governor's Suite, the Court of Appeals, the original State Library and the great western stair. This "million dollar stair" was inspired by the great stair in the Paris Opera House and was elaborately carved by Louis J. Hinton and his assistants incorporating ornamental busts of famous Americans and former governors of New York. Other busts of distinguished New Yorkers were modelled by Otto B. Baumgartel, a New York City sculptor.
The great rooms and corridors are elaborately finished with marble and mosaic, the floors are inlay marble. Elevator shafts and cages are carved and embellished with wrought iron.