Townhouses

We're getting toward the end of our trip photos. I keep asking myself. "Self," I say, "how many more pictures of Albany can your readers stand?" After all, I live in France and my blog is ostensibly about my life in France. But part of my life in France is a trip home now and then, isn't it?

Townhouses in the historic district along lower Clinton Avenue. Clinton as in DeWitt Clinton, 6th Governor of New York.

I took these pictures from up in the observation deck of the Corning Tower, the tallest building in Albany at 44 floors (589 feet, 180 meters). Not all that tall, but still. The old neighborhoods downtown have withered a bit over the years. Suburbanization and white flight took many people away, leaving the old townhouses to the poor and mostly black population.

These well-maintained townhouses face the capitol and include the headquarters of the New York State Bar Association.

A lot of the building stock is gone, but enough of it remains. Many of the old townhouses, especially those closest to the capitol, have been renovated. Some have been converted into offices, others into nice residences. Most are doing duty, as they always have, as homes to the people who live downtown. I'm struck by how green the city looks in these pictures.

The church on the lower right is Sweet Pilgrim Baptist Church. The big church on the upper left is St. Joseph's.

So I offer you a few views of townhouses. I have a bunch more photographs to share from downtown. After those, I have some photos of our evening in Provincetown, Massachusetts, followed by a few shots from Plymouth in the same state. That was the last day of our trip before coming home to France.