Albany, the state capitol of New York is an eclectic cocktail of American urban architecture.

Prime to downtown is the New York State Capitol, a splendid National Historic Landmark. The Capitol was built over 32 years with three teams of architects during this period.

Researching the history of the building, Ginette was particularly interested when she read that Thomas Fuller, a Canadian architect was awarded the first contract for the State Capitol in 1867. He was an instrumental architect to Canada’s Parliament buildings and to our hometown Brockville’s Fuller Building.

Central to the city is the Empire State Plaza, a large complex of government buildings designed by visionary Nelson Rockefeller. We first toured the area in the evening and the illuminated buildings made for a stately first impression.

Here we see the four Agency buildings along one side of the plaza.

Along the other side is the Erastus Corning Tower, the highest building in New York State outside of New York City and The Egg, an icon of the Capitol district.

The architecture was just as impressive during the day.

Between the large-scale towers and the public spaces, sculptures and landscaping achieve a nice balance.

A juxtaposition of public art against the modern and historic buildings dots the urban environment.

We couldn’t get enough of The Egg — from all angles the large concrete structure fascinates.

The New York state legislature was out of session for the Easter break, the grounds were quiet and we did not see any suit-clad government staffers, but we could imagine them hustling around the plaza.

Next stop on our road trip, the Catskills.