New York State Education Department Building
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
This Beaux-Arts style building, with it's impressive colonnade, was built between 1908 and 1911 to house the New York State Education Department. Its colonnade of 36 Corinthian columns, one of the longest in the world, provides a striking facade on Washington Avenue. New York City architect Henry Hornbostel designed the building. When it was dedicated in 1912 it contained the New York State Education Department, the New York State Museum and the New York State Library.
Images
Postcard of the Education Department building from the early 1900s.
Electrolier by Charles Keck of children studying.
Postcard of the Education Department building from the early 1900s.
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
New York City architect Henry Hornbostel designed the New York State Education Department Building to be a place that was representative of serious scholarship. In part, this was because it was one of the first buildings in the nation constructed to be used for the administration of education. The building cost nearly $4 million and the construction was done by the firm of R.T. Ford and Co. based in Rochester, NY.
Hornbostel had studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and was inspired by what he had seen and learned there. The building's neoclassical design was probably also influenced by the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago. The columns are made from Vermont marble. The electroliers (lamp fixtures) on either side of the steps were designed by Charles Keck and show children engaged in various types of activities. The interior is also remarkable. The building includes a two-story, 800-seat auditorium that features a gallery and promenade, four gold chandeliers, and large stained glass windows. Another notable part of the interior is the second-floor rotunda, which features three barrel vaults and a 90-foot domed glass skylight (skylights also run the length of the building). Adjacent to the rotunda is the Reading Room, which features 50-foot high vaults and several chandeliers.
When the Empire State Plaza construction was finished in 1976, the New York State Museum and the New York State Library moved to a new location in the Cultural Information Center at the far end of the Plaza. Today the building holds only the Department of Education. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.
Sources
"Information and History of the New York State Education Department Building." October 01, 2012. Accessed February 06, 2016. https://www.nysed.gov/nysed-building/information-and-history-state-education-buildinghttp://usny.nysed.gov/building/history.html.
Liebs, Chester H. "New York State Education Department Building." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. March 18, 1971. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75316289.
Waite, Diana S.. Albany Architecture: A Guide to the City. Albany, NY: Mount Ida Press, 1993, pg. 80.
Both photos are in the public domain:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NYS_Education_Building_Postcard.png
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Electroliers,_New_York_State_Education_Department_Building_-...