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New York State Capitol
The New York State Capitol viewed from the southwest
General information
Architectural style	Romanesque Revival, Neo-Renaissance
Town or city	Albany, New York
Country	United States
Construction started	1867
Completed	1899
Cost	$25 million
Client	State of New York
Design and construction
Architect	Thomas Fuller Leopold Eidlitz Henry Hobson Richardson Isaac G. Perry

The New York State Capitol, the seat of New York State government, is located in Albany, the capital city of the U.S. state of New York. The capitol building is part of the Empire State Plaza complex on State Street in Capitol Park. Housing the New York State Legislature, the building was completed in 1899 at a cost of US$25 million (equivalent to $753 million in 2018), making it the most expensive government building of its time.^[3] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, then included as a contributing property when the Lafayette Park Historic District was listed in 1978. The New York State Capitol was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1979.^[2][4]

History

The Old State Capitol, in use from 1812 to 1879

Legislative sessions had been held at different buildings in different places before Albany was declared the State capital in 1797. From that time until 1811, the State Legislature met at the Old Albany City Hall. The first State Capitol was designed by Albany native Philip Hooker, started in 1804, inaugurated in 1812 and remained in use until 1879 when the current building was inaugurated.

Interim plan for the Capitol by Thomas Fuller

The present Capitol was built between 1867 and 1899. Three teams of architects worked on the design of the Capitol during the 32 years of its construction. They were managed by: 1867–1875: Thomas Fuller, 1875–1883: Leopold Eidlitz and Henry Hobson Richardson, 1883–1899: Isaac G. Perry. Fuller, the initial architect, was an Englishman who also designed the Canadian Parliament buildings of Parliament Hill, Ottawa.

The state capitol's ground floor was built in the Classical/Romanesque style. Lieutenant Governor William Dorsheimer then dismissed Fuller in favor of Eidlitz and Richardson who built the next two floors in a Renaissance Classical style, noticeable on the exterior two floors as light, open columnwork. The increasing construction costs became an ongoing source of conflict in the legislature, and it was difficult to secure the necessary funding. Eidlitz and Richardson, were dismissed by Grover Cleveland upon his election to governorship and his review of the increasing costs of construction. He hired Perry to complete the project.^[5] The legislative chambers, the fourth floor and roof work were all finished in Victorian-modified Romanesque that was distinctively Richardson's design. It "was Richardson who dominated the final outcome of the grand building, which evolved into his distinguished Romanesque style" (which came to be known as Richardsonian Romanesque).^[5] It is claimed Richardson was imitating the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) in Paris, France. The Chazy limestone for its construction was quarried at the Clark Quarry in Essex County, New York.^[6]

Capitol building in 1919, photograph taken from Madison Avenue, southwest on hill

The central open court is dominated by a shaft intended to support a massive dome. The dome and tower were never completed, as it was found the building's weight was causing stress fractures and making the building shift downhill toward State Street. To stop this movement, a large, 166-foot (51 m) long exterior Eastern Staircase was added to support the front facade. The Capitol exterior is made of white granite from Hallowell, Maine, and the building incorporates Westchester marble cut by state prisoners at Sing Sing. The granite structure is 220 feet (67 m) tall at its highest point, and it is one of eleven U.S. state capitols that does not have a domed roof. Underground tunnels connect it to the Empire State Plaza and Alfred E. Smith Building. The building's exterior underwent restoration from 2000 until fall 2014.^[7][8]

The Assembly Chamber was built with the world's largest open arched span. However, this produced very inconvenient acoustic results. A more serious problem was the structure's shifting foundations that made the vaults unstable. A lower false ceiling was introduced to prevent rock shards from the vaults from falling to the assembly floor.^[9]

The Capitol initially featured two large murals by Boston artist William Morris Hunt painted directly on to the Assembly Chamber's sandstone walls. The two enormous works, named The Flight of Night and The Discoverer, each some 45-feet long, were later covered when the Assembly's vaulted ceiling proved unstable and the ceiling was lowered four feet below the murals. Earlier, the murals had been damaged by moisture in the building and had begun to flake. Plans for later murals by Hunt were abandoned due to lack of funding, and some people have speculated the resulting depression experienced by the artist may have contributed to his suicide.^[10][11][12]

In front of the Capitol is an equestrian sculpture of Civil War General Philip Sheridan, designed by John Quincy Adams Ward and Daniel Chester French and completed in 1916.^[13]

Visiting and tours

The New York State Capitol is open Monday through Friday from 7AM until 7PM. The building is closed most Weekends and Holidays. Official guided tours of the Capitol are Monday through Friday at 10AM, Noon, 2PM and 3PM. Tours begin at the Information Desk located in the State Street Lobby of the Capitol. There is a Visitor Center for the New York State Capitol and Empire State Plaza, located on Concourse Level of the Plaza near the underground entrance to the Capitol. *NEW*: Every second Saturday of the month, the Visitor Center will offer a tour of the Capitol at 11AM and 1PM. Reservations are required and can be made at EmpireStatePlaza.org ^[14]

Official tour guides offers a special Hauntings Tour during October. The best known alleged-ghost is that of Samuel Abbott, a night watchman who died during a severe fire on March 29, 1911.^[15][16]

Gallery

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  View from the southeast
  

  
  

  
  


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  The Capitol viewed from the west
  

  
  

  
  


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  The Capitol viewed from the Corning Tower
  

  
  

  
  


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  Panorama of the New York State Assembly Chamber
  

  
  

  
  


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  A statue of George Washington northwest of the capitol
  

  
  

  
  


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  Study for Fortune, a figure in the now-obscured William Morris Hunt murals
  

  
  

  
  


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  Flowers outside the capitol building
  

  
  

  
  


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  The Capitol in 1879
  

  
  

  
  


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  A rendering of the 1892 plan of the Capitol
  

  
  

  
  


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  A rendering of the 1893 plan for the Capitol
  

  
  

  
  


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  A rendering showing 1897 plan changes
  

  
  

  
  


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  The Capitol in 1900
  

  
  

  
  


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  The Capitol on fire in 1911
  

  
  

  
  

See also

External video

New York State Capitol (12:29), C‑SPAN[17]

• List of National Historic Landmarks in New York


• List of reportedly haunted locations in the United States


• List of tallest buildings in Albany, New York


• National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York


• List of state and territorial capitols in the United States

References

Further reading

• 
  Capitol Story, Third Edition, SUNY Press, 2014

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to New York State Capitol.

• New York State Capitol Virtual Tour


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  New York State Capitol at Emporis Buildings
  


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  New York State Capitol at Wonders of the World Databank
  


• New York State Capitol Tour Program


• New York State Capitol History and Timeline


• 
  Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. NY-404, "New York State Capitol", 2 photos, 1 photo caption page


• New York State Capitol: 30 photos


• 
  New York State Capitol at Structurae
  

Coordinates: 42°39′09″N 73°45′26″W / 42.652553°N 73.757323°W / 42.652553; -73.757323