Early Albany ca.1749

“The Dutch church stands a short distance from the river on the east side of the market. It is built of stone and in the middle it has a small steeple with a bell. It has but one minister who preaches twice every Sunday. The English church is situated on the hill at the west end of the market, directly under the fort. It is likewise built of stone but has no steeple. There is no service at the church at this time because they have no minister, but all the people understand Dutch, the garrison excepted. The town hall lies to the south of the Dutch church, close by the riverside. It is a fine building of stone, three stories high. It has a small tower or steeple, with a bell, and a gilt ball and vane at the top of it.

The houses in this town are very neat, and partly built of stones covered with shingles of white pine. Some are slated with tile from Holland, because the clay of this neighborhood is not considered fit for tiles. Most of the houses are built in the old Frankish way, with the gable-end towards the street, except a few, which were recently built in the modern style. The outside of the houses is never covered with lime or mortar, nor have I seen it practised in any North American towns which I have visited; and the walls do not seem to be damaged by the weather. The eaves on the roofs reach almost to the middle of the street. This preserves the walls from being damaged by the rain, but it is extremely disagreeable in rainy weather for the people in the streets, there being hardly any means of avoiding the water from the eaves. The front doors are generally in the middle of the houses, and on both sides are porches with seats, on which during fair weather the people spend almost the whole day, especially on those porches which are in the shade. The people seem to move with the sun and the shade, always keeping in the latter. When the sun is too hot the people disappear. In the evening the verandas are full of people of both sexes; but this is rather troublesome because a gentleman has to keep his hat in constant motion, for the people here are not Quakers whose hats are as though nailed to the head. It is considered very impolite not to lift your hat and greet everyone.”

Excerpted from Kalm, Peter, Travels in North America, The English Version of 1770,
Volume I, Dover Publications, Inc., New York.

Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church

1859-60
Northwest Corner of State and Lodge Streets
Richard Upjohn, Architect

Anglican services were first held in Albany in 1708, primarily for British soldiers and their families. The first church was a gambrel-roofed, masonry structure built in 1715 in the middle of what is now State Street just below Lodge Street. It was replaced by a larger building, designed by Philip Hooker, in 1802. When that structure became seriously deteriorated, Richard Upjohn of New York City was hired to plan a new edifice on the same site. Upjohn was well known as the designer of Trinity Church in lower Manhattan and as an American pioneer in using the Gothic Revival style for religious structures….

…Among the prominent details are three gargoyles, each of which weighs three tons and extend eight feet beyond the walls….

…The alter and reredos (1885) were designed by Richard M. Upjohn; Louis St. Gaudens, brother of Augustus St. Gaudens, sculpted the angels on the reredos.

Waite, Diana S. Albany Architecture, Albany, New York: Matthew Bender IV and Mount Ida Press, 1993.