Washington Park Historic District

Washington Park is a ninety-acre public park in central Albany, together with the streets of houses that face it. The district takes in Madison Avenue, Willett Street, State Street and South Lake Avenue, along with Thurlow Terrace and Englewood Place. Work on the park began in 1870 on land set aside for public use since 1686, and plans were prepared by engineers Bogart and Cuyler after Frederick Law Olmsted was consulted. The eastern end holds formal promenades and an old parade ground, while the western end has rolling meadows, a lake and a 1929 Spanish-style lakehouse. Memorials include a bronze statue of Robert Burns and a Civil War monument. Over sixty brick and brownstone townhouses line State Street, including works linked to H. H. Richardson and Stanford White. The district was valued for its unity of scale, materials and period, and for a surviving Nineteenth Century park design, despite some demolished mansions and a few modern intrusions.