The #Castle of Albany, NY #history #culture #railway #archaeology #urban #albany #newyork #discovery

The Castle of Albany, NY

The Tri-city area (Albany-Troy-Schenectady) has a number of historic buildings and in Alany and Troy’s ever changing Hudson River shoreline. One of the jewels of the area is the former Delaware & Hudson Railroad Headquarters now SUNY* Systems Administration Building. I decided to see what I could find in an investigation and possibly film inside.

As for the history of the area: the foot of State St., at the shore of the Hudson River, contained industry, shipping wharfs, old building and dicey streets at night. With the State Capitol at the top of State St. & Eagle St. and the the new Education Building the shoreline needed to be revitalized. City government and the local Chamber of Commerce concluded that although people would still like to view the Hudson the view would only slightly improve with the railroad yard, commercial docks and wharves still there. The recommendation was to hide the area with a plaza. [1]

Marcus Reynolds, an Albany architect, became involved and had a number of designs that had a triangular park at the end of State Street with a large L-shaped pier that would support another park with a bandshell and docks for yachts and boats.** It was rejected because of the expense. Around the same time the Delaware and Hudson (D&H) Railroad planned on constructing new offices in the location at the base of State St. Its location at the time at the corner of North Pearl St. and Steuben was growing to small for the railroad’s administrative operations. With city land available Reynolds eventually designed a building inspired by Ypres, Belgium medieval Cloth Hall. [2]

Unfortunately, when completed the building wasn’t big enough to hold the entire D&H staff: at the time (1915) it was half of what we see today. Eventually, by 1918, a second wing was added and another tower housing the “Albany Evening Journal” newspaper. With the building in 1970 in decline the Chancellor of the State University announced in 1972 the University would purchase the building from the D&H along the old Federal Building on the corner of Broadway to become the home of the State University: dedicated in 1978. [3]

I was both surprised and disappointed at my investigation of the building. I was able to get inside, but only able to get a taste of the first floor and was able to see the junction of the tower with the 1918 addition. It is a marvelous building and some of the interior was still in original condition. As I looked up at the top of the tower in the middle of the building, I wondered who had that office. It’s certainly a beautiful building and I am happy it wasn’t torn down like so many of the 19th and early 20th century buildings, really architectural wonders of the past. As they always say, they don’t build them like that anymore. I hope you like watching the video. If you haven’t yet, please subscribe and ring the bell to know when the next video comes out. Please hit the like button too. It helps in getting my videos noticed. Oh, leave a comment, especially if you have more historical information. Thanks for watching and have a nice day!

*State University of New York
**The Albany Yacht Club had, at the base of Maiden Lane, constructed a new building. The city added a Municipal/Recreation Pier. The pier & the location of the yacht club survived into the mid-1950s.

[1] Julie O’Connor. Albany’s D&H Building and How it Grew, Albany Muskrat, June 13, 2019, Copyright 2021, https://friendsofalbanyhistory.wordpress.com/2019/06/13/albanys-dh-building-and-how-it-grew/, 2025.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.

Dr. RGST INFORMATION: https://rich3224.wixsite.com/rugenstein
Dr. RGST’s BOOKS: https://fiction4all.com/ebooks/a2362.htm

Please check out my other videos. . . I have different playlists that include:
Interesting Places of Cultural & History
Cities-History/Culture
Trains/Railroads & Canals
Historic Cemeteries
Troy, NY History/Culture
The Baker Sheep Farm Archaeological Site
and of course, “shorts.”