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New York State Capitol

Architects
Henry Hobson Richardson Leopold Eidlitz Thomas Fuller
Year
1899
Style
Renaissance Revival
City
Albany, NY
New York State Capitol
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The New York State Capitol houses the New York State Legislature and was completed in 1899 at a cost of $25 million, making it the most expensive government building of its time. Three successive teams of architects — Henry Hobson Richardson, Leopold Eidlitz, and Thomas Fuller — worked on the design across construction that ran from 1867 to 1899, producing an unusual layered building shaped by clashing visions. It replaced an earlier capitol designed by Albany native Philip Hooker that had served since 1812.

the building

Three architects, one building. The Capitol's design passed through three architects in succession — Thomas Fuller began it, Henry Hobson Richardson and Leopold Eidlitz followed — each bringing a different vision. The result is an eclectic, layered building rather than a single coherent scheme, a visible record of the decades it took to finish.

The costliest capitol of its era. At $25 million (about $794 million in modern dollars), the Capitol was the most expensive government building of its time when it was completed in 1899, a cost driven by the long, contentious construction process that stretched over three decades.

the style

The Capitol blends Renaissance Revival and Romanesque Revival elements, an eclecticism that reflects its succession of architects rather than a single stylistic vision.

More on Renaissance Revival

the architect

Henry Hobson Richardson, one of the era's most significant American architects and namesake of Richardsonian Romanesque, worked on the Capitol alongside Leopold Eidlitz and Thomas Fuller, each contributing to different phases of the long design process.

significance

The Capitol was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, added as a contributing property to the Lafayette Park Historic District in 1978, and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1979.

nearby

All 23 buildings in Albany