New York State Capitol

History

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.

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, managed by: Thomas Fuller (1867–1875), Leopold Eidlitz and Henry Hobson Richardson (1875–1883), and Isaac G. Perry (1883–1899). 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. 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). 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.

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 ft 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. Tunnels connect it to the Empire State Plaza and Alfred E. Smith Building. The building's exterior underwent restoration from 2000 until fall 2014, and significant historical details were restored. A previously covered skylight over the Great Western Staircase was uncovered and restored to functionality, and the Ludowici tile on the roof was replaced with new material from the original producer.

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.

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.

The ceiling murals of battle scenes in the Governor's Reception Room, also known as the War Room, are the work of William de Leftwich Dodge.

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.

1911 fire

Main article: 1911 New York State Capitol fire

In the early morning hours of March 29, 1911, four days after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in Manhattan killed 165 garment workers, a disaster that led to the state being the first to establish a state Department of Labor, a fire started in the Assembly library. Its cause has never been established; theories suggest either an electrical problem or a dropped cigar. A night watchman was the only fatality, but thousands of volumes in the state library, almost its entire collection, and many documents and artifacts in the state museum's collections, then housed in the building, were destroyed. The flames reached 200 ft at one point, requiring the evacuation of nearby homes; the fire took 125 firefighters to extinguish.

Heat from the fire was intense enough to twist framing in a skylight above the building's western stairs and melt their sandstone filigree. The building's southwest corner was devastated. It took three months to clear the rubble and then a year to rebuild it, at a cost of $5 million ($ today).

Visiting and tours

The New York State Capitol is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. The building is closed most weekends and holidays. Official guided tours of the Capitol are offered at various times beginning at the Information Desk located in the State Street Lobby. There is a Visitor Center for the New York State Capitol and Empire State Plaza, located on the Concourse Level of the Plaza near the underground entrance to the Capitol.

Gallery

Image:AlbanyCapitolFromEast2.JPG|View from the southeast Image:NYSCapitolWestSide.jpg|The Capitol viewed from the west File:New York state capitol front view with flower bed.jpg|View of the Main (east) facade Image:New York State Capitol from Corning Tower.jpg|The Capitol viewed from the Corning Tower Image:NewYorkAssemblyChamber.jpg|Panorama of the New York State Assembly Chamber Image:New_York_State_Senate_chamber.jpg|Panorama of the New York State Senate Chamber Image:New York State Capitol Executive Chamber.jpg| The Governor's Executive Chamber Image:New York State Capitol, outside the Senate gallery.jpg| Outside the New York State Senate viewing gallery Image:Washington_in_Albany.jpg|A statue of George Washington northwest of the capitol File:Study for Fortune William Morris Hunt.jpeg|Study for Fortune, a figure in the now-obscured William Morris Hunt murals File:Flowers at the Capitol.JPG|Flowers outside the capitol building File:New York State Capitol "demon".jpg|The NYS Capitol "Demon" File:NewYorkStateCapitol1879.jpg|The Capitol in 1879 File:NewYorkStateCapitol1892.jpg|A rendering of the 1892 plan of the Capitol File:NewYorkStateCapitol1893.jpg|A rendering of the 1893 plan for the Capitol File:NewYorkStateCapitol1897.jpg|A rendering showing 1897 plan changes File:New York State Capitol in 1900.jpg|The Capitol in 1900 File:NewYorkStateCapitolonFire1911.jpg|The Capitol on fire in 1911 File:NYCapitolSeptember2022.jpg|View of the exterior, September 2022

References

References

1. "New York State Capitol".
2. {{NRISref. 2007a
3. "New York State Capitol".
4. Pitts, Carolyn. (January 1979). ["New York State Capitol exterior"]({{NHLS url).
5. (October 30, 2006). "Historic New York: Architectural Journeys in the Empire State". Landmark Society of Western New York.
6. (August 2012). "Cultural Resource Information System (CRIS)". [[New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation]].
7. (June 4, 2008). "Governor Paterson Signs Bill Extending Commission On The Restoration Of The Capitol". New York State Office of General Services (OGS).
8. (January 4, 2012). "Governor Cuomo Announces Completion of Major Restoration Projects at the New York State Capitol". OGS.
9. (May 2004). "Gold Circle Award category: Innovative solutions—reroofing".
10. "NYS Capitol Assembly Chamber".
11. (October 27, 2009). "Hunting Ghosts and History at the New York State Capitol". [[Times Union (Albany).
12. (1880). "The Horses of Anahita or The Flight of Night".
13. Knowlton, Helen M.. (1899). "Art-Life of William Morris Hunt". Little Brown.
14. "General Philip Henry Sheridan (1831-1888)".
15. Grondahl, Paul. (March 27, 2011). "1911 Capitol fire remains seared into city's history". [[Times Union (Albany).
16. (November 15, 2012). "New York State Capitol".
17. "Visiting the Empire State Plaza".