Center Square-Hudson-Park Historic District (Additional Documentation)

Center Square/Hudson-Park is a 27-block neighborhood on a hilltop in Albany, New York, made up largely of attached brick and brownstone townhouses. Most of its roughly 1,200 buildings went up between 1845 and 1920, after the Erie Canal's opening fueled the city's growth and the Ruttenkill Creek was filled to open new streets. Speculative rows, such as the eighteen Italianate houses of Martin Luther Row on Elm Street, sit alongside architect-designed homes, six churches, a former brewery, converted carriage houses and the Art Deco Alfred E. Smith State Office Building. State Street became fashionable because of nearby Washington Park and the new State Capitol, while other streets held working-class dwellings. The district was listed for its varied styles, its mix of high-style and vernacular design, and its record of Albany's nineteenth-century development. Modern gas stations and office buildings are counted as intrusions, and restoration work continues, especially in the northern half.