History Hiding in Plain Sight - A State Street Stroll

Postcard Image: 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