State St. Albany, NY


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This is a view of State street in Albany NY. Here is a great resource for early Albany street names.

The engraving is by (possibly William) H. M. Snyder from an unknown source. The photograph was purchased from a local antique dealer in Waterford, NY and is only a copy (on black and white RC paper) of the original print.

It is interesting to note that the New York State Capital (center top of both images) does not have a dome(-like) structure in the center. The building that inspired it's design (the Hôtel de Ville in Paris) does have a dome-like structure in the middle. A dome was intended for the building at one time but was never built.

The Alfred E. Smith building is directly behind the state capitol and would appear to rise out of the capitol if viewed from the right angle. The problem with this is that the Smith building was not finished until 1928, and it does not have a dome.

From this I suspect that Mr. Snyder used a mixture of sources to generate his engraving. Or... there was another building behind the capitol at about that time.

For reference, I have included a recent photo of State St. at the bottom of this page.

Dates of buildings in, and absent from, these images:

Building	Started	Finished	In Photo	In Engraving	Notes
New York State Capitol	1867	1897(99)	Yes	Yes	Sits at the top of State street. It is the "central" building in each image.
Alfred E Smith building		1928	No	No	(Behind capital) Should not appear in either based upon their dates.
Albany City Hall		1882	Yes	Yes	(Taller building, upper right) Appears to be under construction in both images as it does not include the spire that it has today. In the photo it appears to still be frame (only) or covered in scaffolds.
Ten Eyck Hotel		1918	No	No	This would have obscured the buildings on the right (somewhat).
St. Peter's Episcopal Church	1859		Yes	Yes	In both images it is the thin pointy spire that partially obscures the (right side of the) capital.

This is a recent (April 2007) photo of Albany State St. The "dome" visible above the capitol is actually the Alfred E. Smith building behind it. (Note that the "dome" is slightly off-center due to the perspective of the street.) The street cars are long gone, the space they once used is now a parking area for the automobiles that replaced them.

My perspective is obviously more street level than the pictures above. I assume that the top photos were taken from the railroad office across Broadway.