Albany is the capital of the U.S. state of New York.
The Empire State Plaza, a collection of state agency office buildings, dominates almost any view of Albany. Built between 1965 and 1978 at the hand of Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller and architect Wallace Harrison, the complex is a powerful example of late American modern architecture and remains a controversial building project both for displacing city residents and for its architectural style.
The Empire State Plaza consists of various steel and reinforced concrete buildings, all clad in imported stone (except The Egg, which fully exposes its concrete structure). The buildings are placed on a six-story stone-clad Main Platform, supported by more than 25,000 steel pilings driven an average of 70 feet (21 m) into soft glacial clay deposits underlying the site.
The placement of starkly abstract geometric building forms on a monolithic plaza is said to represent Rockefeller’s concept of architecture as similar to sculpture. The exterior columns and narrow windows of the buildings resemble the style of the former World Trade Center towers in New York City, which were completed around the same time.
The Agency office buildings
Erastus Corning Tower
Completed in 1966 and sided with Vermont Pearl marble and glass. At 589 feet (180 m) and 44 stories in height, it is the tallest skyscraper in the state of New York outside of the city of New York.
The Egg
The building was designed by Harrison & Abramovitz as part of the Empire State Plaza project, and built between 1966 and 1978.
The building is held by a stem that goes down six stories into the Plaza. Attached to this stem is a concrete girdle that surrounds The Egg, enabling it to retain its shape and transmitting its weight to the pedestal.
Cultural Education Center
Robert Abrams Building for Law and Justice
Legislative Office Building (LOB)
The New York State Capitol
the building was completed in 1899 at a cost of US$25 million (equivalent to $720 million in 2016), making it the most expensive government building of its time. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.
The present Capitol was built between 1867 and 1899. Three teams of architects worked on the design of the Capitol during the 32 years of its construction. They were managed by: 1867-75: Thomas Fuller, 1875–83: Leopold Eidlitz and Henry Hobson Richardson, 1883-99: Isaac G. Perry. Fuller, the initial architect, was an Englishman who also designed the Canadian Parliament buildings of Parliament Hill, Ottawa.