Postcard Image: http://www.albanypostcardproject.com/
[http://www.albanypostcardproject.com/]Credit Cards, along with cash,
are also accepted at the time of the tours.
Albany, due to its long history as an early community in the "New
World," its connections to NYC, and its status as the state capital
seems a city much larger and broader-shouldered than other Upstate
cities with similar populations. My hometown of Syracuse comes to
mind.
The controversies that often accompanied the construction of new
government buildings on Capitol Hill are numerous and well-known. Time
after time, buildings were built, altered, demolished, and even moved
as the winds of change blew through the ever-expanding halls of state
government as power brokers and their
accompanying administrations came and went.
The Capitol, The State Education Building, The Smith State Office
Building, West Capital Park, and the granddaddy of them all...The
Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza and the elevated
I-787 interchange had controversies regarding their design, scale,
cost, and the effect on the residents and business owners in the path
of such projects.
What about the surrounding business district? Sure, a lot of good
buildings were lost in the years following WWII - particularly at the
intersection of North Pearl and State - but, compared to other cities
Albany's leaders throughout the decades before and after the turn of
the 20th Century seemed more inclined to make the existing buildings
"work," rather than simply demolishing and replacing them. Some
buildings had floors and an annex/wing added, some had floors removed.
Some additions incorporated existing buildings, while some
incorporated the well-loved facades of past Albany architects. A
famous architect's son, himself an architect of admiration and
distinction, completes his late father's work with a towering tribute.
A bank building that once towered over its neighbors later becomes the
low wing of a much taller building. And, Albany's greatest 20th
Century architect remodels the bank facade of Albany's greatest 19th
Century architect, and then spends decades designing additions to his,
and other's buildings along State Street.
Join historian Dan Palmer (Troy by Gas-Light. Society of Architectural
Historians, Turpin Bannister Chapter) for a walking tour of State
Street's business district and hear the lesser-known stories behind
the buildings that line Albany's "Main Street." Tour is about 1-1/2
hours long. Tourguide will have a voice amplifier.
Dan Palmer conducting a tour of the Harriman State Office Campus for
docomomo Tour Day, 2015.
Image: Ned Pratt
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28/05/2017 Last update