The Old and New Capitol
Bi-centennial history of Albany: History of the county of Albany from 1609 to 1886, With Portraits, Biographies and Illustrations, by George Rogers Howell and Jonathan Tenney, Assisted by Local Writers, New York: W.W. Munsell & Co., Publishers, 1886.
page 449.
THE NEW CAPITOL.
The seat of government of New York, during the colonial period, was in the City of New York. There the Colonial Legislature generally held its sessions, at first, at the fort. It sometimes convened in Jamaica, L. I. At length it met regularly in the New York City Hall.
New York City was regarded as the capital during the revolution; but when the British Army took possession of it, the Legislature was compelled to meet at places regarded most safe from the attacks of the British—as at White Plains, Albany, Kingston and Poughkeepsie. After the British evacuated New York, the Legislature assembled at these places or in New York. The places designated for each session were fixed by a vote of the Legislature, or by the Governor. Since 1798 the legislative sessions have been held entirely at Albany.
As the growth of the State had rendered the Old Capitol too limited for legislative and other purposes, the subject of erecting a New Capitol at Albany began to be agitated. But it took no definite form until April 24, 1863, when, on motion of Hon. James A. Bell, Senator from Jefferson County, the Senate referred the subject to the Trustees of the Capitol and the Committee on Public Buildings.
In 1865, the Senate appointed a committee of three to receive propositions from various cities of the State, as to what action they would take in regard to the removal of the capital of the State from Albany. The question of its removal at that time was considerably agitated. No satisfactory results were reached by the action of this committee, except in response to the circular issued by it. Albany proposed to convey Congress Hall Block, or any other lands in the city, required for the purpose of a New Capitol. This proposal was at once accepted, and, on May 1, 1865, an act authorizing the erection of a New Capitol, at Albany, passed the Legislature. The grand structure now known as the New Capitol was, by excavating and laying foundations, begun July 7, 1869.
It was not until early in the summer of 1871 that the superstructure was ready to receive the corner-stone. June 24, 1871, was designated as the day. The exercises attending this work were grand and imposing. An introductory address was delivered by the Hon. Hamilton Harris, followed by reading a list of the documents placed in the corner-stone, by Hon. William A. Rice; an address by Governor John T. Hoffman; and Masonic ceremonies conducted by Most Worshipful John Anton, Grand Master of the Grand Masonic Lodge of the State.
The liberal spirit of the citizens of Albany was exhibited in a marked manner in the erection of the New Capitol. To Hon. Hamilton Harris, President of the Board of Capitol Commissioners, and to his exertions in the Senate, the State and the City of Albany are largely indebted for the successful manner in which the work was from the first pushed forward. By a concurrent resolution adopted May 14, 1878, the Legislature declared the new building to be the Capitol of the State of New York, and it was formally occupied as such January 7, 1879. The same evening the citizens of Albany gave a reception in honor of the event, and commemorative exercises were held under authority of the Legislature on the 12th of February following.
New Capitol Commissioners.—Hamilton Harris, May 3, 1866; John V. L. Pruyn, May 3, 1866; Obadiah B. Latham, May 3, 1866; James S. Thayer, May 19, 1868; William A. Rice, May 19, 1868; James Terwilliger, May 19, 1868; John T. Hudson, May 19, 1868; Alonzo B. Cornell, May 19, 1868.
Second Board.—Hamilton Harris, April 26, 1871; William C. Kingsley, April 26, 1871; William A. Rice, April 26, 1871; Chauncey M. Depew, April 26, 1871; Delos De Wolf, April 26, 1871; Edwin A. Merritt, April 26, 1871.
Architects.—Thomas Fuller, August 12, 1868; Eidlitz, Richardson & Co., September 12, 1876.
Superintendents.—John Bridgeford, September 10, 1868; William J. McAlpine, June 11, 1873; James W. Eaton, June 12, 1874.
The Second Board was superseded by Act of the Legislature of 1875, and the Lieutenant-Governor, Attorney-General, and Auditor of the Canal Department were constituted Commissioners of the New Capitol. An Advisory Board to the Commissioners was appointed July 15, 1875, consisting of F. Law Olmsted, Leopold Eidlitz and Henry Richardson. This board was superseded by the appointment of architects in 1876. An Act passed March 30, 1883, authorized the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint an officer to be known as the Commissioner of the New Capitol, who shall have charge of the work of constructing and finishing the building. He is authorized to employ labor, purchase material and make contracts, which, in all cases, must be awarded to the lowest bona fide responsible bidder. He is required to give a bond for $50,000, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of his office. His term of office is the same as that of the Governor, from whom he receives his appointment. His salary is $7,500 per annum. The same Act abolished the office of Superintendent of the Capitol.
A subsequent law of the same year designated the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor and Speaker of the Assembly, ex officio, trustees of the finished parts of the building, and of several other public buildings of the State at Albany, for which they are to appoint a Superintendent at an annual salary of $3,500.
After the laying of the corner-stone, the work on the building was continued with more or less rapidity, according to the appropriation of funds.
There were times of entire cessation from work for lack of funds. In 1874 no work was done upon it for six months. It is now occupied by the Senate and Assembly, the Court of Appeal, and nearly all the State Departments.
The Foundation.—To receive the foundation, the earth was excavated to an average depth of 15 feet below the surface. Then concrete to the thickness of four feet was first laid down. The material for this was of a nature that indurates with the lapse of time, so that a stone floor now exists which is every year approaching the hardness and duration of granite. The sub-basement extends down nineteen feet four inches, and contains 935,000 cubic feet of stone. The brick walls are from thirty-two inches to five feet thick, containing between ten and eleven million bricks. The foundation of the main tower is one hundred and ten feet square at the base, tapering to seventy feet square at the basement floor, The sub-basement is divided into one hundred and forty-four different apartments, and is utilized for heating, storing and ventilating purposes.
The immense boilers in the sub-basement used for propelling machinery for heating, lighting and ventilating purposes have long been regarded as dangerously located. They were considered liable to explode. They were also the source of other inconveniences. A proposal to remove them to a building adjacent to the Capitol, to be constructed by the State for this purpose, has been agitated for several sessions of the Legislature. The Legislature of 1885 passed an Act providing for the erection of a building for a boiler-house with chimney stack, having a conduit running from the boiler house to the Capitol.
The foundation of the boiler-house is seven feet below the sidewalk at the corner of Lafayette and Hawk streets, the walls three feet wide. From floor levels to the water tables the walls are two feet thick, faced with dressed stone. Water tables blue stone, and the wall above faced with pressed brick, tower included. The roof is supported by iron trusses, peaked and slated. The floor is bricked or flagged. The chimney is 100 feet high, built of hard brick; at the base it is fourteen feet square and ten and one-half feet in diameter at the top. The conduit comprises cast-iron tubes in lengths of six feet, clearing six feet in the diameter and an inch thick. Two ten-inch steam-pipes must run through it to connect the Capitol with the battery of boilers. The return pipes are four inches in diameter. For 270 feet the Washington avenue drains are lowered three feet, and for 300 feet the Lafayette street drains are lowered eight feet. There are five boilers, each 150-horse power. The plates are made of the best quality of Otis homogeneous steel, with tensile strength of 60,000 pounds to the inch of area.
The responsibility of making this construction and the removal was committed to Hon. Charles B. Andrews, Superintendent of Public Buildings and Grounds in Albany belonging to the State.
The Capitol is now lighted by magnificent electric lights. The Senate, Assembly and Court of Appeals and other larger rooms are illuminated by the incandescent light. The effect of these lights can scarcely be described, but must be seen to be appreciated.
The Capitol is magnificently situated in what will be hereafter known as Capitol square, including the land between Eagle street on the east, Capitol place on the west, with Washington avenue on the north, and State street on the south. The length is 1,034 feet, the width 330, containing in all 7 84/109 acres
Capitol place is 155 feet above the level of the Hudson, and the land slopes to the east 51 feet. State street leads directly up from Broadway to the Capitol.
One of the first impressions of the traveler as he beholds the building is its immense proportions. It occupies 3 7/8 acres of land. It is 300 feet from north to south, and 400 feet from east to west. The walls are 108 feet high from the water-table, and are composed of granite, most of it from Hallowell, Maine.
The Central Court is 137 by 92 feet, extending an open space to the sky and admitting much needed light and air. Above the six dormer windows that open on the Court that are above the fourth or gallery story, are sculptured the arms of six families more or less distinguished in the history of the State. The Stuyvesant Arms are on the north side, west; Schuyler arms on the north side, middle; the Livingston arms on the north side, east; the Jay arms are on the south side, west; the Clinton arms are on the south side, middle; the Tompkins arms are on the south side, east.
The carvings descriptive of these arms, with the mottoes, are beautifully wrought, and blend with fine effect in the whole entablature on which they appear.
We take the following description of the Capitol from H. P. Phelps' admirably compiled work, "The Albany Hand-book."
The first or ground story, which is nearly on a level with Washington avenue and State street, is devoted to committee rooms and offices elsewhere specified. Ascent to the other stories may be made by elevators, but visitors will generally prefer to walk up one or the other of the grand staircases.
The Assembly Staircase, on the north side, is of Dorchester freestone of soft drab color; its ascent is easy; its design vigorous and scholarly. The views of it so often seen give a better idea of its majestic proportions then words can do.
The Golden Corridor.—On arriving upon the second floor by the Assembly Staircase will be seen the Golden Corridor, 140 feet long by 20 wide and about twenty-five feet high, extending along the whole court side of the north center. Seven large windows opening upon this court divide the corridor into bays, twenty feet square. Each bay is flanked by piers, between which arches are turned, and these arches sustain a low and ribless groined vault.
Mr. Montgomery Schuyler says:
''The piers are covered with a damask of red upon umber. The angle moldings are solidly gilded. The crimson wall screen on both sides is overlaid with a simple reticulation of gold lines framing ornaments in yellow. The whole vault is gilded, and upon its ground of gold traversing each face of the vault, is a series of bands of minute ornament in brown, scarlet and deep blue. The method— this close mosaic of minute quantities of crude color—is entirely Oriental in treatment and effect. The varying surfaces of the vaulting, each covered with-fretted gold, give a vista, lengthened by the dwindling arches, alive with flashing lights and shimmering shadows. Opening out of the corridor to the right is the room originally intended for the Court of Appeals, but declined by the Judge as unsuitable for their purpose. It is sixty feet square and twenty-five feet high, subdivided into parallelograms, one twice the width of the other, by a line of red granite columns carrying with broad, low arches a marble wall. The walls are of sandstone, visible in some places, but covered in most with a decoration in deep red, and with the tall wainscoting of oak, which occupy the wall above the dado of sandstone. The ceiling is a superb construction in carved oak, carried on a system of beams diminishing in size from the great girders supported by great braces, and finally closed by oaken panels, profusely carved. The Senate occupied this room previous to the completion of the Senate Chamber, and it has been used for various purposes. At the time of the scare, in relation to the ceiling of the Assembly Chamber, in 1882-83, it was hastily fitted up for the occupation of the Assembly with gallery, etc. The members sat there one day and returned to their quarters. When the State Library Building was razed, this room and the Golden Corridor were utilized temporarily for library purposes.
The Assembly Chamber.—Ascending another flight of the staircase we come to what is, without doubt, the grandest legislative hall in the world— the Assembly Chamber—84x140 feet by including the galleries, although the chamber proper is but 84 by 85 feet. Four great pillars, 4 feet in diameter, of red granite, sustain the largest groined stone arch in the world, the key-stone being 56 feet from the floor. These pillars, and the arch which springs from them, are the most striking features of the room, but it will bear a world of study. While all admit the grandeur of the work, its vastness is also its defect; for as a debating hall it is far from perfect. With the Assembly in perfect order (a condition rarely observed for ten consecutive minutes) a good speaker cannot be heard without difficulty, but the Statesman with weak lungs, poor voice, uninteresting manner, or threadbare subject, is apt to complain bitterly of the acoustics. It had been found necessary, in order to keep the key-stone in place, to weight it very heavily; this extra weight upon the sandstone caused some of the defective stones to crack. Small pieces fell, and there was much apprehension that the building was settling unevenly, and that the tons upon tons of stone in and about the ceiling would some day come down with a crash. A commission of experts reported that it was best to take the ceiling down. The architects protested and offered to repair it at their own expense; they were allowed to do so, replaced the defective stones, and all anxiety appears to have subsided.
The Allegorical Pictures.—No one feature of the Capitol has caused more comment than the pictures that occupy the upper portions of the north and south walls of this chamber. They were painted by the late William M. Hunt, one of the greatest of American artists, and possess a melancholy interest from the fact that they are the only work of the kind he ever did. He received for his services fifteen thousand dollars. The space covered by each is fifteen by forty feet. That on the northern wall represents the allegory of Armujd and Ahriman,
We are told that since Mr. Hunt's melancholy death on the Isle of Shoals, that the fifty-five days devoted by himself and his assistant to the painting of these pictures, by no means represented all the labor bestowed upon them. The Discoverer was first drawn in charcoal in 1857. The Flight of Night had been put on paper ten years earlier, and had been designed simply for an easel picture. After accepting the commission, Mr. Hunt's preparatory work in his studio in Boston was of nearly five months' duration. For the Flight of Night, the heads of the horses, their legs and feet were all freshly painted from life. The Queen was painted from a model. Sleep and the child were painted from life; also the dusky guide. For the other picture, the Discoverer, Hope, Science, and Fortune were painted from life models. The heads, hands, and arms of these figures were also drawn and colored as separate studies. In all, thirty or more careful charcoal drawings and more than twelve pastels were made, besides nineteen complete copies in oil—seventeen, twelve by thirty inches, and two, six by eight feet. The work itself had to be done by a specified time, and this involved much anxiety. Each morning the artist and his assistant were up to catch from the rising sun a fresh impression to carry to the work upon the Flight of Night. Every evening they watched the waning daylight, and noted the effect of figures and objects against the setting sun, as a study for the Discoverer. Later on in the work, Mr. Hunt obtained from his assistant a solemn promise that if their effort proved a failure, he would paint out both pictures in a single night.
The South Side Corridor.—The Executive Chambers, or the Governor's rooms, are in the southeast corner on the second, or entrance floor. On the way to this portion of the Capitol, one is struck by two very important differences in construction between the southern corridors and the corresponding passages on the north side of the building. These differences consist in the use of colored marbles here for wainscoting, and in the admission of light by windows rising from the top of the wainscot above the level of the eye and surrounding the doors leading into the various committee rooms that receive direct light. The effect of the wainscot is of great richness and variety, and it also seems substantial and enduring. The richness and variety of color is truly wonderful, and it contains in low tones more combinations than the most elaborate palettes of a painter could reach in a lifetime. The most prominent tints are shades and hues of red, and these are relieved by numberless colder tones, grays and browns predominating. The marble has been selected upon a harmonious scale of color, and is put together in simple slabs, the joining edges of which are bexeled perpendicularly, and are held in place by a slightly convex string molding and a cap of brownstone, which, where they abut upon doors, are daintily carved into terminal bosses, while the whole rests upon a molded base of brownstone. This wainscot is more pleasing than any combination of tiles could be, but its effect would be entirely thrown away were it not for the means adopted for lighting the corridors through the windows above mentioned.
The Governor's Room is sixty feet long by forty wide; the walls are wainscoted to a height of fifteen or sixteen feet with mahogany, arranged in square panels surmounted with a band of carving and a carved molding above. The space between this and the ceiling of mahogany is covered with hangings of Spanish leather, which harmonize, in its soft tones of golden-brown, and red, and olive, with the mahogany. On one side of the room is an enormous fire-place having a shelf and several emblematic panels of elaborate carving about it. The ceiling is composed of beams, which divide the space into panels, having rails perforated in the form of a quatrefoil surrounding the panel. There are convenient arrangements to connect with the offices of the executive attendants and the bill room b0 small doors in the paneling, and altogether the room is well adapted to the reception of persons having business to transact with the Governor and his assistants.
The Corridor Of Columns.—Ascending from this floor by the commodious and easy running elevator, we find ourselves in a corridor similar to that previously described, which leads into a broader one, running east and west along the north side of the Senate Chamber. This last-named corridor,which is after plans furnished by Mr. Eidlitz, is entirely lined and vaulted with sandstone, and has a row of columns in the center, above which there is a double-arched vault extending to either wall. Upon this spacious corridor open the main doors leading to the Senate Chamber.
The Senate Chamber, in the richness and variety of its decoration, is equaled only by the famous St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice. Its treatment was assigned to Mr. Richardson, and of his success there can be no question. The space in which he had to work was sixty feet in breadth, nearly one hundred in length, and about fifty in height. He has reduced the plan of the room to a nearly square form, cutting off from either end of it the lobbies, above which are placed the galleries, opening on the chamber proper. These lobbies, opening from the corridors, are simple in treatment. Yet by a slight similarity in detail they, in a measure, prepare the eye for the Senate Chamber itself. They are wainscoted with a light marble, arranged panel-wise in slabs and rails, and are ceiled with quartered oak. From the west lobby opens the Lieutenant-Governor's room, comfortably fitted up with a carved and polished mahogany wainscot and fire-place, and an oak ceiling supported on corbels of marble. By the arrangement of the galleries over the lobbies, the actual floor space of the Senate Chamber proper is reduced to about sixty feet by fifty-five. Entering on this floor by the main doorway from the vaulted corridor above described we first see the south wall, from which the chamber is lighted by three large openings rising from a level with the floor and six lesser openings near the ceiling. Two of the large windows are filled with disks of stained glass, which shade from browns and rubies near the floor through olives and golden hues to the semicircular tops, which are filled with varied iridescent and opalescent tints. The central window is obscured by the reredos behind the president's desk, which rises to the spring of the window arches, but does not cover the semicircular window head, which, like the others, is filled with many hued opalescent glass. The stained glass has been used not only to add brilliancy of color, but to avoid the glare of light that has proved so objectionable in some of the other rooms. These windows are arched, and the stone moldings above and below them are carved with intricate and delicate patterns of interwoven lace-like forms, and a carved band of stone divides the lower part of each window from the semicircular upper light. The capitals of the angle columns are more heavily cut into conventional forms taken from oak leaves and other foliage. The wall space between the windows, as far up as the spring of the arches, is of Knoxville Tenn., marble, a reddish-gray stone not highly polished, though having a smooth finish.
The Mexican Onyx Paneling.—Above the three arches of the lower windows for about twelve feet (perpendicular), the wall is paneled with Mexican onyx. These panels are cut into slabs three feet square and are separated, or rather framed, by slightly convex rails of Sienna (Italy) marble, the mottled reds, yellows, and browns of which contrast with the tints of the onyx. For additional support the slabs are backed up with slabs of ordinary marble. The variety of color displayed in the onyx is very remarkable, the prevailing tints being mottled and semi-translucent whites, cream colors, sea-water, olive and ivory. These tints are broken and waved by lines, striae and splashes of raw Sienna coloring, rosy brown, and numberless shades of other neutral browns, some inclining toward red and some toward green and even blue, while the surface everywhere varies in play of light and shade of semi-opacity and translucence. The various slabs, no two of which are alike, are arranged with a certain idea of contrast, but never formally nor with regularity of counter-change. They are laid haphazard with a motive. The dividing rails of Sienna marble are of colors that harmonize admirably with those of the onyx, being principally yellows of a soft golden character and reddish brown mottled, the intensity of which is varied in every piece, and sometimes approaches so nearly the color of an adjacent slab of onyx as to melt into it. Both panels and rails are highly polished. Above this paneling is a string course of simply carved marble, and above this is the upper tier of windows, six in number. The shape and treatment are similar to those of the lower windows. The wall space above these windows is filled in with lead, heavily gilded, constituting a sort of frieze. The ornament of this is a carefully studied design of arabesque or floral pattern, beaten out or embossed by means of hammers, stamps and dies of various sizes and shapes, thus affording a varied plav of light and shade on the gilt surface. This field of gold, being absolutely neutral, adapts itself to the color of the surrounding objects, and in the elevation and depression of its beaten and stamped surface supplies the complementary colors necessary to complete the color harmony of the whole chamber. Above the broad frieze of beaten gold, and terminating the wall are the massive carved beams of oak, more than four feet in depth, which constitute the framework of the ceiling. These great beams are supported on stone corbels sunk into the walls and projecting under the beams. The corbels are carved into bold and vigorous forms derived from foliage and flowers. The main beams divide the ceiling into long, narrow, rectangular spaces running from east to west, and these spaces are divided into lesser rectangular spaces running north and south, which are again divided in half by smaller beams and form squares, which are still further divided by rails into four square panels each. Half way between the east and west walls is the main entrance of the corridor, and on either side of this entrance are two great open fire-places jutting out into the room. The doorway and fire-places are constructed of marble, as is the space between them. The openings of the fire-places are about six feet in height, and something more in breadth. The cheerful effect of these, when filled with blazing logs, the flames of which are reflected on the polished onyx and marble from all sides of the room, may well be imagined. Above the fire openings are to be carved legends or symbolical devices. Above these are the broad faces of the chimney-breasts, which are to be cut in bas-relief, with representations of historical or legendary scenes, emblematical of or illustrating the legislative character of the room. The whole chimney-pieces are about half as high as the room, reaching to the string course below the gold frieze. Above the doorway and wall space of Knoxville marble, we see the wall space up to the frieze covered with the Mexican onyx panel, and like the frieze, in greater extent of surface than elsewhere. Above the onyx and inclosed within the frieze is a long rectangular space, which may be filled in with mural painting of some allegorical subject fitted to the place.
The Court Of Appeals.—Nine spacious rooms are assigned for the Court of Appeals, six in the third or principal story, three in the fourth or gallery story, the two stories being connected by an ornamented iron staircase. The Court-room is in the southeast corner over the executive chamber, and is 35 by 53 feet and 25 feet high. It is finished in quartered red oak, timbered ceiling of the same material, with carved beams and deep recessed panels. The five window openings are finished with Knoxville marble, the arches resting on carved trusses and columns recessed into the angles formed by the jambs and outer belting, terminating in ornamental trusses. A deep carved wood string in line with the trusses, and the carved capitals of the marble columns divide the oak paneling on the walls into two parts. The framework of the upper section is filled in with large plain panels, and the intention is to decorate, by gilding, the rails. The panels are designed to be painted in varied designs to harmonize with the wood-carving. The lower section below the window arches stands upon a molded base and is filled in with double raised panels and sub divided longitudinally by carved string courses, containing between them a section of vertical fluted work, in which are fixed at intervals, in carved frames, the portraits of the judges, many of which hung in the Court of Appeals' room of the Old Capitol. On the west side of the room is a recessed fire-place of large dimensions, over which is displayed the arms of the State, carved in the oaken panels of the mantel over the recess. The recess of the fire-place is lined with Sienna marble, and has a bench on either side of the fire-place of the same material. The lintel over the fire-place is also of Sienna marble, richly carved and extending across the whole recess. Resting on the lintel is a large panel composed of several choice specimens of Mexican onyx skillfully arranged. The Judge's bench has been carefully designed in style and form to suit the requirements and wishes of that honorable body. The front is divided into panels set in framework; the panels are exquisitely carved in varied designs and separated by ornamental balusters, the whole resting on a molded base. Carved in the center panel are the arms of the State. There is a medallion convex of carved grotesque heads located along the projecting top. Perhaps no room in the building is better adapted to its purpose than this.
The Southeast, Or Senate Staircase occupies a space fifty-two by fifty-two, and one hundred and fourteen feet high from basement to the top of the walls. The stairs start on the ground floor on the south side and extend to the gallery story. The great platforms and steps are of Dorchester sandstone. Each story is divided into two sections by spacious intermediate platforms midway in each story, extending the whole distance between the north and south walls, a distance of fifty feet by twelve feet wide. The stairs are of easy ascent and grand and dignified in appearance. The upper landings of the stairs on each story are on platforms extending the whole length between the walls by fourteen feet wide, resting on the walls at either end, and supported at the cross joints by massive molded granite girders. The west walls on the ground and entrance stories form a continuous line of niches, divided by piers and columns, embellished with molded brass and carved caps. The west wall in each of the four stories is pierced by large openings, through which light is admitted to the staircase from the court. The eastern wall in the entrance and main stories is provided with balconies, the platforms placed on a level with the tiled floors of the corridors adjoining. These balconies serve both as useful and ornamental features, and are approached through the openings made in the east wall, as heretofore described. The openings are spanned by pointed arches, the two outer arches extending over the steps. The faces of piers and arches are decorated by incised ornaments, the under side of arches by flowing lines of tracery, terminating in grotesque heads and figures. The north and south sides of the wall are each divided into two openings, which are spanned by arches springing from the massive piers at the ground floor, up to and against the piers resting upon the caps of the center columns, from which the upper span of arches spring, to and against the piers of the various landings. These arches are constructed at an angle conforming to the angles of the steps, and supporting the same. The vertical faces and soffits are decorated in a similar manner as the arches heretofore described, with the exception of the lower section, in which spandrels are formed, filled in with geometrical tracery.
Resting on the arches, continuing up the steps, and forming the coping over the same, is a molded string course, up the face of which is a deeply recessed and richly carved decoration. This coping and decoration extends along a level with all the platforms, and is divided by the piers at the angles. The coping, up the steps and along the platforms, is surmounted by a beautiful balustrade worked in geometrical figures and foliage ornaments, on which rests a heavy molded hand-rail. This great monumental work is believed to be without parallel on the face of the globe.
Stone-work.—The following description of the stone-work used on the New Capitol was kindly furnished the editor by Mr. James J. Mitchell, Superintendent of Granite Work. It puts on record facts of abiding interest in the history of this great building that can be found nowhere else. It is the statement of a skillful practical mechanic, who has been on the work from the beginning, given in his own clear language.
I came here October 8, 1870, when the foundation was being built, from Washington, D. C, where I had been employed as a stone-cutter on the United States Capitol and other public buildings. At that time the building was under the management of a commission, of which the Hon. Hamilton Harris was Chairman. The cornerstone was laid June 24, 1871, by the Masonic fraternity. After the laying of the corner-stone, measures were taken to push forward the construction with the greatest rapidity. I worked as a stone-cutter on the building until May 25, 1872, when I was appointed assistant foreman of stonecutters, which position I held until 1876, when Mr. Reynolds, who had been principal foreman, died. I was appointed his successor. In 1883 I was further promoted to Superintendent of Granite Work by Commissioner Perry.
In my department are employed almost two-thirds of the whole force on the building, the total of which is about eight hundred and fifty men. In my office are two clerks, one messenger and one assistant.
The average number of men employed yearly since 1870, is 1,100. Of the different kinds of stone used in its construction as follows: For foundation, Tribes Hill and Kingston limestone, also Fall River and Saratoga granite, and Potsdam sandstone for bond stone. The basement is flagged with blue-stone from Ulster County.
The water table is of Dix Island, Me., granite; the corner-stone, weighing ten tons, is also of this material. It is situated in the northeast corner of the building. It was contemplated at one time to construct the whole building of Dix Island, Me., granite, but it was found to be too expensive.
The next five courses around the entire building are of Yarmouth, Me., granite. It was condemned on account of having been found to contain iron, thereby causing discoloration, which is plainly visible, and is a great eyesore. From the fifth course upward the entire exterior structure is composed of Hallowell white granite, a fine, if not the finest building material in the world.
In the north and south entrances halls, ground floor, the first story of the main tower and corridors, granite from Keene, N. H., is used, not including the arches. In the east and west entrance halls, Hallowell granite, with polished granite columns from Fox Island, Me., is used.
The great columns in the Assembly Chamber are red granite from Stony Creek, Conn., while the bases and capitals are Tuckahoe, Westchester County, marble. The remainder of the Chamber is entirely of Dorchester, Ohio, and Belleville, New Jersey, red sandstone.
In the corridors of the south side we find, in the wainscoting, marble of almost every hue, principally from Lake Champlain. The base-band and cap-courses, also the jambs, are of dark brownstone from Newark, N. J. On the next two floors above, the same materials are used in the wainscoting. In the room formerly intended for the Court of Appeals are red granite columns and pilasters of great beauty from the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia.
The bases, capitals and arches in the Chamber supporting the floors of the Assembly Chamber, are of white marble from Tuckahoe, Westchester County. The wainscoting is of Ohio sandstone and Dorchester sandstone. The carving in the oak panels is of rare beauty.
The stone used in the Governor's Room is Knoxville marble, highly polished and carved. The marble lintel in the fire-place is of exquisite finish, consisting of oak leaves and stems of the most intricate design. The wainscoting and ceiling in this room are of red mahogany.
The Senate Chamber is regarded as one of the most beautiful legislative chambers in the world. The principal material used in this chamber is Knoxville, Tennessee, marble. The red granite columns and pilasters are from Jefferson County, New York. They are surmounted by capitals of extraordinary delicacy and workmanship, of Knoxville, Tennessee, marble. The north and south walls, above the string-course, are lined with Mexican onyx and Sienna marble—the onyx forming the panels, the Sienna, the styles and rails. These materials are the most costly in the market. The great arches are also of Sienna, elaborately carved.
The large mantels in the Senate Chamber are very elaborate, consisting of sculptured cherubs, animals, foliage, etc., in deep relief. They are very massive, and, when finished, will be one of the features of the already gorgeous and costly Chamber.
The lobbies and ante-rooms are finished with Knoxville, Tennessee, marble, as also the Lieutenant-Governor's Room, except the wainscoting, which is of mahogany.
The main corridor on this, the principal floor, and the one above the gallery, are very striking to the visitor, who passes though them before entering the Senate Chamber, where he finds a different style of architecture.
The materials in these corridors are Dorchester and Ohio sandstone, the architect of the latter evidently preferring sandstone, as it seems to be always used where his designs are to be found.
The carving in these corridors, especially in the gallery, is of exquisite design and execution, treated by master hands.
The new Court of Appeals, situated in the southeast corner, is a fine room. The windows are trimmed with Knoxville marble; the wainscoting and ceiling is of oak, elaborately carved; the railing in front of the clerk's desk is a feature. The fire-place is very rich; the materials are Mexican onyx and Sienna marble, and quite unique.
A very beautiful, if not the most beautiful, mantel, so far as material is concerned, is in the Clerk's Room, Court of Appeals. It is of variegated green Lissoughter marble. The other two in the same suite of rooms are of exquisite design and finish, and are composed of Little Island and Middleton B marble.
The wainscoting in the east corridor is different from that of the south corridor. The base-board and cap are of Belgian black marble; the panels from East Tennessee, and Greot (French) marble. Lake Champlain marble is also used.
The northeast staircase is entirely composed of Dorchester sandstone. The style is in harmony with the Assembly Chamber, being very rich in detail.
The southeast staircase, now building, will be a magnificent work when completed. The material used is red Scotch Corsehill sandstone; the columns of Peterhead, Scotch, granite. Fox Island and Quincy granite are also used.
In the Parlor of the Assembly, a beautiful mantel of East Tennessee marble is constructing; also, in the Committee Room of Ways and Means.
The following is a list of the different kinds of stone used in the construction of this building:
Granite: Fall River, Mass.; Saratoga, N. Y.; Dix Island, Me.; Yarmouth, Me.; Hallowell, Me.; Fox Island, Me.; Mount Waldo, Me.; Rockcliffe Island, Me.; Keene, N. H.; Red Stony Creek, Conn.; Red Peterhead (Scotch); St. John's, Bay of Fundy (N. S.); Quincy, Mass.
Marble: Lake Champlain; East Tennessee; German; Virginia, variegated; Knoxville, Tenn.; Sienna; Mexican onyx; Black Belgian; Irish, variegated; Flaviico; Tuckahoe, Westchester County; Pennsylvania dove color; White Italian; Greot, French; Vermont, variegated; Glen Falls, black; Middleton black, Little Island; Lissoughter.
Sandstone: Potsdam and Dorchester, Ohio; Red New Jersey; Red Scotch; Corsehill.
Brownstone: Newark, N. J.
Limestone: Tribes Hill; Kingston.
Bluestone: Ulster County.
Previous to the construction of this building, it was doubted by many architects that granite could be treated by the workmen in such a delicate manner as the elaborate carving on the different parts of the exterior demanded. The carving on the gallery story of the small towers could scarcely be treated with greater delicacy in any material than it is in the Hallowell granite. The tympanum in the dormers on all sides of the building demonstrate beyond a doubt, that in the hands of skillful workmen there is hardly any kind of ornament which cannot be wrought in this granite.
The dormers on the north, south, and west sides of the central court are, perhaps, the strongest evidence that can be adduced of the delicate treatment and beautiful finish that this granite will bear. The coats of arms sculptured on them took months to complete. Heraldic emblems are, in my judgment, the most difficult ornaments to execute out of granite in order to get the proper effect, as the smallest defect in any part would destroy the whole.
The most skillful mechanics have been gathered to this building. It has been my constant desire to encourage and foster mechanical and artistic talent wherever I found it. To do this, while contending against the importunities of politicians, has indeed been a hard task, and under the circumstances, it is little less than a miracle that the great work has so successfully been prosecuted.
The great gable on the west front is elaborately ornamented. The loggia is one of its principal features. The tympanum is enriched with disks, crossed and roseated, forming a diaper or drapery of extraordinary beauty. Over the string-course, and flanking the arches, stand the Winged Lions of Babylon. Below the spandrels are sculptured in bas-relief the figures of Justitia and Puritas. Surmounting the whole is a massive finial, richly carved in deep relief, and stamping the whole as one of the best pieces of work ever executed out of granite in this or any other country.
ISAAC G. PERRY.
To Mr. Isaac G. Perry has been entrusted the work of carrying forward the construction of the finest and most expensive building in this country, and the third most expensive in the world—the New Capitol at Albany. The history of Albany, and of the great structure itself, would be incomplete without a sketch of his career.
Born in Bennington, Vermont, in 1822, Mr. Perry is in his sixty-third year, though his robust frame and strongly-marked features would indicate that he was much younger. Much of his early life was passed at Keeseville, Essex County, New York, where he received his education and acquired a knowledge of the details of that which was to be his life work. After a time he removed to New York City, where he made a success of his occupation, and remained until he was induced to take up his residence in Binghamton, N. Y., where he obtained a wide reputation as a builder and architect.
The most important of his works before the Capitol, was the Binghamton Asylum for the Insane, a fine specimen of Elizabethan architecture. Next only in importance was the new Court House at Scranton, Pa., an elegant structure in the medieval style adapted to modern requirements. Nearly all of the modern built buildings in Binghamton—and they are numerous and beautiful, as well as substantial—are from his designs, as well as many equally attractive ones in other cities.
March 30, 1883, Governor Cleveland appointed Mr. Perry, Commissioner of the Construction of the New Capitol, under the then recently enacted law creating a single Commissioner to have entire charge of the interests which had theretofore been confided to a Board of Commissioners, and his appointment was confirmed on the 5th of April following. The appointment was entirely unsolicited by Mr. Perry, who was chosen as an architect, not as a partisan. He had been a life-long adherent to Democratic principles, but had never thought that his vocation as an architect and a builder had anything to do with his political convictions as a citizen, and he had not made himself known to the country or to the State by any prominence in politics. In an editorial notice of Mr. Perry's appointment, the Albany Argus said:
"He has carried to completion many edifices which are attestations of good work, and the history of them shows promptness, harmony and honesty in every stage. He has large numbers of men in his employment, and his record shows that he can command their regard and respect while requiring of them the utmost fidelity and energy. Great enterprises have confided to him enormous tasks, involving the use of large capital, the development of complicated plans, and the necessity of combining thoroughness of work with rapidity of execution. He has in every instance shown marked ability, absolute integrity, exceptional diligence and an intelligent purpose to regard every undertaking as a trust to be discharged with scrupulous observance of economy, impartiality and every other sound business principle."
His appointment was favorably commented upon by the Press of the State, irrespective of party, and his administration of the duties of his office has been such as to more than justify the enthusiastic predictions of his friends. The sterling integrity, good business sense and untiring energy which gained him his previous enviable reputation, have been brought to bear upon the Herculean task which he has undertaken, and in which his mind and his energies are almost wholly asserted; for, as it has been remarked by the Albany Journal, "his heart is wrapped up in the Capitol. He appears not to take much interest in politics, and is ready to spend his days and evenings walking about the Capitol, superintending the work, looking over designs and planning improvements."
While the Capitol stands as a monument to the liberality of the people and the enterprise and forethought of the public men of the State of New York, and the artistic and architectural skill of its own designers and builders, the memory of the name of Mr. Perry can never pass away, and he will be known as one of America's greatest architects and builders.
On the first of April, 1834. the legislature appointed a board of trustees to purchase land in the vicinity of the capitol to erect thereon a new state-hall. The plat of ground on the east side of Eagle Street between Steuben and Pine Streets was selected for the building, the erection of which was not completed until 1842. It was built of Sing Sing marble, and cost three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. When it was completed, the different apartments m it were occupied by the chancellor, the judges of the supreme court, the register of the court of chancery, the secretary of state, the comptroller, the treasurer, the attorney-general, the surveyor-general, the adjutant-general, the clerk of the supreme court, the canal-board and the canal-commissioners. The old state-building, on the southwest corner of State and Lodge Streets, was then fitted up for the reception and display of the various specimens, maps, figures and illustrations collected and prepared by the state geological corps. In the summer of 1855, the old state-building was demolished and the present hall containing the geological and agricultural rooms was erected on its site. By an enactment of the legislature in l883 the present state-hall, when vacated by the state officers, is to become the state-museum of natural history.
On the seventeenth of August, 1848, the most densely populated part of the city was ravaged by fire. The space on which were the six hundred buildings that were burned is described as extending "700 feet west from the river on Herkimer Street, 350 on Dallius. running northwardly ; 900 feet on Union Street, continuing in the same direction; 300 feet east on Hudson, and l600 on Quay Street, running south." By a strong south wind the fire swept northward from the corner of Broadway and Herkimer Streets, where it began in a shed adjoining the Albion Hotel, to "the cut at the foot of Maiden Lane." The loss was estimated at $3,000,000..
The state library in 1854 was removed to the fireproof building on the west side of the capitol. fronting on State Street, erected conformably to the act of the legislature passed June 1st 1851.. It was a two-story brick structure (the front and rear walls having faces of brown freestone) one hundred and fourteen feet long and forty-five wide. The large lower room contained the law library: the upper, the general library. In the first report of the trustees of the library, made the twenty-second of June, 1819, the statement appears that the sum of $2,617.20 had been expended for the purchase of six hundred volumes and nine maps. In the first catalogue, made in 1820, are printed the titles of seven hundred and fifty-eight volumes, three atlases, eleven maps and one engraving. By an act, passed the fourth of May, 1844. the regents of the University of the state of New York were made the trustees of the state library. In 1855 the general library contained thirty thousand and eleven volumes, and the law library thirteen thousand six hundred and twenty-three. At the present time there are about eighty-eight thousand two hundred and fifty volumes in the general library, and thirty-five thousand seven hundred and fifty in the law library. In the months of September and October, 1883, previous to the demolition of the library-building, the books and collections in the two library rooms were removed to the new capitol. the law library into the golden corridor, and the general library into the room that was to be used by the court of appeals. When completed, the libraries will hereafter occupy rooms in the third story of the capitol, on the east side. John Cook. Calvin Pepper. James Mahar. William Cassidy, and John L. Tillinghast were successively librarians of the state library previous to its removal into the library building in 1844. From that time to the present, the librarians have been John L. Tillinghast, appointed by the regents June 1, 1844; Alfred B. Street, March 1, 1848, who, from April 22, 1862, to June 8, 1868, was librarian only of the law library; he was succeeded June 8, 1868, by Stephen B. Griswold, the present librarian of the law library. Henry A. Homes, who had been assistant librarian from September 11, 1851, on the twenty-second of April, 1862, became the librarian of the general library, which office he still retains. George R. Howell, the assistant librarian in the general library, was appointed to the office on the fifteenth of February 1872.
Bi-centennial history of Albany: History of the county of Albany from 1609 to 1886, edited by George Rogers Howell, Jonathan Tenney
OLD STATE HALL. On February 14, 1797, a bill to erect a public building in the City of Albany, with a view of rendering it the permanent seat of government for the State, passed both branches of the Legislature and became a law.
A site for this building was selected on the corner of Lodge and State streets. It was the first public building erected by the State of New York in Albany after the Revolution.
Ground was broken for the building early in 1797, and pushed forward with such speed that it was completed in the spring of 1799. It is said that several sessions of the Legislature were held in it before the completion of the State Capitol in 1808.
The building is still standing and in a perfect state of preservation, presenting nearly the same external appearance it did when first built. It is built of brick, four stories high, fronting on State street, with a wing extending back on the west side of Lodge street.
In the eastern wall of the lower hall, there is a white marble tablet, bearing the following inscription:
The internal arrangement of the building has been subjected to such changes as were necessary to render it convenient for the purpose to which it was devoted after it ceased to become a hall for legislative and executive purposes.
At a later period the State Agricultural Society was authorized by law to occupy a part of the building. The two organizations—the State Museum and the State Agricultural Society—occupied so much space that the building was inadequate to their accommodation; whereupon the Legislature made appropriation for a new building, to be erected in the rear of the Old Capitol; and the libraries, antiquities and other collections, especially those of a literary and art character, were removed to it in 1858.
In 1865 the Legislature passed resolutions, recognizing the importance of making the State Cabinet of Natural History a museum of scientific and practical geology and comparative zoology. In 1870 the Legislature passed a law organizing the State Museum of Natural History, and providing an annual appropriation for its support.
This old hall, occupied for the purposes we have described, has been known from that time as Geological Hall.
GEOLOGICAL HALL
Has become one of the most interesting and instructive places in the City of Albany.
The following from the "Albany Hand-book for 1884," compiled by H. P. Phelps, gives a very adequate description of the internal arrangement of Agricultural and Geological Hall:
The wing on Lodge street, in the rear of the building, is three stories high. On the ground floor is a large lecture room, while in the other stories is the Museum, containing the agricultural implements and products in the stories above. On the lower or basement floor, and on the same level as the lecture-room, at the east end of the mam building, are two rooms occupied with the work of cutting and preparing thin sections of fossils of minute structure for the purpose of microscopic study in the Museum. The machinery and appliances for this work are of superior character, and the results are of great importance and interest to the Museum and to science. The first floor of the main building is occupied by the offices and libraries of the State Museum and of the State Agricultural Society; and, in the rear of the former, a large working-room is furnished with about 300 drawers for the reception of collections in process of preparation and arrangement. The main entrance hall exhibits a collection of dressed blocks of granite, marble, freestone, etc., the products of New York and adjacent States.
The second floor is occupied by the collections illustrating the geology and paleontology of the State. The wall cases, and a single series of table-cases around the room, are occupied by the rock specimens, whether fossiliferous or otherwise, and are arranged in such order that in going from left to right they show the geological superposition of the formations, each right-hand case containing specimens of the rock or formation lying next above the one on the left. This is supplemented by a colored geological section extending around the room above the cases, and so arranged that each formation shown in the section is represented by characteristic specimens in the case below. Besides illustration, there are enlarged figures of the characteristic fossils placed in the part of the cases above each formation. The entire arrangement is simple, instructive and easily understood. The collection of fossils (paleontology) occupies the tables, the table cases in the central portion of the floor, and also a large number of drawers beneath the table cases. This collection is arranged in the same simple and systematic order as the geological formations. Under each formation is a natural history arrangement of the genera and species of the fossils. This collection of rock specimens and fossils presents the most complete geological series of the older rocks to the base of the coal measures of any in the world; the older or paleogic rocks of the State of New York being more complete in their order of succession. Also along the west side of the room are arranged a series of large blocks of magnetic iron ore representing the principal mines of Northern New York and Orange County.
The third floor is occupied by collections from geological formations above the coal measures, both American and European, and by the mineralogical collection. The fossil series represents the period from the new red sandstone to the pleistocene. The pleistocene of North America is represented by the Cohoes mastodon skeleton, and other remains of mastodon and fossil elephants from different points. The pleistocene of South America by the cast of the gigantic megatherium and other forms of that age; and the same of Europe by the skeleton of the Megaceros Hibernian. The wall cases are in part occupied by a collection of the minerals of the State, and in part devoted to a general collection of minerals from all parts of the world.
The fourth story is occupied by the zoological collection. The western part of the room is devoted especially to the New York fauna, which is represented in its mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes, crustaceans, and shells. The eastern part of the room is occupied by a case containing a large collection of birds, with some mammals, which were presented to the Museum as a special collection by Mr. de Rham, of New York, and is known as the De Rham collection. The ethnological and historical collections occupy some wall cases on the north side of the room, and the central north side by cases of corals, etc. The center of the room contains the 1 wo double ranges of table cases, comprising the Gould collection of 6,coo species of shells, of more than 60,000 specimens. Since 1866 the collections in the Museum have been more than doubled in every department. At present every available space in the Museum is filled. All the collections are arranged for study and comparison, and the museum is strictly an educational institution.
Being a State institution it should be considered as cosmopolitan. Its institutions are to cover the whole field of natural research, and to be a center for the dissemination of a technical and popular knowledge of the products, fauna and flora of the Empire State. With this view, it should be an object of interest for the remote portions of the State as well as the immediate locality.
NEW STATE HALL.
This edifice, located on Eagle street, was completed in 1842, and was occupied by the officers of the various State departments, who removed thither from the Old State Hall.
After the adoption of the Constitution of 1846, which created a Court of Appeals in place of the old Court for the Correction of Errors, a part of this hall was appropriated to the Clerk of that Court. He is the custodian of all the legal documents, records, and books kept in the four Supreme Court Clerk's offices in the State, and in the offices of the Clerks in Chancery. All of these offices were abolished by this Constitution. He was also the custodian of the vast sums of money, which for nearly a century had been accumulating in those Courts. The rooms devoted to the Clerk of the Court of Appeals are in the southwest corner of the second story of this building. As these State departments have most m of them been removed, or will soon be, to the New Capitol, a further description of them will be found in what we have to say in regard to that edifice.
This State Hall is still a very substantial and handsome building. Until the beauties of its architecture were eclipsed by the elegant and commodious City Hall, which stands directly south of it, it was regarded as one of the finest buildings in the city. It cost the State $350,000. It is built of the white stone from the quarries at Sing Sing. The quality of this stone is the perfect manner in which it resists the vicissitudes of weather. It is more beautiful than marble and as enduring as granite. The building is 138 by 88 feet, and is 65 feet in height. A spiral stone stairway, with an artistic iron railing, leads from the floor to the attic. The whole building is surmounted by a low, well-formed dome, which furnishes light to the stairway below. The building is fire-proof. The principal stories have what are called groined arches. It is one of the first fire-proof buildings erected in Albany.
This State Hall, so long the depository of the State Records, and the place where State dignitaries most did congregate, has had its day, so far at least as the purposes for which it was erected are concerned. Few of the State officials, with their subordinates are now seen there. Their offices are mostly in the New Capitol. It is understood that the State cabinets in Geological Hall will soon be placed here.
THE OLD CAPITOL. page 446.
The City and County of Albany prides itself on the fact that its generous contributions aided largely in the erection of the Old Capitol.
In 1803, the Common Council of the city adopted a resolution requesting the Legislature to pass an act authorizing the erection of a State House and Court House, and appointed a committee to prepare a petition and map, and to report an estimate of the cost. The committee consisted of John Cuyler, Charles D. Cooper, and John V. N. Yates. This committee submitted their report March 7, 1803, and the Legislature authorized the erection of the building, then known as the New Capitol, by an act passed April 6, 1804.
The Capitol Commissioners appointed on the Old Capitol were John Taylor, Daniel Hale, Philip S. Van Rensselaer, Simeon De Witt, Nicholas N. Quackenbush.
This act is a characteristic specimen of the legislative methods of that day. The bill for its erection was entitled: "An Act Making Provisions for the Improvement of Hudson River below Albany, and for Other Purposes."
After providing for some improvement in the Hudson at Troy and Waterford, above Albany, it appoints John Taylor, Daniel Hale, Philip S. Van Rensselaer, Simeon De Witt, and Nicholas N. Quackenbush, Commissioners for erecting the New Capitol Building. It required the Supervisors of Albany County to raise by tax $12,000 for such purposes, and it contained the following provisions:
VI. And be it further enacted, that the managers of the Lottery hereinbefore mentioned shall cause to be raised by Lottery the sum of $12,000, in such manner as they, or a majority of them, shall think proper, which sum the said managers shall pay to the Commissioners aforesaid.
At that day the State lotteries held intimate relations with the finances of this State. These lotteries were authorized by law. Upon their managers devolved the raising of funds for the opening of roads, improving rivers, building bridges, and the advancement of great enterprises generally, now thrown upon the taxpayers.
The lotteries were originally established to aid in the endowment of schools under an act for the '' encouragement of literature." The early colleges of the States depended largely upon the lotteries. During the legislative session of 1812, a law was passed giving $200,000 to Union College, and smaller sums to Hamilton and Columbia Colleges, and other institutions, upon the lottery plan.
At length the lottery system became corrupt and unpopular. The provision abolishing lotteries, in the Constitution of 1821, was supplemented by a provision, now in force in the Constitution of to-day (Article I, Section 10), which reads thus: "Nor shall any lottery hereafter be authorized, nor any sale of lottery tickets allowed, within this State." The original appropriation for the Capitol was but $24,000, added to the proceeds of the sale of the old Stadt Huys, whatever they might be; but the building cost the sum of $110,688.42. This included the furnishing of the Council Chamber. Of this sum the City of Albany paid $34,200, the County of Albany $3,000, and the State $73,485.42. This was hardly sufficient to pay for painting and plastering the new building.
The Commissioners chose Pinkster's Hill as the site of the Capitol. On April 23, 1806, the corner-stone was laid with impressive ceremonies. Philip S. Van Rensselaer was then Mayor of Albany, and to him was assigned the duty of placing the stone in position. A large concourse of people were assembled, among whom were John Lansing, Jr., Chancellor of the State; Morgan Lewis, Chief Justice; Ambrose Spencer, Smith Thompson and Brock hoist Livingston, Justices of the Supreme Court; the Members of the City Corporation and other dignitaries.
The building was first occupied by the Senate and Assembly at a special session of the Legislature, convened November 1, 1808. It was considered a magnificent edifice, an object of as much curiosity and interest as is the new Capitol to-day. People from all parts of the State and nation visited it. In 1813, Professor Silliman, of Yale College, visited it and wrote an elaborate description of it, in which he said: "It is a large, handsome building, the furniture exhibiting a good degree of taste and splendor."
H. G. Spafford, describing the building, said of the Senate and Assembly Chambers, which were on the same floor: "In the furniture of these rooms there is a display of public munificence. The American eagle assumes almost imperial splendor. It stands at the head of State street, 130 feet above the level of the Hudson. It is a substantial stone building, faced with freestone taken from the brown sandstone quarries on the Hudson, below the Highlands. The walls are 50 feet high, consisting of two stories, and a basement story of 10 feet. The east or main front is adorned with a portico of the Ionic order, tetrastile, the entablature supporting an angular pediment in the tympanum of which is to be placed the Arms of the State. The ceiling of the wall is supported by a double row of reeded columns; the floors are vaulted and laid with squares of Italian marble; the building is roofed with a double hip of pyramidal form, upon the center of which is a circular cupola, 20 feet in diameter. On its dome is a statue of Themis, facing eastward—a carved figure of wood, 11 feet in height, holding a sword in her right hand and the balance in her left."
The above is a good description of the Old Capitol as it appeared in 1883, when it was taken down, with the exception of some few additions which had been made in its rear. The interior, with some exceptions, was at that time about the same as it was when first occupied. We give below the changes which were made.
To the Executive Chamber there was made, during the Rebellion, an additional room, extending into the main hall. In other respects it was the same in 1883 as in 1808. To the departments occupied by the Adjutant-General, previous to the removal of the building, was added another room during the war. This room was devoted to the Common Council of the City of Albany. Various additions have been made from time to time in the rear of the Assembly Chamber. The Senate Chamber was originally to the left of the Assembly on entering from the main hall. It was, however, removed to the large room on the second floor, and the old Senate Chamber was used by the Department of Public Instruction, and latterly as the Post office and cloak-room of the Assembly. When the Senate Chamber was removed to the second floor, a floor was constructed and additional rooms were added to the building. In one of these the Supervisors of Albany County held their meetings. On the upper floor the Supreme Court originally occupied the main room. It was afterwards occupied by the Court of Appeals, and one winter by the Senate. The other rooms were occupied by the Court of Chancery, the Court of Common Pleas, the Court of Sessions and the Mayor's Court. The Mayor's office was in the attic, as were also the rooms of the Society of Arts, the State Library and the State Board of Agriculture. The basement was devoted to the offices of the County Clerk, City Marshal and the rooms of the Keeper of the Capitol.
It is singular that there was not a committee room in the entire building. It can hardly be conceived that the building could ever have rendered accommodations for such a number of public offices; but this arrangement continued till the completion of the City Hall in 1831, when the city and county officers were removed to that building. After that time various changes took place. A new State library was built, under the law of 1851, and large additions were made to the rear of the building; but it was not even then rendered adequate to the needs of the State.
Congress Hall stood almost adjoining the Old Capitol on the north, a famous hotel of the past. For many years it was the resort of senators, assemblymen, lobbyists, judges and lawyers.
Owing to the overcrowded state of the Capitol, a part of this hotel, a private house, and many rooms in the Delavan House, were used for committee rooms.
The Governor's room, to which we have alluded, was on the south side of the Capitol, its windows opening on State street, its entrance being from the south side of the hall of the Capitol. Over its door appeared the well-remembered words: -" Executive Chamber." This door led into a room occupied by the Governor's clerks; to the left, folding-doors opened directly into the Governor's room. The addition made during the war was occupied by the Governor's Military Secretary. The room had few decorations; a portrait of Lafayette, by Charles Ingham, was about the only embellishment the room contained. It is a full-length portrait, a fine work of art, and represents very correctly the features of its illustrious original. It now hangs in the Executive Chamber of the new Capitol.
A large table, the office desk of the Governors, stood in the center of the room. A desk for the Private Secretary, book-cases, sofas, and some easy chairs, made up its furniture.
The old Senate Chamber, a very handsome room, exceedingly appropriate for legislative purposes, was embellished with portraits of three distinguished men—Christopher Columbus, George Clinton and Stewart L. Woodford. The first of these was presented to the Senate, in 1784, by Maria Farmer, a descendant of the honest Jacob Leisler, once de facto Colonial Governor of New York, murdered by his enemies for high treason while guilty of no crime. The picture of Clinton is painted from life, and is an artistic work. The portrait of Woodford was presented to the Senate by his friends in the Senate of 1868.
The doorways of the Senate Chamber were ornamented with a sculptured cornice familiar to the architecture of seventy years ago. A tall Dutch clock, that for nearly a century noted the official hours of assembling and adjourning, was a main feature of the chamber. The galleries were a fiction of language, being on the same level as the main floor.
JAMES W. EATON. page 448.
The subject of this sketch, James Webster Eaton, was born August 22, 1817, at Summerville, N. J. His father, Josiah Eaton, came from Keene, N. H., and was descended from old Puritan stock which had taken root in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the early days, whence the descendants had spread out over New England. His mother, Gertrude MacEaton, was of Scotch-German parentage and was born in New Jersey. Both were intelligent, industrious, God-fearing people. In 1828, young Eaton removed with his parents to Albany, where, not long after, he began to learn the trade of his father, that of a stonemason. Born with the heritage of respectable poverty, which has been the spur of ambition to so many, he diligently laid hold of every opportunity for self-improvement, and while he spent the summer working at his trade, in the winter he attended the old Lancaster School and a private school kept by Mr. Fitch, both of which are names familiar to many old Albanians, who gained there that modest, but efficient education which has been so great an element in their subsequent success. In 1840, Mr. Eaton married Eliza M. Benner, who is still living. By this marriage there were three children, two "of whom survive: Calvin Ward, who is a member^of the firm of Van Santford & Eaton, wholesale lumber dealers, and James Webster, Jr., who is a recent graduate of Yale and the senior partner of the law firm of Eaton & Kirchwey. About the time of his marriage, Mr. Eaton embarked in the building business which he has since followed. His sterling integrity, indomitable purpose and business sagacity, slowly, but surely, won for him the victory over adverse circumstances. The histories of such lives would be interesting commentaries on the influence of character over fortune, if they could be written out; but such a history must usually be read in the tangible achievements of painstaking effort. In his business career, Mr. Eaton has probably done as much as any other one man to beautify the city of his residence. Over five hundred of the most noteworthy of the public and business buildings, and the most elegant of the private residences in Albany, have been erected by him, and his reputation as a builder is unsurpassed. In 1874, he was appointed by Governor Dix, Superintendent of Construction of the New Capitol, an office which he held during four successive administrations until the position itself was abolished in 1883. This magnificent structure, most of which was erected under his supervision, and over the practical details of which he had control, is an enduring monument to his administrative capacity as well as mechanical skill. In these days of political jobs, it is a significant and gratifying fact, that men of all political faiths who are conversant with the management of this great work, unite voluntarily, asserting that no suspicion of unfairness or undue partisanship has ever clung to him. Whatever may be the criticisms made upon the design of the Capitol, or the materials used in it, or the method of administration under the old Commission—for which Mr. Eaton was of course in no way responsible and over which he had no control—it is safe to assert, without fear of contradiction, that the State never had a more honest, fearless, and efficient servant. So far as the appointments made by him, personally, were concerned, his administration was an admirable exemplification of practical Civil Service reform.
Since his retirement from the Capitol, Mr. Eaton has devoted himself principally to the management and improvement of his real estate, of which he has a considerable amount in and about the city.
During the greater part of his life, Mr. Eaton has been a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for many years President of the Board of Trustees of the Hudson Avenue Society, now known as the First M. E. Church. Mr. Eaton has always enjoyed, in very large measure, the esteem, confidence and respect of his fellow citizens; but only to those who have known him intimately has it been given to fully appreciate the genial kindliness, the large-hearted sympathy, and unobtrusive generosity which has endeared him to many. As a loving husband and father, as an upright official, as a useful and successful member of society, and above all, as a good man in the highest some of the term, it has seemed to us that the history of Albany would be incomplete without this little sketch of his life, especially in connection with the New Capitol.
page 387
The Old Capitol,
OLD STATE HALL. On February 14, 1797, a bill to erect a public building in the City of Albany, with a view of rendering it the permanent seat of government for the State, passed both branches of the Legislature and became a law.
A site for this building was selected on the corner of Lodge and State streets. It was the first public building erected by the State of New York in Albany after the Revolution.
Ground was broken for the building early in 1797, and pushed forward with such speed that it was completed in the spring of 1799. It is said that several sessions of the Legislature were held in it before the completion of the State Capitol in 1808.
The building is still standing and in a perfect state of preservation, presenting nearly the same external appearance it did when first built. It is built of brick, four stories high, fronting on State street, with a wing extending back on the west side of Lodge street.
In the eastern wall of the lower hall, there is a white marble tablet, bearing the following inscription:
Erected for State Purposes,
A. D. 1797.
John Jay, Governor. Philip Schuyler, Abraham Ten Broeck, Teunis T. Van Vechten, Daniel Hale, Jeremia Van Rensselaer, Commissioners. William Sanders, Arch.
In this building were the State departments— Secretary of State, Comptroller, State Treasurer, Attorney-General, State Engineer and Surveyor, and Surveyor-General. And here, for a time, was the Executive Chamber. It continued to be occupied by those officers until 1840, when they were moved to the new State Hall, under the recommendation of Governor Seward. The State Museum, organized in 1836, was placed in this building. This museum embraces nearly all the natural productions of the State of New York, in the several departments of botany, zoology, geology, and mineralogy. The Old State Hall was thus made the depository of the collections in these departments.
The internal arrangement of the building has been subjected to such changes as were necessary to render it convenient for the purpose to which it was devoted after it ceased to become a hall for legislative and executive purposes.
At a later period the State Agricultural Society was authorized by law to occupy a part of the building. The two organizations—the State Museum and the State Agricultural Society—occupied so much space that the building was inadequate to their accommodation; whereupon the Legislature made appropriation for a new building, to be erected in the rear of the Old Capitol; and the libraries, antiquities and other collections, especially those of a literary and art character, were removed to it in 1858.
In 1865 the Legislature passed resolutions, recognizing the importance of making the State Cabinet of Natural History a museum of scientific and practical geology and comparative zoology. In 1870 the Legislature passed a law organizing the State Museum of Natural History, and providing an annual appropriation for its support. This old hall, occupied for the purposes we have described, has been known from that time as Geological Hall.
GEOLOGICAL HALL Has become one of the most interesting and instructive places in the City of Albany.
The following from the "Albany Hand-book for 1884," compiled by H. P. Phelps, gives a very adequate description of the internal arrangement of Agricultural and Geological Hall:
The wing on Lodge street, in the rear of the building, is three stories high. On the ground floor is a large lecture room, while in the other stories is the Museum, containing the agricultural implements and products in the stories above. On the lower or basement floor, and on the same level as the lecture-room, at the east end of the mam building, are two rooms occupied with the work of cutting and preparing thin sections of fossils of minute structure for the purpose of microscopic study in the Museum. The machinery and appliances for this work are of superior character, and the results are of great importance and interest to the Museum and to science. The first floor of the main building is occupied by the offices and libraries of the State Museum and of the State Agricultural Society; and, in the rear of the former, a large working-room is furnished with about 300 drawers for the reception of collections in process of preparation and arrangement. The main entrance hall exhibits a collection of dressed blocks of granite, marble, freestone, etc., the products of New York and adjacent States.
The second floor is occupied by the collections illustrating the geology and paleontology of the State. The wall cases, and a single series of table-cases around the room, are occupied by the rock specimens, whether fossiliferous or otherwise, and are arranged in such order that in going from left to right they show the geological superposition of the formations, each right-hand case containing specimens of the rock or formation lying next above the one on the left. This is supplemented by a colored geological section extending around the room above the cases, and so arranged that each formation shown in the section is represented by characteristic specimens in the case below. Besides illustration, there are enlarged figures of the characteristic fossils placed in the part of the cases above each formation. The entire arrangement is simple, instructive and easily understood. The collection of fossils (paleontology) occupies the tables, the table cases in the central portion of the floor, and also a large number of drawers beneath the table cases. This collection is arranged in the same simple and systematic order as the geological formations. Under each formation is a natural history arrangement of the genera and species of the fossils. This collection of rock specimens and fossils presents the most complete geological series of the older rocks to the base of the coal measures of any in the world; the older or paleogic rocks of the State of New York being more complete in their order of succession. Also along the west side of the room are arranged a series of large blocks of magnetic iron ore representing the principal mines of Northern New York and Orange County.
The third floor is occupied by collections from geological formations above the coal measures, both American and European, and by the mineralogical collection. The fossil series represents the period from the new red sandstone to the pleistocene. The pleistocene of North America is represented by the Cohoes mastodon skeleton, and other remains of mastodon and fossil elephants from different points. The pleistocene of South America by the cast of the gigantic megatherium and other forms of that age; and the same of Europe by the skeleton of the Megaceros Hibernian. The wall cases are in part occupied by a collection of the minerals of the State, and in part devoted to a general collection of minerals from all parts of the world.
The fourth story is occupied by the zoological collection. The western part of the room is devoted especially to the New York fauna, which is represented in its mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes, crustaceans, and shells. The eastern part of the room is occupied by a case containing a large collection of birds, with some mammals, which were presented to the Museum as a special collection by Mr. de Rham, of New York, and is known as the De Rham collection. The ethnological and historical collections occupy some wall cases on the north side of the room, and the central north side by cases of corals, etc. The center of the room contains the 1 wo double ranges of table cases, comprising the Gould collection of 6,coo species of shells, of more than 60,000 specimens. Since 1866 the collections in the Museum have been more than doubled in every department. At present every available space in the Museum is filled. All the collections are arranged for study and comparison, and the museum is strictly an educational institution.
Being a State institution it should be considered as cosmopolitan. Its institutions are to cover the whole field of natural research, and to be a center for the dissemination of a technical and popular knowledge of the products, fauna and flora of the Empire State. With this view, it should be an object of interest for the remote portions of the State as well as the immediate locality.
NEW STATE HALL. This edifice, located on Eagle street, was completed in 1842, and was occupied by the officers of the various State departments, who removed thither from the Old State Hall.
After the adoption of the Constitution of 1846, which created a Court of Appeals in place of the old Court for the Correction of Errors, a part of this hall was appropriated to the Clerk of that Court. He is the custodian of all the legal documents, records, and books kept in the four Supreme Court Clerk's offices in the State, and in the offices of the Clerks in Chancery. All of these offices were abolished by this Constitution. He was also the custodian of the vast sums of money, which for nearly a century had been accumulating in those Courts. The rooms devoted to the Clerk of the Court of Appeals are in the southwest corner of the second story of this building. As these State departments have most m of them been removed, or will soon be, to the New Capitol, a further description of them will be found in what we have to say in regard to that edifice.
This State Hall is still a very substantial and handsome building. Until the beauties of its architecture were eclipsed by the elegant and commodious City Hall, which stands directly south of it, it was regarded as one of the finest buildings in the city. It cost the State $350,000. It is built of the white stone from the quarries at Sing Sing. The quality of this stone is the perfect manner in which it resists the vicissitudes of weather. It is more beautiful than marble and as enduring as granite. The building is 138 by 88 feet, and is 65 feet in height. A spiral stone stairway, with an artistic iron railing, leads from the floor to the attic. The whole building is surmounted by a low, well-formed dome, which furnishes light to the stairway below. The building is fire-proof. The principal stories have what are called groined arches. It is one of the first fire-proof buildings erected in Albany.
This State Hall, so long the depository of the State Records, and the place where State dignitaries most did congregate, has had its day, so far at least as the purposes for which it was erected are concerned. Few of the State officials, with their subordinates are now seen there. Their offices are mostly in the New Capitol. It is understood that the State cabinets in Geological Hall will soon be placed here.
New York City was regarded as the capital during the revolution; but when the British Army took possession of it, the Legislature was compelled to meet at places regarded most safe from the attacks of the British—as at White Plains, Albany, Kingston and Poughkeepsie. After the British evacuated New York, the Legislature assembled at these places or in New York. The places designated for each session were fixed by a vote of the Legislature, or by the Governor. Since 1798 the legislative sessions have been held entirely at Albany.
As the growth of the State had rendered the Old Capitol too limited for legislative and other purposes, the subject of erecting a New Capitol at Albany began to be agitated. But it took no definite form until April 24, 1863, when, on motion of Hon. James A. Bell, Senator from Jefferson County, the Senate referred the subject to the Trustees of the Capitol and the Committee on Public Buildings.
In 1865, the Senate appointed a committee of three to receive propositions from various cities of the State, as to what action they would take in regard to the removal of the capital of the State from Albany. The question of its removal at that time was considerably agitated. No satisfactory results were reached by the action of this committee, except in response to the circular issued by it. Albany proposed to convey Congress Hall Block, or any other lands in the city, required for the purpose of a New Capitol. This proposal was at once accepted, and, on May 1, 1865, an act authorizing the erection of a New Capitol, at Albany, passed the Legislature. The grand structure now known as the New Capitol was, by excavating and laying foundations, begun July 7, 1869.
It was not until early in the summer of 1871 that the superstructure was ready to receive the corner-stone. June 24, 1871, was designated as the day. The exercises attending this work were grand and imposing. An introductory address was delivered by the Hon. Hamilton Harris, followed by reading a list of the documents placed in the corner-stone, by Hon. William A. Rice; an address by Governor John T. Hoffman; and Masonic ceremonies conducted by Most Worshipful John Anton, Grand Master of the Grand Masonic Lodge of the State.
The liberal spirit of the citizens of Albany was exhibited in a marked manner in the erection of the New Capitol. To Hon. Hamilton Harris, President of the Board of Capitol Commissioners, and to his exertions in the Senate, the State and the City of Albany are largely indebted for the successful manner in which the work was from the first pushed forward. By a concurrent resolution adopted May 14, 1878, the Legislature declared the new building to be the Capitol of the State of New York, and it was formally occupied as such January 7, 1879. The same evening the citizens of Albany gave a reception in honor of the event, and commemorative exercises were held under authority of the Legislature on the 12th of February following.
New Capitol Commissioners.—Hamilton Harris, May 3, 1866; John V. L. Pruyn, May 3, 1866; Obadiah B. Latham, May 3, 1866; James S. Thayer, May 19, 1868; William A. Rice, May 19, 1868; James Terwilliger, May 19, 1868; John T. Hudson, May 19, 1868; Alonzo B. Cornell, May 19, 1868.
Second Board.—Hamilton Harris, April 26, 1871; William C. Kingsley, April 26, 1871; William A. Rice, April 26, 1871; Chauncey M. Depew, April 26, 1871; Delos De Wolf, April 26, 1871; Edwin A. Merritt, April 26, 1871.
Architects.—Thomas Fuller, August 12, 1868; Eidlitz, Richardson & Co., September 12, 1876.
Superintendents.—John Bridgeford, September 10, 1868; William J. McAlpine, June 11, 1873; James W. Eaton, June 12, 1874.
The Second Board was superseded by Act of the Legislature of 1875, and the Lieutenant-Governor, Attorney-General, and Auditor of the Canal Department were constituted Commissioners of the New Capitol. An Advisory Board to the Commissioners was appointed July 15, 1875, consisting of F. Law Olmsted, Leopold Eidlitz and Henry Richardson. This board was superseded by the appointment of architects in 1876. An Act passed March 30, 1883, authorized the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint an officer to be known as the Commissioner of the New Capitol, who shall have charge of the work of constructing and finishing the building. He is authorized to employ labor, purchase material and make contracts, which, in all cases, must be awarded to the lowest bona fide responsible bidder. He is required to give a bond for $50,000, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of his office. His term of office is the same as that of the Governor, from whom he receives his appointment. His salary is $7,500 per annum. The same Act abolished the office of Superintendent of the Capitol.
A subsequent law of the same year designated the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor and Speaker of the Assembly, ex officio, trustees of the finished parts of the building, and of several other public buildings of the State at Albany, for which they are to appoint a Superintendent at an annual salary of $3,500.
After the laying of the corner-stone, the work on the building was continued with more or less rapidity, according to the appropriation of funds.
There were times of entire cessation from work for lack of funds. In 1874 no work was done upon it for six months. It is now occupied by the Senate and Assembly, the Court of Appeal, and nearly all the State Departments.
The Foundation.—To receive the foundation, the earth was excavated to an average depth of 15 feet below the surface. Then concrete to the thickness of four feet was first laid down. The material for this was of a nature that indurates with the lapse of time, so that a stone floor now exists which is every year approaching the hardness and duration of granite. The sub-basement extends down nineteen feet four inches, and contains 935,000 cubic feet of stone. The brick walls are from thirty-two inches to five feet thick, containing between ten and eleven million bricks. The foundation of the main tower is one hundred and ten feet square at the base, tapering to seventy feet square at the basement floor, The sub-basement is divided into one hundred and forty-four different apartments, and is utilized for heating, storing and ventilating purposes.
The immense boilers in the sub-basement used for propelling machinery for heating, lighting and ventilating purposes have long been regarded as dangerously located. They were considered liable to explode. They were also the source of other inconveniences. A proposal to remove them to a building adjacent to the Capitol, to be constructed by the State for this purpose, has been agitated for several sessions of the Legislature. The Legislature of 1885 passed an Act providing for the erection of a building for a boiler-house with chimney stack, having a conduit running from the boiler house to the Capitol.
The foundation of the boiler-house is seven feet below the sidewalk at the corner of Lafayette and Hawk streets, the walls three feet wide. From floor levels to the water tables the walls are two feet thick, faced with dressed stone. Water tables blue stone, and the wall above faced with pressed brick, tower included. The roof is supported by iron trusses, peaked and slated. The floor is bricked or flagged. The chimney is 100 feet high, built of hard brick; at the base it is fourteen feet square and ten and one-half feet in diameter at the top. The conduit comprises cast-iron tubes in lengths of six feet, clearing six feet in the diameter and an inch thick. Two ten-inch steam-pipes must run through it to connect the Capitol with the battery of boilers. The return pipes are four inches in diameter. For 270 feet the Washington avenue drains are lowered three feet, and for 300 feet the Lafayette street drains are lowered eight feet. There are five boilers, each 150-horse power. The plates are made of the best quality of Otis homogeneous steel, with tensile strength of 60,000 pounds to the inch of area.
The responsibility of making this construction and the removal was committed to Hon. Charles B. Andrews, Superintendent of Public Buildings and Grounds in Albany belonging to the State.
The Capitol is now lighted by magnificent electric lights. The Senate, Assembly and Court of Appeals and other larger rooms are illuminated by the incandescent light. The effect of these lights can scarcely be described, but must be seen to be appreciated.
The Capitol is magnificently situated in what will be hereafter known as Capitol square, including the land between Eagle street on the east, Capitol place on the west, with Washington avenue on the north, and State street on the south. The length is 1,034 feet, the width 330, containing in all 7 84/109 acres
Capitol place is 155 feet above the level of the Hudson, and the land slopes to the east 51 feet. State street leads directly up from Broadway to the Capitol.
One of the first impressions of the traveler as he beholds the building is its immense proportions. It occupies 3 7/8 acres of land. It is 300 feet from north to south, and 400 feet from east to west. The walls are 108 feet high from the water-table, and are composed of granite, most of it from Hallowell, Maine.
The Central Court is 137 by 92 feet, extending an open space to the sky and admitting much needed light and air. Above the six dormer windows that open on the Court that are above the fourth or gallery story, are sculptured the arms of six families more or less distinguished in the history of the State. The Stuyvesant Arms are on the north side, west; Schuyler arms on the north side, middle; the Livingston arms on the north side, east; the Jay arms are on the south side, west; the Clinton arms are on the south side, middle; the Tompkins arms are on the south side, east.
The carvings descriptive of these arms, with the mottoes, are beautifully wrought, and blend with fine effect in the whole entablature on which they appear.
We take the following description of the Capitol from H. P. Phelps' admirably compiled work, "The Albany Hand-book."
The first or ground story, which is nearly on a level with Washington avenue and State street, is devoted to committee rooms and offices elsewhere specified. Ascent to the other stories may be made by elevators, but visitors will generally prefer to walk up one or the other of the grand staircases.
The Assembly Staircase, on the north side, is of Dorchester freestone of soft drab color; its ascent is easy; its design vigorous and scholarly. The views of it so often seen give a better idea of its majestic proportions then words can do.
The Golden Corridor.—On arriving upon the second floor by the Assembly Staircase will be seen the Golden Corridor, 140 feet long by 20 wide and about twenty-five feet high, extending along the whole court side of the north center. Seven large windows opening upon this court divide the corridor into bays, twenty feet square. Each bay is flanked by piers, between which arches are turned, and these arches sustain a low and ribless groined vault.
Mr. Montgomery Schuyler says:
''The piers are covered with a damask of red upon umber. The angle moldings are solidly gilded. The crimson wall screen on both sides is overlaid with a simple reticulation of gold lines framing ornaments in yellow. The whole vault is gilded, and upon its ground of gold traversing each face of the vault, is a series of bands of minute ornament in brown, scarlet and deep blue. The method— this close mosaic of minute quantities of crude color—is entirely Oriental in treatment and effect. The varying surfaces of the vaulting, each covered with-fretted gold, give a vista, lengthened by the dwindling arches, alive with flashing lights and shimmering shadows. Opening out of the corridor to the right is the room originally intended for the Court of Appeals, but declined by the Judge as unsuitable for their purpose. It is sixty feet square and twenty-five feet high, subdivided into parallelograms, one twice the width of the other, by a line of red granite columns carrying with broad, low arches a marble wall. The walls are of sandstone, visible in some places, but covered in most with a decoration in deep red, and with the tall wainscoting of oak, which occupy the wall above the dado of sandstone. The ceiling is a superb construction in carved oak, carried on a system of beams diminishing in size from the great girders supported by great braces, and finally closed by oaken panels, profusely carved. The Senate occupied this room previous to the completion of the Senate Chamber, and it has been used for various purposes. At the time of the scare, in relation to the ceiling of the Assembly Chamber, in 1882-83, it was hastily fitted up for the occupation of the Assembly with gallery, etc. The members sat there one day and returned to their quarters. When the State Library Building was razed, this room and the Golden Corridor were utilized temporarily for library purposes.
The Assembly Chamber.—Ascending another flight of the staircase we come to what is, without doubt, the grandest legislative hall in the world— the Assembly Chamber—84x140 feet by including the galleries, although the chamber proper is but 84 by 85 feet. Four great pillars, 4 feet in diameter, of red granite, sustain the largest groined stone arch in the world, the key-stone being 56 feet from the floor. These pillars, and the arch which springs from them, are the most striking features of the room, but it will bear a world of study. While all admit the grandeur of the work, its vastness is also its defect; for as a debating hall it is far from perfect. With the Assembly in perfect order (a condition rarely observed for ten consecutive minutes) a good speaker cannot be heard without difficulty, but the Statesman with weak lungs, poor voice, uninteresting manner, or threadbare subject, is apt to complain bitterly of the acoustics. It had been found necessary, in order to keep the key-stone in place, to weight it very heavily; this extra weight upon the sandstone caused some of the defective stones to crack. Small pieces fell, and there was much apprehension that the building was settling unevenly, and that the tons upon tons of stone in and about the ceiling would some day come down with a crash. A commission of experts reported that it was best to take the ceiling down. The architects protested and offered to repair it at their own expense; they were allowed to do so, replaced the defective stones, and all anxiety appears to have subsided.
The Allegorical Pictures.—No one feature of the Capitol has caused more comment than the pictures that occupy the upper portions of the north and south walls of this chamber. They were painted by the late William M. Hunt, one of the greatest of American artists, and possess a melancholy interest from the fact that they are the only work of the kind he ever did. He received for his services fifteen thousand dollars. The space covered by each is fifteen by forty feet. That on the northern wall represents the allegory of Armujd and Ahriman,
[See: Thoughts on Ormuzd and Ahriman, by H. P. Blavatsky, for the closest allegorical match, however, Roseberry say the north wall depicts the Persian moon-Goddess Anahita, who served as counterpoint to Chris Columbus on the south wall, somehow equalling a duality, but not good and evil, rather, between discovery and enlightenment! The Catholic dictionary says:”The modern Persian forms of Anro-Mainyus and Ahura Mazda, the Evil Spirit and the Good Spirit, respectively, of the Avestic or Zoroastrian religion of the Ancient Iranians and modern Parsees.]or the flight of Evil before Good; or, as is more frequently interpreted, The Flight of Night. The Queen of Night is driving before the dawn, charioted on clouds drawn by three plunging horses, one black, one white, one red, without other visible restraint than that of a swarthy guide, who floats at the left of the picture, and whose hand is lightly laid upon the head of the outermost horse. At the right of the goddess, and in deep shade, is the recumbent figure of a sleeping mother with a sleeping child upon her breast. The picture on the southern wall represents the Discoverer standing upright in a boat, dark against a sunset sky. Fortune erect stands behind him trimming the sail with her lifted left hand while her right holds the tiller. The boat is rising to a sea, and is attended by Hope at the prow, with one arm resting on it, and one pointing forward; Faith, whose face is buried in her arms, and who is floating with the tide: and Science unrolling a chart at the side.
We are told that since Mr. Hunt's melancholy death on the Isle of Shoals, that the fifty-five days devoted by himself and his assistant to the painting of these pictures, by no means represented all the labor bestowed upon them. The Discoverer was first drawn in charcoal in 1857. The Flight of Night had been put on paper ten years earlier, and had been designed simply for an easel picture. After accepting the commission, Mr. Hunt's preparatory work in his studio in Boston was of nearly five months' duration. For the Flight of Night, the heads of the horses, their legs and feet were all freshly painted from life. The Queen was painted from a model. Sleep and the child were painted from life; also the dusky guide. For the other picture, the Discoverer, Hope, Science, and Fortune were painted from life models. The heads, hands, and arms of these figures were also drawn and colored as separate studies. In all, thirty or more careful charcoal drawings and more than twelve pastels were made, besides nineteen complete copies in oil—seventeen, twelve by thirty inches, and two, six by eight feet. The work itself had to be done by a specified time, and this involved much anxiety. Each morning the artist and his assistant were up to catch from the rising sun a fresh impression to carry to the work upon the Flight of Night. Every evening they watched the waning daylight, and noted the effect of figures and objects against the setting sun, as a study for the Discoverer. Later on in the work, Mr. Hunt obtained from his assistant a solemn promise that if their effort proved a failure, he would paint out both pictures in a single night.
The South Side Corridor.—The Executive Chambers, or the Governor's rooms, are in the southeast corner on the second, or entrance floor. On the way to this portion of the Capitol, one is struck by two very important differences in construction between the southern corridors and the corresponding passages on the north side of the building. These differences consist in the use of colored marbles here for wainscoting, and in the admission of light by windows rising from the top of the wainscot above the level of the eye and surrounding the doors leading into the various committee rooms that receive direct light. The effect of the wainscot is of great richness and variety, and it also seems substantial and enduring. The richness and variety of color is truly wonderful, and it contains in low tones more combinations than the most elaborate palettes of a painter could reach in a lifetime. The most prominent tints are shades and hues of red, and these are relieved by numberless colder tones, grays and browns predominating. The marble has been selected upon a harmonious scale of color, and is put together in simple slabs, the joining edges of which are bexeled perpendicularly, and are held in place by a slightly convex string molding and a cap of brownstone, which, where they abut upon doors, are daintily carved into terminal bosses, while the whole rests upon a molded base of brownstone. This wainscot is more pleasing than any combination of tiles could be, but its effect would be entirely thrown away were it not for the means adopted for lighting the corridors through the windows above mentioned.
The Governor's Room is sixty feet long by forty wide; the walls are wainscoted to a height of fifteen or sixteen feet with mahogany, arranged in square panels surmounted with a band of carving and a carved molding above. The space between this and the ceiling of mahogany is covered with hangings of Spanish leather, which harmonize, in its soft tones of golden-brown, and red, and olive, with the mahogany. On one side of the room is an enormous fire-place having a shelf and several emblematic panels of elaborate carving about it. The ceiling is composed of beams, which divide the space into panels, having rails perforated in the form of a quatrefoil surrounding the panel. There are convenient arrangements to connect with the offices of the executive attendants and the bill room b0 small doors in the paneling, and altogether the room is well adapted to the reception of persons having business to transact with the Governor and his assistants.
The Corridor Of Columns.—Ascending from this floor by the commodious and easy running elevator, we find ourselves in a corridor similar to that previously described, which leads into a broader one, running east and west along the north side of the Senate Chamber. This last-named corridor,which is after plans furnished by Mr. Eidlitz, is entirely lined and vaulted with sandstone, and has a row of columns in the center, above which there is a double-arched vault extending to either wall. Upon this spacious corridor open the main doors leading to the Senate Chamber.
The Senate Chamber, in the richness and variety of its decoration, is equaled only by the famous St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice. Its treatment was assigned to Mr. Richardson, and of his success there can be no question. The space in which he had to work was sixty feet in breadth, nearly one hundred in length, and about fifty in height. He has reduced the plan of the room to a nearly square form, cutting off from either end of it the lobbies, above which are placed the galleries, opening on the chamber proper. These lobbies, opening from the corridors, are simple in treatment. Yet by a slight similarity in detail they, in a measure, prepare the eye for the Senate Chamber itself. They are wainscoted with a light marble, arranged panel-wise in slabs and rails, and are ceiled with quartered oak. From the west lobby opens the Lieutenant-Governor's room, comfortably fitted up with a carved and polished mahogany wainscot and fire-place, and an oak ceiling supported on corbels of marble. By the arrangement of the galleries over the lobbies, the actual floor space of the Senate Chamber proper is reduced to about sixty feet by fifty-five. Entering on this floor by the main doorway from the vaulted corridor above described we first see the south wall, from which the chamber is lighted by three large openings rising from a level with the floor and six lesser openings near the ceiling. Two of the large windows are filled with disks of stained glass, which shade from browns and rubies near the floor through olives and golden hues to the semicircular tops, which are filled with varied iridescent and opalescent tints. The central window is obscured by the reredos behind the president's desk, which rises to the spring of the window arches, but does not cover the semicircular window head, which, like the others, is filled with many hued opalescent glass. The stained glass has been used not only to add brilliancy of color, but to avoid the glare of light that has proved so objectionable in some of the other rooms. These windows are arched, and the stone moldings above and below them are carved with intricate and delicate patterns of interwoven lace-like forms, and a carved band of stone divides the lower part of each window from the semicircular upper light. The capitals of the angle columns are more heavily cut into conventional forms taken from oak leaves and other foliage. The wall space between the windows, as far up as the spring of the arches, is of Knoxville Tenn., marble, a reddish-gray stone not highly polished, though having a smooth finish.
The Mexican Onyx Paneling.—Above the three arches of the lower windows for about twelve feet (perpendicular), the wall is paneled with Mexican onyx. These panels are cut into slabs three feet square and are separated, or rather framed, by slightly convex rails of Sienna (Italy) marble, the mottled reds, yellows, and browns of which contrast with the tints of the onyx. For additional support the slabs are backed up with slabs of ordinary marble. The variety of color displayed in the onyx is very remarkable, the prevailing tints being mottled and semi-translucent whites, cream colors, sea-water, olive and ivory. These tints are broken and waved by lines, striae and splashes of raw Sienna coloring, rosy brown, and numberless shades of other neutral browns, some inclining toward red and some toward green and even blue, while the surface everywhere varies in play of light and shade of semi-opacity and translucence. The various slabs, no two of which are alike, are arranged with a certain idea of contrast, but never formally nor with regularity of counter-change. They are laid haphazard with a motive. The dividing rails of Sienna marble are of colors that harmonize admirably with those of the onyx, being principally yellows of a soft golden character and reddish brown mottled, the intensity of which is varied in every piece, and sometimes approaches so nearly the color of an adjacent slab of onyx as to melt into it. Both panels and rails are highly polished. Above this paneling is a string course of simply carved marble, and above this is the upper tier of windows, six in number. The shape and treatment are similar to those of the lower windows. The wall space above these windows is filled in with lead, heavily gilded, constituting a sort of frieze. The ornament of this is a carefully studied design of arabesque or floral pattern, beaten out or embossed by means of hammers, stamps and dies of various sizes and shapes, thus affording a varied plav of light and shade on the gilt surface. This field of gold, being absolutely neutral, adapts itself to the color of the surrounding objects, and in the elevation and depression of its beaten and stamped surface supplies the complementary colors necessary to complete the color harmony of the whole chamber. Above the broad frieze of beaten gold, and terminating the wall are the massive carved beams of oak, more than four feet in depth, which constitute the framework of the ceiling. These great beams are supported on stone corbels sunk into the walls and projecting under the beams. The corbels are carved into bold and vigorous forms derived from foliage and flowers. The main beams divide the ceiling into long, narrow, rectangular spaces running from east to west, and these spaces are divided into lesser rectangular spaces running north and south, which are again divided in half by smaller beams and form squares, which are still further divided by rails into four square panels each. Half way between the east and west walls is the main entrance of the corridor, and on either side of this entrance are two great open fire-places jutting out into the room. The doorway and fire-places are constructed of marble, as is the space between them. The openings of the fire-places are about six feet in height, and something more in breadth. The cheerful effect of these, when filled with blazing logs, the flames of which are reflected on the polished onyx and marble from all sides of the room, may well be imagined. Above the fire openings are to be carved legends or symbolical devices. Above these are the broad faces of the chimney-breasts, which are to be cut in bas-relief, with representations of historical or legendary scenes, emblematical of or illustrating the legislative character of the room. The whole chimney-pieces are about half as high as the room, reaching to the string course below the gold frieze. Above the doorway and wall space of Knoxville marble, we see the wall space up to the frieze covered with the Mexican onyx panel, and like the frieze, in greater extent of surface than elsewhere. Above the onyx and inclosed within the frieze is a long rectangular space, which may be filled in with mural painting of some allegorical subject fitted to the place.
The Court Of Appeals.—Nine spacious rooms are assigned for the Court of Appeals, six in the third or principal story, three in the fourth or gallery story, the two stories being connected by an ornamented iron staircase. The Court-room is in the southeast corner over the executive chamber, and is 35 by 53 feet and 25 feet high. It is finished in quartered red oak, timbered ceiling of the same material, with carved beams and deep recessed panels. The five window openings are finished with Knoxville marble, the arches resting on carved trusses and columns recessed into the angles formed by the jambs and outer belting, terminating in ornamental trusses. A deep carved wood string in line with the trusses, and the carved capitals of the marble columns divide the oak paneling on the walls into two parts. The framework of the upper section is filled in with large plain panels, and the intention is to decorate, by gilding, the rails. The panels are designed to be painted in varied designs to harmonize with the wood-carving. The lower section below the window arches stands upon a molded base and is filled in with double raised panels and sub divided longitudinally by carved string courses, containing between them a section of vertical fluted work, in which are fixed at intervals, in carved frames, the portraits of the judges, many of which hung in the Court of Appeals' room of the Old Capitol. On the west side of the room is a recessed fire-place of large dimensions, over which is displayed the arms of the State, carved in the oaken panels of the mantel over the recess. The recess of the fire-place is lined with Sienna marble, and has a bench on either side of the fire-place of the same material. The lintel over the fire-place is also of Sienna marble, richly carved and extending across the whole recess. Resting on the lintel is a large panel composed of several choice specimens of Mexican onyx skillfully arranged. The Judge's bench has been carefully designed in style and form to suit the requirements and wishes of that honorable body. The front is divided into panels set in framework; the panels are exquisitely carved in varied designs and separated by ornamental balusters, the whole resting on a molded base. Carved in the center panel are the arms of the State. There is a medallion convex of carved grotesque heads located along the projecting top. Perhaps no room in the building is better adapted to its purpose than this.
The Southeast, Or Senate Staircase occupies a space fifty-two by fifty-two, and one hundred and fourteen feet high from basement to the top of the walls. The stairs start on the ground floor on the south side and extend to the gallery story. The great platforms and steps are of Dorchester sandstone. Each story is divided into two sections by spacious intermediate platforms midway in each story, extending the whole distance between the north and south walls, a distance of fifty feet by twelve feet wide. The stairs are of easy ascent and grand and dignified in appearance. The upper landings of the stairs on each story are on platforms extending the whole length between the walls by fourteen feet wide, resting on the walls at either end, and supported at the cross joints by massive molded granite girders. The west walls on the ground and entrance stories form a continuous line of niches, divided by piers and columns, embellished with molded brass and carved caps. The west wall in each of the four stories is pierced by large openings, through which light is admitted to the staircase from the court. The eastern wall in the entrance and main stories is provided with balconies, the platforms placed on a level with the tiled floors of the corridors adjoining. These balconies serve both as useful and ornamental features, and are approached through the openings made in the east wall, as heretofore described. The openings are spanned by pointed arches, the two outer arches extending over the steps. The faces of piers and arches are decorated by incised ornaments, the under side of arches by flowing lines of tracery, terminating in grotesque heads and figures. The north and south sides of the wall are each divided into two openings, which are spanned by arches springing from the massive piers at the ground floor, up to and against the piers resting upon the caps of the center columns, from which the upper span of arches spring, to and against the piers of the various landings. These arches are constructed at an angle conforming to the angles of the steps, and supporting the same. The vertical faces and soffits are decorated in a similar manner as the arches heretofore described, with the exception of the lower section, in which spandrels are formed, filled in with geometrical tracery.
Resting on the arches, continuing up the steps, and forming the coping over the same, is a molded string course, up the face of which is a deeply recessed and richly carved decoration. This coping and decoration extends along a level with all the platforms, and is divided by the piers at the angles. The coping, up the steps and along the platforms, is surmounted by a beautiful balustrade worked in geometrical figures and foliage ornaments, on which rests a heavy molded hand-rail. This great monumental work is believed to be without parallel on the face of the globe.
Stone-work.—The following description of the stone-work used on the New Capitol was kindly furnished the editor by Mr. James J. Mitchell, Superintendent of Granite Work. It puts on record facts of abiding interest in the history of this great building that can be found nowhere else. It is the statement of a skillful practical mechanic, who has been on the work from the beginning, given in his own clear language.
I came here October 8, 1870, when the foundation was being built, from Washington, D. C, where I had been employed as a stone-cutter on the United States Capitol and other public buildings. At that time the building was under the management of a commission, of which the Hon. Hamilton Harris was Chairman. The cornerstone was laid June 24, 1871, by the Masonic fraternity. After the laying of the corner-stone, measures were taken to push forward the construction with the greatest rapidity. I worked as a stone-cutter on the building until May 25, 1872, when I was appointed assistant foreman of stonecutters, which position I held until 1876, when Mr. Reynolds, who had been principal foreman, died. I was appointed his successor. In 1883 I was further promoted to Superintendent of Granite Work by Commissioner Perry.
In my department are employed almost two-thirds of the whole force on the building, the total of which is about eight hundred and fifty men. In my office are two clerks, one messenger and one assistant.
The average number of men employed yearly since 1870, is 1,100. Of the different kinds of stone used in its construction as follows: For foundation, Tribes Hill and Kingston limestone, also Fall River and Saratoga granite, and Potsdam sandstone for bond stone. The basement is flagged with blue-stone from Ulster County.
The water table is of Dix Island, Me., granite; the corner-stone, weighing ten tons, is also of this material. It is situated in the northeast corner of the building. It was contemplated at one time to construct the whole building of Dix Island, Me., granite, but it was found to be too expensive.
The next five courses around the entire building are of Yarmouth, Me., granite. It was condemned on account of having been found to contain iron, thereby causing discoloration, which is plainly visible, and is a great eyesore. From the fifth course upward the entire exterior structure is composed of Hallowell white granite, a fine, if not the finest building material in the world.
In the north and south entrances halls, ground floor, the first story of the main tower and corridors, granite from Keene, N. H., is used, not including the arches. In the east and west entrance halls, Hallowell granite, with polished granite columns from Fox Island, Me., is used.
The great columns in the Assembly Chamber are red granite from Stony Creek, Conn., while the bases and capitals are Tuckahoe, Westchester County, marble. The remainder of the Chamber is entirely of Dorchester, Ohio, and Belleville, New Jersey, red sandstone.
In the corridors of the south side we find, in the wainscoting, marble of almost every hue, principally from Lake Champlain. The base-band and cap-courses, also the jambs, are of dark brownstone from Newark, N. J. On the next two floors above, the same materials are used in the wainscoting. In the room formerly intended for the Court of Appeals are red granite columns and pilasters of great beauty from the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia.
The bases, capitals and arches in the Chamber supporting the floors of the Assembly Chamber, are of white marble from Tuckahoe, Westchester County. The wainscoting is of Ohio sandstone and Dorchester sandstone. The carving in the oak panels is of rare beauty.
The stone used in the Governor's Room is Knoxville marble, highly polished and carved. The marble lintel in the fire-place is of exquisite finish, consisting of oak leaves and stems of the most intricate design. The wainscoting and ceiling in this room are of red mahogany.
The Senate Chamber is regarded as one of the most beautiful legislative chambers in the world. The principal material used in this chamber is Knoxville, Tennessee, marble. The red granite columns and pilasters are from Jefferson County, New York. They are surmounted by capitals of extraordinary delicacy and workmanship, of Knoxville, Tennessee, marble. The north and south walls, above the string-course, are lined with Mexican onyx and Sienna marble—the onyx forming the panels, the Sienna, the styles and rails. These materials are the most costly in the market. The great arches are also of Sienna, elaborately carved.
The large mantels in the Senate Chamber are very elaborate, consisting of sculptured cherubs, animals, foliage, etc., in deep relief. They are very massive, and, when finished, will be one of the features of the already gorgeous and costly Chamber.
The lobbies and ante-rooms are finished with Knoxville, Tennessee, marble, as also the Lieutenant-Governor's Room, except the wainscoting, which is of mahogany.
The main corridor on this, the principal floor, and the one above the gallery, are very striking to the visitor, who passes though them before entering the Senate Chamber, where he finds a different style of architecture.
The materials in these corridors are Dorchester and Ohio sandstone, the architect of the latter evidently preferring sandstone, as it seems to be always used where his designs are to be found.
The carving in these corridors, especially in the gallery, is of exquisite design and execution, treated by master hands.
The new Court of Appeals, situated in the southeast corner, is a fine room. The windows are trimmed with Knoxville marble; the wainscoting and ceiling is of oak, elaborately carved; the railing in front of the clerk's desk is a feature. The fire-place is very rich; the materials are Mexican onyx and Sienna marble, and quite unique.
A very beautiful, if not the most beautiful, mantel, so far as material is concerned, is in the Clerk's Room, Court of Appeals. It is of variegated green Lissoughter marble. The other two in the same suite of rooms are of exquisite design and finish, and are composed of Little Island and Middleton B marble.
The wainscoting in the east corridor is different from that of the south corridor. The base-board and cap are of Belgian black marble; the panels from East Tennessee, and Greot (French) marble. Lake Champlain marble is also used.
The northeast staircase is entirely composed of Dorchester sandstone. The style is in harmony with the Assembly Chamber, being very rich in detail.
The southeast staircase, now building, will be a magnificent work when completed. The material used is red Scotch Corsehill sandstone; the columns of Peterhead, Scotch, granite. Fox Island and Quincy granite are also used.
In the Parlor of the Assembly, a beautiful mantel of East Tennessee marble is constructing; also, in the Committee Room of Ways and Means.
The following is a list of the different kinds of stone used in the construction of this building:
Granite: Fall River, Mass.; Saratoga, N. Y.; Dix Island, Me.; Yarmouth, Me.; Hallowell, Me.; Fox Island, Me.; Mount Waldo, Me.; Rockcliffe Island, Me.; Keene, N. H.; Red Stony Creek, Conn.; Red Peterhead (Scotch); St. John's, Bay of Fundy (N. S.); Quincy, Mass.
Marble: Lake Champlain; East Tennessee; German; Virginia, variegated; Knoxville, Tenn.; Sienna; Mexican onyx; Black Belgian; Irish, variegated; Flaviico; Tuckahoe, Westchester County; Pennsylvania dove color; White Italian; Greot, French; Vermont, variegated; Glen Falls, black; Middleton black, Little Island; Lissoughter.
Sandstone: Potsdam and Dorchester, Ohio; Red New Jersey; Red Scotch; Corsehill.
Brownstone: Newark, N. J.
Limestone: Tribes Hill; Kingston.
Bluestone: Ulster County.
Previous to the construction of this building, it was doubted by many architects that granite could be treated by the workmen in such a delicate manner as the elaborate carving on the different parts of the exterior demanded. The carving on the gallery story of the small towers could scarcely be treated with greater delicacy in any material than it is in the Hallowell granite. The tympanum in the dormers on all sides of the building demonstrate beyond a doubt, that in the hands of skillful workmen there is hardly any kind of ornament which cannot be wrought in this granite.
The dormers on the north, south, and west sides of the central court are, perhaps, the strongest evidence that can be adduced of the delicate treatment and beautiful finish that this granite will bear. The coats of arms sculptured on them took months to complete. Heraldic emblems are, in my judgment, the most difficult ornaments to execute out of granite in order to get the proper effect, as the smallest defect in any part would destroy the whole.
The most skillful mechanics have been gathered to this building. It has been my constant desire to encourage and foster mechanical and artistic talent wherever I found it. To do this, while contending against the importunities of politicians, has indeed been a hard task, and under the circumstances, it is little less than a miracle that the great work has so successfully been prosecuted.
The great gable on the west front is elaborately ornamented. The loggia is one of its principal features. The tympanum is enriched with disks, crossed and roseated, forming a diaper or drapery of extraordinary beauty. Over the string-course, and flanking the arches, stand the Winged Lions of Babylon. Below the spandrels are sculptured in bas-relief the figures of Justitia and Puritas. Surmounting the whole is a massive finial, richly carved in deep relief, and stamping the whole as one of the best pieces of work ever executed out of granite in this or any other country.
ISAAC G. PERRY.
To Mr. Isaac G. Perry has been entrusted the work of carrying forward the construction of the finest and most expensive building in this country, and the third most expensive in the world—the New Capitol at Albany. The history of Albany, and of the great structure itself, would be incomplete without a sketch of his career.
Born in Bennington, Vermont, in 1822, Mr. Perry is in his sixty-third year, though his robust frame and strongly-marked features would indicate that he was much younger. Much of his early life was passed at Keeseville, Essex County, New York, where he received his education and acquired a knowledge of the details of that which was to be his life work. After a time he removed to New York City, where he made a success of his occupation, and remained until he was induced to take up his residence in Binghamton, N. Y., where he obtained a wide reputation as a builder and architect.
The most important of his works before the Capitol, was the Binghamton Asylum for the Insane, a fine specimen of Elizabethan architecture. Next only in importance was the new Court House at Scranton, Pa., an elegant structure in the medieval style adapted to modern requirements. Nearly all of the modern built buildings in Binghamton—and they are numerous and beautiful, as well as substantial—are from his designs, as well as many equally attractive ones in other cities.
March 30, 1883, Governor Cleveland appointed Mr. Perry, Commissioner of the Construction of the New Capitol, under the then recently enacted law creating a single Commissioner to have entire charge of the interests which had theretofore been confided to a Board of Commissioners, and his appointment was confirmed on the 5th of April following. The appointment was entirely unsolicited by Mr. Perry, who was chosen as an architect, not as a partisan. He had been a life-long adherent to Democratic principles, but had never thought that his vocation as an architect and a builder had anything to do with his political convictions as a citizen, and he had not made himself known to the country or to the State by any prominence in politics. In an editorial notice of Mr. Perry's appointment, the Albany Argus said:
"He has carried to completion many edifices which are attestations of good work, and the history of them shows promptness, harmony and honesty in every stage. He has large numbers of men in his employment, and his record shows that he can command their regard and respect while requiring of them the utmost fidelity and energy. Great enterprises have confided to him enormous tasks, involving the use of large capital, the development of complicated plans, and the necessity of combining thoroughness of work with rapidity of execution. He has in every instance shown marked ability, absolute integrity, exceptional diligence and an intelligent purpose to regard every undertaking as a trust to be discharged with scrupulous observance of economy, impartiality and every other sound business principle."
His appointment was favorably commented upon by the Press of the State, irrespective of party, and his administration of the duties of his office has been such as to more than justify the enthusiastic predictions of his friends. The sterling integrity, good business sense and untiring energy which gained him his previous enviable reputation, have been brought to bear upon the Herculean task which he has undertaken, and in which his mind and his energies are almost wholly asserted; for, as it has been remarked by the Albany Journal, "his heart is wrapped up in the Capitol. He appears not to take much interest in politics, and is ready to spend his days and evenings walking about the Capitol, superintending the work, looking over designs and planning improvements."
While the Capitol stands as a monument to the liberality of the people and the enterprise and forethought of the public men of the State of New York, and the artistic and architectural skill of its own designers and builders, the memory of the name of Mr. Perry can never pass away, and he will be known as one of America's greatest architects and builders.
On the first of April, 1834. the legislature appointed a board of trustees to purchase land in the vicinity of the capitol to erect thereon a new state-hall. The plat of ground on the east side of Eagle Street between Steuben and Pine Streets was selected for the building, the erection of which was not completed until 1842. It was built of Sing Sing marble, and cost three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. When it was completed, the different apartments m it were occupied by the chancellor, the judges of the supreme court, the register of the court of chancery, the secretary of state, the comptroller, the treasurer, the attorney-general, the surveyor-general, the adjutant-general, the clerk of the supreme court, the canal-board and the canal-commissioners. The old state-building, on the southwest corner of State and Lodge Streets, was then fitted up for the reception and display of the various specimens, maps, figures and illustrations collected and prepared by the state geological corps. In the summer of 1855, the old state-building was demolished and the present hall containing the geological and agricultural rooms was erected on its site. By an enactment of the legislature in l883 the present state-hall, when vacated by the state officers, is to become the state-museum of natural history.
On the seventeenth of August, 1848, the most densely populated part of the city was ravaged by fire. The space on which were the six hundred buildings that were burned is described as extending "700 feet west from the river on Herkimer Street, 350 on Dallius. running northwardly ; 900 feet on Union Street, continuing in the same direction; 300 feet east on Hudson, and l600 on Quay Street, running south." By a strong south wind the fire swept northward from the corner of Broadway and Herkimer Streets, where it began in a shed adjoining the Albion Hotel, to "the cut at the foot of Maiden Lane." The loss was estimated at $3,000,000..
The state library in 1854 was removed to the fireproof building on the west side of the capitol. fronting on State Street, erected conformably to the act of the legislature passed June 1st 1851.. It was a two-story brick structure (the front and rear walls having faces of brown freestone) one hundred and fourteen feet long and forty-five wide. The large lower room contained the law library: the upper, the general library. In the first report of the trustees of the library, made the twenty-second of June, 1819, the statement appears that the sum of $2,617.20 had been expended for the purchase of six hundred volumes and nine maps. In the first catalogue, made in 1820, are printed the titles of seven hundred and fifty-eight volumes, three atlases, eleven maps and one engraving. By an act, passed the fourth of May, 1844. the regents of the University of the state of New York were made the trustees of the state library. In 1855 the general library contained thirty thousand and eleven volumes, and the law library thirteen thousand six hundred and twenty-three. At the present time there are about eighty-eight thousand two hundred and fifty volumes in the general library, and thirty-five thousand seven hundred and fifty in the law library. In the months of September and October, 1883, previous to the demolition of the library-building, the books and collections in the two library rooms were removed to the new capitol. the law library into the golden corridor, and the general library into the room that was to be used by the court of appeals. When completed, the libraries will hereafter occupy rooms in the third story of the capitol, on the east side. John Cook. Calvin Pepper. James Mahar. William Cassidy, and John L. Tillinghast were successively librarians of the state library previous to its removal into the library building in 1844. From that time to the present, the librarians have been John L. Tillinghast, appointed by the regents June 1, 1844; Alfred B. Street, March 1, 1848, who, from April 22, 1862, to June 8, 1868, was librarian only of the law library; he was succeeded June 8, 1868, by Stephen B. Griswold, the present librarian of the law library. Henry A. Homes, who had been assistant librarian from September 11, 1851, on the twenty-second of April, 1862, became the librarian of the general library, which office he still retains. George R. Howell, the assistant librarian in the general library, was appointed to the office on the fifteenth of February 1872.
Bi-centennial history of Albany: History of the county of Albany from 1609 to 1886, edited by George Rogers Howell, Jonathan Tenney
OLD STATE HALL. On February 14, 1797, a bill to erect a public building in the City of Albany, with a view of rendering it the permanent seat of government for the State, passed both branches of the Legislature and became a law.
A site for this building was selected on the corner of Lodge and State streets. It was the first public building erected by the State of New York in Albany after the Revolution.
Ground was broken for the building early in 1797, and pushed forward with such speed that it was completed in the spring of 1799. It is said that several sessions of the Legislature were held in it before the completion of the State Capitol in 1808.
The building is still standing and in a perfect state of preservation, presenting nearly the same external appearance it did when first built. It is built of brick, four stories high, fronting on State street, with a wing extending back on the west side of Lodge street.
In the eastern wall of the lower hall, there is a white marble tablet, bearing the following inscription:
Erected for State Purposes,In this building were the State departments— Secretary of State, Comptroller, State Treasurer, Attorney-General, State Engineer and Surveyor, and Surveyor-General. And here, for a time, was the Executive Chamber. It continued to be occupied by those officers until 1840, when they were moved to the new State Hall, under the recommendation of Governor Seward. The State Museum, organized in 1836, was placed in this building. This museum embraces nearly all the natural productions of the State of New York, in the several departments of botany, zoology, geology, and mineralogy. The Old State Hall was thus made the depository of the collections in these departments.
A. D. 1797.
John Jay, Governor. Philip Schuyler, Abraham Ten Broeck, Teunis T. Van Vechten, Daniel Hale, Jeremia Van Rensselaer, Commissioners. William Sanders, Arch.
The internal arrangement of the building has been subjected to such changes as were necessary to render it convenient for the purpose to which it was devoted after it ceased to become a hall for legislative and executive purposes.
At a later period the State Agricultural Society was authorized by law to occupy a part of the building. The two organizations—the State Museum and the State Agricultural Society—occupied so much space that the building was inadequate to their accommodation; whereupon the Legislature made appropriation for a new building, to be erected in the rear of the Old Capitol; and the libraries, antiquities and other collections, especially those of a literary and art character, were removed to it in 1858.
In 1865 the Legislature passed resolutions, recognizing the importance of making the State Cabinet of Natural History a museum of scientific and practical geology and comparative zoology. In 1870 the Legislature passed a law organizing the State Museum of Natural History, and providing an annual appropriation for its support.
This old hall, occupied for the purposes we have described, has been known from that time as Geological Hall.
GEOLOGICAL HALL
Has become one of the most interesting and instructive places in the City of Albany.
The following from the "Albany Hand-book for 1884," compiled by H. P. Phelps, gives a very adequate description of the internal arrangement of Agricultural and Geological Hall:
The wing on Lodge street, in the rear of the building, is three stories high. On the ground floor is a large lecture room, while in the other stories is the Museum, containing the agricultural implements and products in the stories above. On the lower or basement floor, and on the same level as the lecture-room, at the east end of the mam building, are two rooms occupied with the work of cutting and preparing thin sections of fossils of minute structure for the purpose of microscopic study in the Museum. The machinery and appliances for this work are of superior character, and the results are of great importance and interest to the Museum and to science. The first floor of the main building is occupied by the offices and libraries of the State Museum and of the State Agricultural Society; and, in the rear of the former, a large working-room is furnished with about 300 drawers for the reception of collections in process of preparation and arrangement. The main entrance hall exhibits a collection of dressed blocks of granite, marble, freestone, etc., the products of New York and adjacent States.
The second floor is occupied by the collections illustrating the geology and paleontology of the State. The wall cases, and a single series of table-cases around the room, are occupied by the rock specimens, whether fossiliferous or otherwise, and are arranged in such order that in going from left to right they show the geological superposition of the formations, each right-hand case containing specimens of the rock or formation lying next above the one on the left. This is supplemented by a colored geological section extending around the room above the cases, and so arranged that each formation shown in the section is represented by characteristic specimens in the case below. Besides illustration, there are enlarged figures of the characteristic fossils placed in the part of the cases above each formation. The entire arrangement is simple, instructive and easily understood. The collection of fossils (paleontology) occupies the tables, the table cases in the central portion of the floor, and also a large number of drawers beneath the table cases. This collection is arranged in the same simple and systematic order as the geological formations. Under each formation is a natural history arrangement of the genera and species of the fossils. This collection of rock specimens and fossils presents the most complete geological series of the older rocks to the base of the coal measures of any in the world; the older or paleogic rocks of the State of New York being more complete in their order of succession. Also along the west side of the room are arranged a series of large blocks of magnetic iron ore representing the principal mines of Northern New York and Orange County.
The third floor is occupied by collections from geological formations above the coal measures, both American and European, and by the mineralogical collection. The fossil series represents the period from the new red sandstone to the pleistocene. The pleistocene of North America is represented by the Cohoes mastodon skeleton, and other remains of mastodon and fossil elephants from different points. The pleistocene of South America by the cast of the gigantic megatherium and other forms of that age; and the same of Europe by the skeleton of the Megaceros Hibernian. The wall cases are in part occupied by a collection of the minerals of the State, and in part devoted to a general collection of minerals from all parts of the world.
The fourth story is occupied by the zoological collection. The western part of the room is devoted especially to the New York fauna, which is represented in its mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes, crustaceans, and shells. The eastern part of the room is occupied by a case containing a large collection of birds, with some mammals, which were presented to the Museum as a special collection by Mr. de Rham, of New York, and is known as the De Rham collection. The ethnological and historical collections occupy some wall cases on the north side of the room, and the central north side by cases of corals, etc. The center of the room contains the 1 wo double ranges of table cases, comprising the Gould collection of 6,coo species of shells, of more than 60,000 specimens. Since 1866 the collections in the Museum have been more than doubled in every department. At present every available space in the Museum is filled. All the collections are arranged for study and comparison, and the museum is strictly an educational institution.
Being a State institution it should be considered as cosmopolitan. Its institutions are to cover the whole field of natural research, and to be a center for the dissemination of a technical and popular knowledge of the products, fauna and flora of the Empire State. With this view, it should be an object of interest for the remote portions of the State as well as the immediate locality.
NEW STATE HALL.
This edifice, located on Eagle street, was completed in 1842, and was occupied by the officers of the various State departments, who removed thither from the Old State Hall.
After the adoption of the Constitution of 1846, which created a Court of Appeals in place of the old Court for the Correction of Errors, a part of this hall was appropriated to the Clerk of that Court. He is the custodian of all the legal documents, records, and books kept in the four Supreme Court Clerk's offices in the State, and in the offices of the Clerks in Chancery. All of these offices were abolished by this Constitution. He was also the custodian of the vast sums of money, which for nearly a century had been accumulating in those Courts. The rooms devoted to the Clerk of the Court of Appeals are in the southwest corner of the second story of this building. As these State departments have most m of them been removed, or will soon be, to the New Capitol, a further description of them will be found in what we have to say in regard to that edifice.
This State Hall is still a very substantial and handsome building. Until the beauties of its architecture were eclipsed by the elegant and commodious City Hall, which stands directly south of it, it was regarded as one of the finest buildings in the city. It cost the State $350,000. It is built of the white stone from the quarries at Sing Sing. The quality of this stone is the perfect manner in which it resists the vicissitudes of weather. It is more beautiful than marble and as enduring as granite. The building is 138 by 88 feet, and is 65 feet in height. A spiral stone stairway, with an artistic iron railing, leads from the floor to the attic. The whole building is surmounted by a low, well-formed dome, which furnishes light to the stairway below. The building is fire-proof. The principal stories have what are called groined arches. It is one of the first fire-proof buildings erected in Albany.
This State Hall, so long the depository of the State Records, and the place where State dignitaries most did congregate, has had its day, so far at least as the purposes for which it was erected are concerned. Few of the State officials, with their subordinates are now seen there. Their offices are mostly in the New Capitol. It is understood that the State cabinets in Geological Hall will soon be placed here.
THE OLD CAPITOL. page 446.
The City and County of Albany prides itself on the fact that its generous contributions aided largely in the erection of the Old Capitol.
In 1803, the Common Council of the city adopted a resolution requesting the Legislature to pass an act authorizing the erection of a State House and Court House, and appointed a committee to prepare a petition and map, and to report an estimate of the cost. The committee consisted of John Cuyler, Charles D. Cooper, and John V. N. Yates. This committee submitted their report March 7, 1803, and the Legislature authorized the erection of the building, then known as the New Capitol, by an act passed April 6, 1804.
The Capitol Commissioners appointed on the Old Capitol were John Taylor, Daniel Hale, Philip S. Van Rensselaer, Simeon De Witt, Nicholas N. Quackenbush.
This act is a characteristic specimen of the legislative methods of that day. The bill for its erection was entitled: "An Act Making Provisions for the Improvement of Hudson River below Albany, and for Other Purposes."
After providing for some improvement in the Hudson at Troy and Waterford, above Albany, it appoints John Taylor, Daniel Hale, Philip S. Van Rensselaer, Simeon De Witt, and Nicholas N. Quackenbush, Commissioners for erecting the New Capitol Building. It required the Supervisors of Albany County to raise by tax $12,000 for such purposes, and it contained the following provisions:
VI. And be it further enacted, that the managers of the Lottery hereinbefore mentioned shall cause to be raised by Lottery the sum of $12,000, in such manner as they, or a majority of them, shall think proper, which sum the said managers shall pay to the Commissioners aforesaid.
At that day the State lotteries held intimate relations with the finances of this State. These lotteries were authorized by law. Upon their managers devolved the raising of funds for the opening of roads, improving rivers, building bridges, and the advancement of great enterprises generally, now thrown upon the taxpayers.
The lotteries were originally established to aid in the endowment of schools under an act for the '' encouragement of literature." The early colleges of the States depended largely upon the lotteries. During the legislative session of 1812, a law was passed giving $200,000 to Union College, and smaller sums to Hamilton and Columbia Colleges, and other institutions, upon the lottery plan.
At length the lottery system became corrupt and unpopular. The provision abolishing lotteries, in the Constitution of 1821, was supplemented by a provision, now in force in the Constitution of to-day (Article I, Section 10), which reads thus: "Nor shall any lottery hereafter be authorized, nor any sale of lottery tickets allowed, within this State." The original appropriation for the Capitol was but $24,000, added to the proceeds of the sale of the old Stadt Huys, whatever they might be; but the building cost the sum of $110,688.42. This included the furnishing of the Council Chamber. Of this sum the City of Albany paid $34,200, the County of Albany $3,000, and the State $73,485.42. This was hardly sufficient to pay for painting and plastering the new building.
The Commissioners chose Pinkster's Hill as the site of the Capitol. On April 23, 1806, the corner-stone was laid with impressive ceremonies. Philip S. Van Rensselaer was then Mayor of Albany, and to him was assigned the duty of placing the stone in position. A large concourse of people were assembled, among whom were John Lansing, Jr., Chancellor of the State; Morgan Lewis, Chief Justice; Ambrose Spencer, Smith Thompson and Brock hoist Livingston, Justices of the Supreme Court; the Members of the City Corporation and other dignitaries.
The building was first occupied by the Senate and Assembly at a special session of the Legislature, convened November 1, 1808. It was considered a magnificent edifice, an object of as much curiosity and interest as is the new Capitol to-day. People from all parts of the State and nation visited it. In 1813, Professor Silliman, of Yale College, visited it and wrote an elaborate description of it, in which he said: "It is a large, handsome building, the furniture exhibiting a good degree of taste and splendor."
H. G. Spafford, describing the building, said of the Senate and Assembly Chambers, which were on the same floor: "In the furniture of these rooms there is a display of public munificence. The American eagle assumes almost imperial splendor. It stands at the head of State street, 130 feet above the level of the Hudson. It is a substantial stone building, faced with freestone taken from the brown sandstone quarries on the Hudson, below the Highlands. The walls are 50 feet high, consisting of two stories, and a basement story of 10 feet. The east or main front is adorned with a portico of the Ionic order, tetrastile, the entablature supporting an angular pediment in the tympanum of which is to be placed the Arms of the State. The ceiling of the wall is supported by a double row of reeded columns; the floors are vaulted and laid with squares of Italian marble; the building is roofed with a double hip of pyramidal form, upon the center of which is a circular cupola, 20 feet in diameter. On its dome is a statue of Themis, facing eastward—a carved figure of wood, 11 feet in height, holding a sword in her right hand and the balance in her left."
The above is a good description of the Old Capitol as it appeared in 1883, when it was taken down, with the exception of some few additions which had been made in its rear. The interior, with some exceptions, was at that time about the same as it was when first occupied. We give below the changes which were made.
To the Executive Chamber there was made, during the Rebellion, an additional room, extending into the main hall. In other respects it was the same in 1883 as in 1808. To the departments occupied by the Adjutant-General, previous to the removal of the building, was added another room during the war. This room was devoted to the Common Council of the City of Albany. Various additions have been made from time to time in the rear of the Assembly Chamber. The Senate Chamber was originally to the left of the Assembly on entering from the main hall. It was, however, removed to the large room on the second floor, and the old Senate Chamber was used by the Department of Public Instruction, and latterly as the Post office and cloak-room of the Assembly. When the Senate Chamber was removed to the second floor, a floor was constructed and additional rooms were added to the building. In one of these the Supervisors of Albany County held their meetings. On the upper floor the Supreme Court originally occupied the main room. It was afterwards occupied by the Court of Appeals, and one winter by the Senate. The other rooms were occupied by the Court of Chancery, the Court of Common Pleas, the Court of Sessions and the Mayor's Court. The Mayor's office was in the attic, as were also the rooms of the Society of Arts, the State Library and the State Board of Agriculture. The basement was devoted to the offices of the County Clerk, City Marshal and the rooms of the Keeper of the Capitol.
It is singular that there was not a committee room in the entire building. It can hardly be conceived that the building could ever have rendered accommodations for such a number of public offices; but this arrangement continued till the completion of the City Hall in 1831, when the city and county officers were removed to that building. After that time various changes took place. A new State library was built, under the law of 1851, and large additions were made to the rear of the building; but it was not even then rendered adequate to the needs of the State.
Congress Hall stood almost adjoining the Old Capitol on the north, a famous hotel of the past. For many years it was the resort of senators, assemblymen, lobbyists, judges and lawyers.
Owing to the overcrowded state of the Capitol, a part of this hotel, a private house, and many rooms in the Delavan House, were used for committee rooms.
The Governor's room, to which we have alluded, was on the south side of the Capitol, its windows opening on State street, its entrance being from the south side of the hall of the Capitol. Over its door appeared the well-remembered words: -" Executive Chamber." This door led into a room occupied by the Governor's clerks; to the left, folding-doors opened directly into the Governor's room. The addition made during the war was occupied by the Governor's Military Secretary. The room had few decorations; a portrait of Lafayette, by Charles Ingham, was about the only embellishment the room contained. It is a full-length portrait, a fine work of art, and represents very correctly the features of its illustrious original. It now hangs in the Executive Chamber of the new Capitol.
A large table, the office desk of the Governors, stood in the center of the room. A desk for the Private Secretary, book-cases, sofas, and some easy chairs, made up its furniture.
The old Senate Chamber, a very handsome room, exceedingly appropriate for legislative purposes, was embellished with portraits of three distinguished men—Christopher Columbus, George Clinton and Stewart L. Woodford. The first of these was presented to the Senate, in 1784, by Maria Farmer, a descendant of the honest Jacob Leisler, once de facto Colonial Governor of New York, murdered by his enemies for high treason while guilty of no crime. The picture of Clinton is painted from life, and is an artistic work. The portrait of Woodford was presented to the Senate by his friends in the Senate of 1868.
The doorways of the Senate Chamber were ornamented with a sculptured cornice familiar to the architecture of seventy years ago. A tall Dutch clock, that for nearly a century noted the official hours of assembling and adjourning, was a main feature of the chamber. The galleries were a fiction of language, being on the same level as the main floor.
JAMES W. EATON. page 448.
The subject of this sketch, James Webster Eaton, was born August 22, 1817, at Summerville, N. J. His father, Josiah Eaton, came from Keene, N. H., and was descended from old Puritan stock which had taken root in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the early days, whence the descendants had spread out over New England. His mother, Gertrude MacEaton, was of Scotch-German parentage and was born in New Jersey. Both were intelligent, industrious, God-fearing people. In 1828, young Eaton removed with his parents to Albany, where, not long after, he began to learn the trade of his father, that of a stonemason. Born with the heritage of respectable poverty, which has been the spur of ambition to so many, he diligently laid hold of every opportunity for self-improvement, and while he spent the summer working at his trade, in the winter he attended the old Lancaster School and a private school kept by Mr. Fitch, both of which are names familiar to many old Albanians, who gained there that modest, but efficient education which has been so great an element in their subsequent success. In 1840, Mr. Eaton married Eliza M. Benner, who is still living. By this marriage there were three children, two "of whom survive: Calvin Ward, who is a member^of the firm of Van Santford & Eaton, wholesale lumber dealers, and James Webster, Jr., who is a recent graduate of Yale and the senior partner of the law firm of Eaton & Kirchwey. About the time of his marriage, Mr. Eaton embarked in the building business which he has since followed. His sterling integrity, indomitable purpose and business sagacity, slowly, but surely, won for him the victory over adverse circumstances. The histories of such lives would be interesting commentaries on the influence of character over fortune, if they could be written out; but such a history must usually be read in the tangible achievements of painstaking effort. In his business career, Mr. Eaton has probably done as much as any other one man to beautify the city of his residence. Over five hundred of the most noteworthy of the public and business buildings, and the most elegant of the private residences in Albany, have been erected by him, and his reputation as a builder is unsurpassed. In 1874, he was appointed by Governor Dix, Superintendent of Construction of the New Capitol, an office which he held during four successive administrations until the position itself was abolished in 1883. This magnificent structure, most of which was erected under his supervision, and over the practical details of which he had control, is an enduring monument to his administrative capacity as well as mechanical skill. In these days of political jobs, it is a significant and gratifying fact, that men of all political faiths who are conversant with the management of this great work, unite voluntarily, asserting that no suspicion of unfairness or undue partisanship has ever clung to him. Whatever may be the criticisms made upon the design of the Capitol, or the materials used in it, or the method of administration under the old Commission—for which Mr. Eaton was of course in no way responsible and over which he had no control—it is safe to assert, without fear of contradiction, that the State never had a more honest, fearless, and efficient servant. So far as the appointments made by him, personally, were concerned, his administration was an admirable exemplification of practical Civil Service reform.
Since his retirement from the Capitol, Mr. Eaton has devoted himself principally to the management and improvement of his real estate, of which he has a considerable amount in and about the city.
During the greater part of his life, Mr. Eaton has been a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for many years President of the Board of Trustees of the Hudson Avenue Society, now known as the First M. E. Church. Mr. Eaton has always enjoyed, in very large measure, the esteem, confidence and respect of his fellow citizens; but only to those who have known him intimately has it been given to fully appreciate the genial kindliness, the large-hearted sympathy, and unobtrusive generosity which has endeared him to many. As a loving husband and father, as an upright official, as a useful and successful member of society, and above all, as a good man in the highest some of the term, it has seemed to us that the history of Albany would be incomplete without this little sketch of his life, especially in connection with the New Capitol.
page 387
The Old Capitol,
OLD STATE HALL. On February 14, 1797, a bill to erect a public building in the City of Albany, with a view of rendering it the permanent seat of government for the State, passed both branches of the Legislature and became a law.
A site for this building was selected on the corner of Lodge and State streets. It was the first public building erected by the State of New York in Albany after the Revolution.
Ground was broken for the building early in 1797, and pushed forward with such speed that it was completed in the spring of 1799. It is said that several sessions of the Legislature were held in it before the completion of the State Capitol in 1808.
The building is still standing and in a perfect state of preservation, presenting nearly the same external appearance it did when first built. It is built of brick, four stories high, fronting on State street, with a wing extending back on the west side of Lodge street.
In the eastern wall of the lower hall, there is a white marble tablet, bearing the following inscription:
Erected for State Purposes,
A. D. 1797.
John Jay, Governor. Philip Schuyler, Abraham Ten Broeck, Teunis T. Van Vechten, Daniel Hale, Jeremia Van Rensselaer, Commissioners. William Sanders, Arch.
In this building were the State departments— Secretary of State, Comptroller, State Treasurer, Attorney-General, State Engineer and Surveyor, and Surveyor-General. And here, for a time, was the Executive Chamber. It continued to be occupied by those officers until 1840, when they were moved to the new State Hall, under the recommendation of Governor Seward. The State Museum, organized in 1836, was placed in this building. This museum embraces nearly all the natural productions of the State of New York, in the several departments of botany, zoology, geology, and mineralogy. The Old State Hall was thus made the depository of the collections in these departments.
The internal arrangement of the building has been subjected to such changes as were necessary to render it convenient for the purpose to which it was devoted after it ceased to become a hall for legislative and executive purposes.
At a later period the State Agricultural Society was authorized by law to occupy a part of the building. The two organizations—the State Museum and the State Agricultural Society—occupied so much space that the building was inadequate to their accommodation; whereupon the Legislature made appropriation for a new building, to be erected in the rear of the Old Capitol; and the libraries, antiquities and other collections, especially those of a literary and art character, were removed to it in 1858.
In 1865 the Legislature passed resolutions, recognizing the importance of making the State Cabinet of Natural History a museum of scientific and practical geology and comparative zoology. In 1870 the Legislature passed a law organizing the State Museum of Natural History, and providing an annual appropriation for its support. This old hall, occupied for the purposes we have described, has been known from that time as Geological Hall.
GEOLOGICAL HALL Has become one of the most interesting and instructive places in the City of Albany.
The following from the "Albany Hand-book for 1884," compiled by H. P. Phelps, gives a very adequate description of the internal arrangement of Agricultural and Geological Hall:
The wing on Lodge street, in the rear of the building, is three stories high. On the ground floor is a large lecture room, while in the other stories is the Museum, containing the agricultural implements and products in the stories above. On the lower or basement floor, and on the same level as the lecture-room, at the east end of the mam building, are two rooms occupied with the work of cutting and preparing thin sections of fossils of minute structure for the purpose of microscopic study in the Museum. The machinery and appliances for this work are of superior character, and the results are of great importance and interest to the Museum and to science. The first floor of the main building is occupied by the offices and libraries of the State Museum and of the State Agricultural Society; and, in the rear of the former, a large working-room is furnished with about 300 drawers for the reception of collections in process of preparation and arrangement. The main entrance hall exhibits a collection of dressed blocks of granite, marble, freestone, etc., the products of New York and adjacent States.
The second floor is occupied by the collections illustrating the geology and paleontology of the State. The wall cases, and a single series of table-cases around the room, are occupied by the rock specimens, whether fossiliferous or otherwise, and are arranged in such order that in going from left to right they show the geological superposition of the formations, each right-hand case containing specimens of the rock or formation lying next above the one on the left. This is supplemented by a colored geological section extending around the room above the cases, and so arranged that each formation shown in the section is represented by characteristic specimens in the case below. Besides illustration, there are enlarged figures of the characteristic fossils placed in the part of the cases above each formation. The entire arrangement is simple, instructive and easily understood. The collection of fossils (paleontology) occupies the tables, the table cases in the central portion of the floor, and also a large number of drawers beneath the table cases. This collection is arranged in the same simple and systematic order as the geological formations. Under each formation is a natural history arrangement of the genera and species of the fossils. This collection of rock specimens and fossils presents the most complete geological series of the older rocks to the base of the coal measures of any in the world; the older or paleogic rocks of the State of New York being more complete in their order of succession. Also along the west side of the room are arranged a series of large blocks of magnetic iron ore representing the principal mines of Northern New York and Orange County.
The third floor is occupied by collections from geological formations above the coal measures, both American and European, and by the mineralogical collection. The fossil series represents the period from the new red sandstone to the pleistocene. The pleistocene of North America is represented by the Cohoes mastodon skeleton, and other remains of mastodon and fossil elephants from different points. The pleistocene of South America by the cast of the gigantic megatherium and other forms of that age; and the same of Europe by the skeleton of the Megaceros Hibernian. The wall cases are in part occupied by a collection of the minerals of the State, and in part devoted to a general collection of minerals from all parts of the world.
The fourth story is occupied by the zoological collection. The western part of the room is devoted especially to the New York fauna, which is represented in its mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes, crustaceans, and shells. The eastern part of the room is occupied by a case containing a large collection of birds, with some mammals, which were presented to the Museum as a special collection by Mr. de Rham, of New York, and is known as the De Rham collection. The ethnological and historical collections occupy some wall cases on the north side of the room, and the central north side by cases of corals, etc. The center of the room contains the 1 wo double ranges of table cases, comprising the Gould collection of 6,coo species of shells, of more than 60,000 specimens. Since 1866 the collections in the Museum have been more than doubled in every department. At present every available space in the Museum is filled. All the collections are arranged for study and comparison, and the museum is strictly an educational institution.
Being a State institution it should be considered as cosmopolitan. Its institutions are to cover the whole field of natural research, and to be a center for the dissemination of a technical and popular knowledge of the products, fauna and flora of the Empire State. With this view, it should be an object of interest for the remote portions of the State as well as the immediate locality.
NEW STATE HALL. This edifice, located on Eagle street, was completed in 1842, and was occupied by the officers of the various State departments, who removed thither from the Old State Hall.
After the adoption of the Constitution of 1846, which created a Court of Appeals in place of the old Court for the Correction of Errors, a part of this hall was appropriated to the Clerk of that Court. He is the custodian of all the legal documents, records, and books kept in the four Supreme Court Clerk's offices in the State, and in the offices of the Clerks in Chancery. All of these offices were abolished by this Constitution. He was also the custodian of the vast sums of money, which for nearly a century had been accumulating in those Courts. The rooms devoted to the Clerk of the Court of Appeals are in the southwest corner of the second story of this building. As these State departments have most m of them been removed, or will soon be, to the New Capitol, a further description of them will be found in what we have to say in regard to that edifice.
This State Hall is still a very substantial and handsome building. Until the beauties of its architecture were eclipsed by the elegant and commodious City Hall, which stands directly south of it, it was regarded as one of the finest buildings in the city. It cost the State $350,000. It is built of the white stone from the quarries at Sing Sing. The quality of this stone is the perfect manner in which it resists the vicissitudes of weather. It is more beautiful than marble and as enduring as granite. The building is 138 by 88 feet, and is 65 feet in height. A spiral stone stairway, with an artistic iron railing, leads from the floor to the attic. The whole building is surmounted by a low, well-formed dome, which furnishes light to the stairway below. The building is fire-proof. The principal stories have what are called groined arches. It is one of the first fire-proof buildings erected in Albany.
This State Hall, so long the depository of the State Records, and the place where State dignitaries most did congregate, has had its day, so far at least as the purposes for which it was erected are concerned. Few of the State officials, with their subordinates are now seen there. Their offices are mostly in the New Capitol. It is understood that the State cabinets in Geological Hall will soon be placed here.
No comments:
Post a Comment