The
New York State Capitol / Albany, New York
Location:
The Capitol
still remains in the same area as the original Capitol. The Capitol stands
at the head of State Street in Albany,
New York. It is across from the original Albany Boys Academy. It stands
in the middle of Capitol Hill.
History:
Albany became the Capitol city in 1797. The original Capitol
building was built soon after, and was completed on April 23, 1806. On
Christmas day in 1897 Governor Franklin S. Black mounted the 77 steps of
the Eastern Approach, proclaiming the completion of the most expensive
public building of its time. The Capitol was replaced by a new one in 1883
after a fire destroyed everything. The first two floors were
built in Fuller's Italian Renaissance design. After Fuller
was dismissed, the third and fourth floors were finished in the Romanesque
style by Henry Hobson Richardson.
On March 28, 1911, another fire started in the library.
Within the period of 20 minutes the flames were reaching 200 feet. The
library fire disaster was the worst of its era. The fire ate up 450,000
books and 270,000 manuscripts, including papers of the early statesmen
and the journals of 19th century leaders. Days after the disaster, charred
state documents were found in the hills of Rensselaer, six miles away.
The fire caused a lot of damage to the library and other things around
it.
Architects:
The present Capitol took 32 years to complete with four architects. The
Capitol was constructed in 1867-1876 by Thomas Fuller. He is responsible
for the Italian Renaissance influence in the early stages of construction.
He was dismissed for going over budget and because of political change
in 1876. When Fuller was dismissed, Leopold Eiditz and Henry
Hobson Richardson (1876-1883) took over the design of the Capitol. Isacc Perry 1883-1899 designed the remaining architecture after Richardson
died.
Thomas Fuller was asked to be the architect for the Capitol after seeing
his design of the Canadian Parliament Building on a bluff above the Ottawa
River. For the Capitol, Fuller planned an Italian Renaissance style.
Eidlitz had designed a chamber for the Court of Appeals, but the justices
refused to use it. Richardson took over to build a second one and
the entire room which was moved to the present building on Eagle Street
in 1917. Perry was an architect who liked to use many stone carvings
in his architecture. Perry was the architect to put in the faces
of famous people in the million dollar staircase. He had stone carvers
place 84 men
and 7 famous women
on the walls and columns of the staircase.
In charge of renovations to the executive mansion around the same time,
Perry had other plans for both buildings. However, Teddy Roosevelt
declared the building complete in 1899. Evidence of unfinished carvings
are still visible in the Senate Chamber and other parts of the building.
Architecture:
The exterior of the capitol tells the story of the "Battle Of Styles" and
of the succession of architects involved in its construction.
Italian Renaissance is the style of the first two stories and Romanesque
is the on both the third and fourth floor. The
Eastern approach has only 77 steps, but was supposed to be much larger
in Perry's original design. The Million
Dollar Staircase, also called The Great Western Staircase, cost 1.5
million and took 10 years to complete. It rises 119 feet to a skylight
which is covered up by slate, placed there in 1940 because of leakage problems.
Renovation plans are in place to restore those skylights to their original
glory. The Senate
Chamber was one of the most beautiful rooms in America. The senate
has Two ornamental iron, bronze and brass gates positioned before the Anti-Chambers
to the right and left of the Senate Chamber. They were designed and
hand forged by Albert Paley of Rochester, New York. The carvings
in the Senate Chamber are not all finished because of Richardson's
death. The fireplaces in the Senate Chamber are known as the "Whispering
fireplaces" because the senators go into the large
fireplace if they need to talk personally about a certain matter.
The carvings have been left unfinished
in Richardson's memory. The executive chamber, also
known as the
Red Room, has walls painted with gold leaf. It has a hidden door
on the one wall were Franklin Delano Roosevelt entered for meetings, so
nobody knew he was in a wheelchair. Governor Pataki now uses the
room for signing papers.
Other
Architectural Facts:
-
The original capitol
was designed by Philip Hooker and the cornerstone
was laid on April 23, 1806, on the site of the existing Capitol park.
-
This cornerstone can
be found near the top of the Million Dollar Staircase.
-
Have you ever seen
the ball drop on New Year's Eve? Well, NYC wasn't the only place that had
one. The original Capitol had a time ball too, which fell every day at
noon. It was placed at the top of the building.
-
The present Capitol
took 32 years to build and cost 25 million dollars.
-
The cornerstone
of the present capitol was lost during renovations after the library fire
in 1911 and still has not been located.
-
The Million Dollar
Staircase cost more than one million dollars and has fewer than one million
steps. Faces in the the walls and columns of the staircase are of
governors, famous people of history, and the children of the stone
carvers.
-
Each senator receives
a new chair for the Senate Chamber when he/she is elected. The chairs
in the Senate Chamber are made of red Spanish leather and the material
darkens with age. You can tell how long a senator has been in office by
the color of his/her chair
-
In the Governor's Red
Room there is gold plate painted on the walls, and a hidden elevator that
was built for one of New York's famous governors. Now it is being renovated
for Governor Pataki.
Current
Renovations Projects:
-
Restoration and cleaning
of the Million Dollar Staircase is taking place now in the New York State
Capitol.
-
Replacing the slate
roof with originally designed skylights. The roof will be covered
by clear glass allowing natural light to once more illuminate the staircase.
-
Restoring the various
elevators in the building. The elevators are made of bronze and marble.
It will cost $1 million to renovate each elevator.
-
The original granite
roof gutters have been an issue since the 1911 fire and will be replaced
with copper ones to finally solve the leakage problems in the towers.
-
These projects will
be completed in 4 phases and each phase will take approximately 8 years.
-
The renovations will
cost approximately $8.23 million
Capitol Pictures:
Click on Pictures To
Enlarge.
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