State Capitols – Albany, New York - Inside

In April, 2013, I agreed to join a friend in Connecticut for his first senior-level bowling tournament. Since the New York State capitol in Albany was on the way (sort of), it presented an opportunity to finish what I started in 2009. That year, I visited and photographed all the New England state houses on a wonderful autumn drive-about. Lousy planning had me in Albany on Columbus Day and the capitol was closed. Four years later, I finally got inside.

The last post alluded how this generation-long construction project was a boondoggle. The original architect built the first floor in a Romanesque style. After he was fired, the next architect put up the second and third floors in a more Renaissance style. Governor Grover Cleveland canned that firm and the next architect finished the building in a Victorian-Romanesque flourish. As one might imagine, all this firing and hiring created delays and ran up the cost of the project…which further rattled the legislature…which led to more delays.

Along the Senate Staircase

New York Capitol, Albany (5 April 2013)

Again, this personal quest was well-timed since I arrived after much effort and expense was put toward restoring many areas of the building. Decades of dirt, dust and wear were scrubbed away and now the place gleams again.

New York Senate Chamber, Albany (5-April 2013)

(Image made with eight photos)

The Senate has 63 members who are elected to two-year terms. Post-Civil War prosperity is reflected in the opulent Senate chamber. Gold leaf on the walls, Mexican onyx, yellow Sienna marble and red granite from Scotland are part of the décor. I was told that the National Geographic Society considered the New York Senate the finest legislative chamber in the country. These grand rooms evoke the best impressions of democracy in action...as long as you don’t consider how inept and/or corrupt some of the inhabitants can be.

Assembly Staircase,

New York Capitol, Albany (5 April 2013)

In 2011, just two years before my visit,

a major renovation restored the Assembly

staircase to its 19th century brilliance.

New York Assembly, Albany (5 April 2013)

(Image made with13 photos)

The lower house or Assembly has 150 members

who are elected to two-year terms.

Architect Leopold Eidlitz designed the Assembly chamber and staircase while Henry Richardson designed the Senate chamber and Great Western Staircase. The latter will be presented in a separate post.

The Assembly chamber, the largest room in the capitol, featured the world’s largest open stone arch span. This created two problems. Acoustics in the days before microphones was bad. Worse than that, shifting foundations made the ceiling vaults unstable. When legislators found fallen stone on their desks, changes were mandated.

The vaults were stabilized and a wood drop ceiling was installed. Sadly, the fix also covered two grand murals painted on the high sandstone walls of the chamber. William Morris Hunt was one of America’s premier 19th century painters and he produced the 45-foot-long works that are now hidden by the new ceiling. After he lost much of his collection in the Great Boston fire of 1872, this last insult is said to have contributed to the artist’s suicide in 1879.

Assembly Hallway/Lounge

New York Capitol, Albany (5 April 2013)

On March 29, 1911, major fire destroyed much of the western side of the capitol including the State Library with its unique document collection. The cause was never determined, though some thought it was faulty wiring while others believed it was started by a legislator’s discarded cigar butt. Ironically, attempts to cut construction costs had the builder make the Assembly ceiling with a mix of papier-mâché instead of solid oak. This allowed water to spill through the ceiling and limit the damage. Good thing artist Hunt was not around to see his work further desecrated by fire and water.

Theodore Roosevelt

New York’s 33rd Governor

America’s 25th Vice President

America’s 26th President

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

New York’s 44th Governor

America’s 32nd President

      

Also restored recently is the Hall of Governors. Here, official portraits are displayed of the 56 men who have served as the state’s chief executive. It’s an impressive gallery since four governors became president, four others served as vice president and two were Chief Justices of the Supreme Court. Congratulations to Kathy Hochul who was sworn in today to become the state’s first woman governor.

 

Capitol Lights, Albany, NY (5 April 2013)

There will be two additional posts that address special features inside this stunning state house.

Notes From the Plague – Ode to a Dumb-Shit Nation

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.”
Attributed to Albert Einstein

I can’t believe it. Last year I had so much to say about our Covid pandemic. At the time, we were led by an incompetent, narcissist ignoramus who should be blamed for many of the 600,000 who have perished. I will repeat what I said 16 months ago. The Exceptional, Greatest Nation that God Ever Created U. S. of A. had everything we needed to defeat Covid. We should not be in this situation sixteen damn months later.

Summer will soon become Autumn. School will be back in session. Football season will return and the fans in the Confederacy Conference expect to return to their full stadium, partying ways.Then the weather will cool and people will spend more time indoors…which we know is the best place to spread respiratory infections.

This is exactly what happened LAST YEAR. That it will happen again is a testament to that glorious, stubborn, arrogant ignorance that characterizes contemporary conservatism in America. Bill Buckley is spinning in his grave right now.

By Drew Sheneman, Newark Star-Ledger

When Did We Enter the ‘Twilight Zone’? – We took a 17-day road trip in July. Since the time away was going to be a total news blackout, I set the DVR to record one daily news program so I might catch up on current events. I was shocked upon our return to see the headlines after the vacation were exactly the same as they were before we left. This miserable nation continues to be stuck on [1] rising Covid numbers [2] determined vaccine resistance [3] Congressional inaction and [4] partisan political nonsense. We didn’t miss a thing. It’s almost three weeks later and the headlines are still the same.

By Michael Ramirez, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Déjà Vu Redux…Again - It was all predictable and preventable, but apparently, we actually ARE that stupid. Our memories are that bad, our attention spans are that short and our priorities are that screwed-up. What a waste of these big brains and powers of reason that we have evolved so successfully.

Speaking of ‘Evolution’ - One of the current concerns is that if the population of unvaccinated people is large enough, there will be enough genetic activity to spawn a new variant. I know ‘Evolutionism’ is one of our ‘conservative’ brethren’s primary stalking horses. That entire field of science is really bogus because the Bible tells us so.

How do you think this Delta variant came to be? The bug has probably evolved a half dozen times since we discovered it. Millions of the unvaccinated in India gave it all the material it needed and now it is responsible for over 90% of new cases in America. It may not happen but the point is, the larger the palette we provide for the virus, the better the odds it will evolve into something different…something that can be even more successful at spreading and resisting treatment.

By John Darkow, Columbia Missourian

Amazing What it Takes - The experts told us what would happen LAST YEAR. But we don’t like experts anymore. We don’t believe in science anymore. Our dumb-ass former president, Fox News and Facebook trolls lied and deflected and made public health responsibility a political issue…a matter of individual FREEDOM. Now we get regular reports of yet another prominent ‘conservative’ who realized the folly of his denials right before Covid killed him. It seems that just might be enough to move the needle…or move TO the needle, so to speak.

Well, well - As I write this, we see more GOP leaders (finally) urging their followers to get vaccinated. Better late than never, I guess. In the face of overwhelming evidence and headlines like “Pandemic of the Unvaccinated,” McConnell, Scalise and their fellow travelers are realizing Covid is taking out their peeps. All that voter suppression success is being offset by greater dumb-shit mortality. Oh well.

By Mike Lukovich, Atlanta Journal Constitution

While We’re on the Subject - Vaccination should be a work requirement. If you are too selfish to think about protecting your fellow workers, customers and yourself, go work somewhere else.

Vaccination should be required for teachers. Kids belong in the classroom. If teachers want their careers to end based on this issue, go work somewhere else.

And I don’t want to hear about religious exemptions. We have this wonderful First Amendment that guarantees your right to practice your faith. If your faith actually requires you to act in ways that endanger others, authorities need to intervene…because their job is to protect public health.

Calling a Spade a Spade - Remember one of the Depression era agencies that put people to work constructing parks, trails and other natural preservation features that still exist today? The Civilian Conservation Corps or ‘CCC’ had a lasting effect and kept thousands employed. When I am King, there will be a new ‘CCC.’ The Confederate Covid Colony will honor the Southern governors who are so determined to keep Covid thriving. These guys need to own what they have wrought.

As I write this, numbers in their states are spiking. If past surges are any guide, we are nowhere near the peak of the curve. It’s ALL on them. We can name the next mutation the ‘Abbott-DeSantis Variant.’ See how that plays when they run for president.

Problem Solved - I’m guessing the health insurance industry is taking it in the shorts right now. Million-dollar hospital bills for low-income people is not a great business model. Unless they can get their lackeys in Congress to cut them a bigger piece of the pie, it might be wise to consider ways to prevent something like this from getting this bad in the first place.

Politicians, the media, celebrities, scientists and other experts can’t seem to get through to us but I bet I know who can. The business community can change the equation overnight. ‘Conservatives’ get all exercised when government tells them what to do. The GOP and their business patrons want business to be unrestrained. It’s called ‘Free Enterprise’ for a reason. Republicans are the party of ‘market-based solutions’ after all.

The insurance business has put its foot down before. Life insurance won’t pay for suicides or other self-inflicted injuries. The health insurance industry should declare that since we have a vaccine that works and is FREE, a policy holder’s decision to refuse vaccination is a willful decision that voids coverage for this disease. Insurance should only continue to cover Covid-related costs for vaccinated people and not cover any medical costs for patients who refuse to get vaccinated.

Watch what happens then.

State Capitols – Albany, New York - Outside

New York Capitol in Albany (12 October 2009)

Constructed: 1867-1899

Architects: Thomas W, Fuller, Henry H. Richardson,

Leopold Eidlitz, Isaac Perry

State Admitted to Union: July 26, 1788 (11th)

State Population (2010): 19,378,102 (3rd)

To date, I have resided in four states. We have presented the capitols of Maryland and Wisconsin (two posts). New York is not just a state that I have inhabited. It is the land of my birth and education. I lived in the Big Apple until I graduated college and finally fled to the upper Midwest and America’s Dairyland. With the governor dominating the headlines lately, I figure it is time to show where he lives, works…and apparently acts inappropriately with women on occasion.

One of the original thirteen colonies, New York was the site of our new nation’s first capital after the Constitution was ratified. George Washington took the oath of office on the steps of Federal Hall in New York City.

Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY (12 October 2009)

Looking back toward the capitol across the

reflecting pool. On the right is the Empire State

Performing Arts Center, also known as ‘The Egg.'

In 1609, Henry Hudson sailed up the river that now bears his name, exploring all the way to what is now Albany. He was hired by the Dutch to find the legendary Northwest passage to the Pacific and Asia. While that objective failed, he did lay the groundwork for Dutch colonization of the area. Albany was first settled in 1614, twelve years before Manhattan Island was finagled away from its inhabitants. As a school kid in New York City, I remember how the local history was taught…how unfazed the lesson was about how the shrewd Dutch traders acquired what would become the ‘Center of the Universe,’ Manhattan Island, from the naïve Natives for “$24 worth of beads.” It was to show the superiority of Europeans and the start of our conquest of the continent. It was the 1950’s after all and we were all far from ‘woke’ then. At least it was a mutual economic transaction and not a conquest. That would come later.

New York Capitol, Albany (12 October 2009)

After independence, a few towns served as New York’s capital but, in 1797, Albany was declared the center of state government.

New York has long been a pace-setter in cost overruns. As you can see in the above stats, it took four architects over three decades to finish the job. As each floor rose, a different design was applied. The building resembles a French chateau and has been described as ‘Renaissance’ or ‘Romanesque’ or ‘eclectic.’ The final bill, over $25 million, made the building the most expensive in the country at the time. The nation’s capitol in D.C. was completed for half that price.

New York Capitol, Albany (12 October 2009)

Albany-born Civil War General Phillip Sheridan

presides over the main entrance to the capitol

According to Richard Gibson’s book, ‘A Celebration of State Capitols,’ a cornerstone ceremony was held in 1871. It was the typical whoop-de-doo event, attended by thousands. Apparently, no one thought to mark the ceremonial block in some way and now, it cannot be located. Well played.

The New York capitol is one of eleven state capitols that do not have a domed roof or copula.

The exterior walls are white granite from Maine. It is one of the last large buildings to use masonry, load-bearing walls…some are over 15 feet thick.

Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY (12 October 2009)

Completed in the 1970’s, this 98-acre expanse includes the New York State Museum along with additional office space for government, a convention center and a performing arts center.

If you think the outside of this state house is ornate, wait till you see the inside.