Lafayette Park Historic

Lafayette Park Historic District occupies the crest of Capitol Hill in Albany, where state and city government buildings face a landscaped park. Five individually listed landmarks sit within it, including the State Capitol, City Hall, the Court of Appeals, the Education Building, and the Cathedral of All Saints. Along the park's northern edge, twenty-nine brick rowhouses on Elk and Columbia Streets provide a domestic counterpoint to the monumental civic architecture. Their closeness to the seats of power attracted governors, a bishop, bankers, lumber merchants, and physicians, and the houses show a wide range of tastes, from Greek Revival to Gothic Revival details. Martin Van Buren's family owned property here, and several houses served as governors' residences. Later uses include law offices, a restaurant, and apartments, and three modern buildings are counted as intrusions. Remnants of the 1890 Hawk Street Viaduct, an innovative cantilever arch bridge, also survive within the boundaries.