Glimpses Of The Egg

The most striking building in the Empire State Plaza complex has to be the Egg, a ovoid concrete structure that looks like it might have landed here from outer space. The building was designed by Wallace Harrison and was completed in 1978.

The Egg seen from across the Hudson River.

Inside the Egg are the two theaters that comprise the Empire State Performing Arts Center. The smaller of the two, the Lewis A. Swyer Recital Hall seats 450 people. The larger Kitty Carlisle Hart Theater accommodates 982 people.

Curves and lines.

There are no windows in the building. Cylindrical elevators take patrons up to the plush lobbies of either theater where they can go on to their seats. The lobby walls are of the same concrete as the exterior, accented with pear wood panels and richly colored carpets. It really is a sight to see.

The Egg sits on its base.

I once volunteered as an usher for the performing arts center just to have the chance to wander around inside the building. I ushered for one or two seasons back in the late 70s and got to see quite a few performances during that time. But the big draw for me, more than the performances, was the building itself.

The Egg peeks out from behind the Justice Building.

I haven't been inside the Egg since then, thirty years ago now. One of these days I'll go back, I'm sure. Until then, I'm content to admire it from the outside. I'm sure I'm one of the few who admires the building. It's one of those you-either-love-it-or-you-hate-it buildings.

With Corning Tower in the background.

I've heard many people call it ugly over the years, but the Egg has become a symbol of the city. It's a unique and instantly recognizable icon on the city's skyline. And for all of my effort, I managed to not get a shot of the whole thing. You'll have to make do with these glimpses.

The Empire State Plaza

This is the first of a few posts that I'm planning that will feature the most imposing element of Albany's skyline, the Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza. I've been referring to the massive state office complex in previous posts. This is it.

Looking north toward the capitol across the Plaza.

Back in the 1960s, when Nelson Rockefeller was governor of New York, he hosted then Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands on her visit to the former Dutch colony. The state of the city then embarrassed the governor. He thought the poor neighborhoods around the capitol and the declining economic situation in the city were not appropriate symbols for the state.

One of four identical 23-story office towers.

He worked with architect Wallace Harrison to devise a bold and monumental look for the capital that was to completely transform the city. Just south of the capitol building stood an old decaying neighborhood of brick and stone townhouses inhabited mostly by poorer residents; the middle class had moved out long ago.

The capitol seen from the Cultural Education Center.

These days, displacing nearly 10,000 people, most of them economically disadvantaged, for a government office building project would be a very difficult task. But back in the 1960s, apparently, it was accomplished, although not without a bit of controversy. But still, it was done.

The base of the 44-story Corning office tower.

Construction began in 1965 and lasted for almost thirteen years. Downtown Albany was a mess for most of that time as the demolition and building progressed. The project lasted for a good deal of my childhood. I can remember the sound of pile drivers echoing through the suburbs for what seemed like years, constantly pounding away in the background of school lessons.

Corning Tower reaches skyward.

I remember, too, when the old Dunn Memorial Bridge that connected Albany to Rennselaer across the Hudson was dynamited to make way for a more modern, but altogether unremarkable, freeway bridge. The new city grew up while I did, reaching heights that amazed me.

The old city and the new city still struggle to merge.

To this day, the Corning Tower at Albany is the tallest building in New York State outside of New York City, and it is visible for miles around. Rockefeller got his gleaming new capital, and the look of Albany was transformed forever.

Robinson Square, which is not a square, against the Plaza.

State Education Building

I'm dedicating a whole post to the New York State Department of Education building because I took so many pictures of it. The building was completed in 1912 and was home to the New York State Museum and the State Library.

Thirty-six corinthian columns line Washington Avenue.

The museum and library moved out the building in the 1970s when the new Cultural Education Center opened on the south mall of the capitol. I remember going to the old museum on school field trips when I was a kid. The building always impressed me. Something important must go on in there, I thought.

The main entrance.

The building's thirty-six massive corinthian columns line Washington Avenue and supposedly form the longest colonnade in the United States, among the longest in the world. The historic building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

I think my first experience with revolving doors was in this building.

The state's Department of Education is still located in the building and its annex, a nine-story office building constructed next door in 1959. The colonnade faces West Capitol Park on the north. Directly opposite the Education Building is the modern Legislative Office Building on the south side of the park, a building similar in size and color but completely opposite in style.

Looking up inside the colonnade.

On the east and west sides of the park are the capitol itself and the A.E. Smith building. The four buildings make an impressive ensemble of monumental proportions, at least in my eyes. I wish I could have gone inside, but it was Saturday and the building was closed. These days, with security issues, I probably couldn't get in anyway.

Light and shadow.

The Capital City

You probably know by now that Albany is the capital city of the state of New York. The state's legislature has met here since 1797, and it was Governor Theodore Roosevelt who dedicated the state capitol building on its completion in 1899.

The East Front of the state capitol, completed in 1899.

Benjamin Franklin spent time here working here in the Albany Congress, the revolutionary body that drafted the Albany Plan, a precursor to the United States Constitution. Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton worked here when they fell out, resulting in that famous duel. The city was an important strategic location during the Revolutionary and French and Indian wars.

The capitol's West Front.

Albany's primary industry and major employer is the State of New York. My first full-time job back in 1977 was as a file clerk in a state agency. Many state agencies were located in the Harriman State Office Building Campus on the western edge of town. The sprawling, automobile-oriented campus was not attractive to me as a work location. I had three job offers back then, and I chose the job I took only because it was located in the sparkling new high-rise office development downtown (I'm getting to that later).

The Governor Alfred E. Smith State Office Building, completed in 1928, built in the Art Deco style.

Below, a full shot of the A.E. Smith State Office Building.

There were still many state offices downtown: in the capitol itself, in various smaller office buildings and converted townhouses, and in some rather impressive large buildings that date from the early 1900s. There was also City Hall, the state and federal courts, and hundreds of law offices scattered around.

Albany City Hall, designed by Henry Hobson Richardson and completed in 1883, boasts a 60-bell carillon at the top of the tower that is played regularly.

More From Downtown

This is not meant to be an inventory of Albany's building stock, but I can't resist taking pictures of the buildings around town. Many of them are pretty, others are the backdrops of memories. Albany was the first city in my life and while it's not the biggest, brightest, or most beautiful of the cities I've come to know, it will always have a special place in my heart.

The Home Savings Bank building, erected in 1927.

I suppose home towns are like that. You either can't imagine being anywhere else or you can't wait to get out. I'm somewhere in the middle. I couldn't wait to get out, either, but I've always come back to visit. And I visit as much with the place as I do with the people I come to see.

A window washer at work.

Whenever I'm here, I have to go downtown and walk around. I will drive to certain neighborhoods just to see them, how they've changed or how they haven't. I'll walk into building lobbies if I can, go into churches that I've never set foot in (which is harder and harder to do because they're mostly locked up against vandals these days).

A downtown corner deli.

I like getting off the freeways and taking the old roads through the former industrial areas of Albany and the neighboring cities like Watervliet, Cohoes, and Troy. Many of the old factories, armories, and mills are still standing. Some are empty, others are in use. And the old brick houses still stand and serve. Apartments, row houses, mansions. All in various states of repair or ruin, most still lived in by somebody.

The old and the (relatively) new.

My training in architecture and city planning probably have a lot to do with the way I look at buildings and cities. It's been my observation that a bad economy can be good for a city, at least in the short term. Fast development will wreak havoc with an urban place. In the rush to build, a city can lose its identity. Buildings, streets, and neighborhoods can change drastically or even disappear altogether.

Contrasting window styles.

It's happened here, but to a much lesser extent than larger eastern and southern cities (we'll talk about the big downtown state office building project from the 60s and 70s later). Maybe one day these older, smaller cities will have their renaissance. Maybe one day climate change and the changing energy situation will make these northeastern river towns viable again. They're still here, waiting.

Friends And Family

On Wednesday I had two meals planned. The first was lunch downtown with fellow bloggers Walt and Sean. I met Sean last Saturday at the Miss Albany Diner. I was meeting Walt for the first time at lunch. The first thing he said to me when we met was, "You're short." Well, I am. But he's very tall.

Walt (not me) and Sean at lunch.

We met at the Albany Pump Station, a micro brewery that's been set up inside a former pump house that used to take water from the river and pump it up to a reservoir west of downtown. The building was built in the late 1800s. The pumps closed down in 1932, but the historic building escaped the wrecking ball.

Inside the Albany Pump Station.

Today it is home to the C.H. Evans brewing company which makes a variety of award winning beers, and a restaurant serving great burgers and other amazing sandwiches. I had a hamburger with fries and a couple of Evans' Quackenbush Blonde beers. Very tasty.

Quackenbush Blonde.

My dinner that evening was at my grandmother's place with my aunt. Gram baked a ham, made home made cole slaw, carrots, and baked sweet potatoes. She knows I love her ham, and still likes to make it when I come for a visit. It's very special, as Gram is now ninety years old. She can still cook up a storm!

Gram and me.

After dinner I came back to my friends' house in Delmar and we watched the Yankees win the world series. Great fun!

The Old City

Albany was first seen by Europeans in 1609 when Henry Hudson sailed the Dutch ship Half Moon up the river. Of course, the Mohegans and the Iroquois lived around the area for centuries before the white guys showed up.

Jack's Oyster House, established in 1913.

The city was officially chartered in 1686, making Albany one of the oldest cities in the nation. As the city grew around its river port, it was mostly huddled close to the waterfront and the fort that stood there. A steep river bank rises westward from there, and the city expanded up the hill in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Maiden Lane looking east toward the river.

The streets in this older part of town are short, forming a loose grid around the main streets that parallel the river: Quay, Broadway, and Pearl Streets. Unfortunately, not much remains of Quay Street; what is left is now a freeway ramp. State Street rises westward up the river bank, beginning at what was known until recently as the Plaza, a large "square" that is framed by the D&H Railroad building. The Plaza was where all the city's trolleys (now gone) started their runs. After the trolleys were replaced by motorized buses, the Plaza was the terminus for most of the lines.

The dome of an old bank building at State and Broadway.

When the D&H building was renovated to become S.U.N.Y. headquarters, the Plaza was turned into a grassy park. I think the city lost something there, but who am I to say. The park is pretty.

Albany rooftops pointing skyward.

I wandered around the streets for about an hour last week reacquainting myself with buildings and streets I grew up with, and some new buildings that have been built in the last ten or so years. It's nice to see the new buildings rising downtown; many of them are state offices that were once dispersed on the western edges of town. There is also a relatively new sports arena downtown that hosts the local ice hockey team and serves as a venue for concerts and other events.

St. Mary's church, founded in 1797. The current building dates from 1867.

The only thing missing from downtown is some serious residential neighborhoods. There are vestiges of the old neighborhoods on the fringes, and of course the poorer areas in the South End and on Arbor Hill. But, as I said before, the bulk of the middle class moved out of the downtown area to the suburbs long ago. Huge freeways move people from their spacious comfortable homes to the offices and back again. They shop in suburban malls and eat in big chain restaurants. They're like most Americans; can't blame them for that.

An older building, renovated for new life.

I've always wished that my little home town could bustle again, that people could find a way to be closer to the river, to live among the beautiful monumental architecture of the state's capital, and to preserve the little neighborhoods with their brownstone and brick row houses. And to build new neighborhoods and new buildings in the city center and bring back some of the urban vitality that the city lost so long ago. I think that's a tall order in this day and age. The suburbs are firmly established and many have developed their own charm. Not many would give that up for city living.

Some modern buildings and parking garages.

But I can still dream.