Mansion Historic District

Mansion Historic District occupies sixteen blocks on a hill in southeastern Albany, set between two ravines that were filled and graded in the mid-nineteenth century. About 475 buildings and outbuildings remain, mainly houses, with shops along South Pearl Street and Madison Avenue, two churches, schools and three small parks on Philip Street. South Pearl and Grand Streets date to the 18th century, Madison Avenue to the early 19th century, and Trinity Place to 1836. Development came in stages: scattered building from 1820 to 1835, planned rows from the late 1830s, a surge in the 1850s that turned open land into a compact neighborhood, and infill in the 1860s and 1870s. Italianate brick and frame rows dominate, and several Gothic-style buildings on one street are described as unique in Albany. Construction of the Empire State Plaza, demolition in nearby areas and public housing has left the district physically isolated.