The courthouse occupies half of the block between Columbia, Eagle, Lodge and Pine streets.
The building itself takes up the southwestern quadrant; its parking lot the southeast.
The land slopes gently to the east, reflecting the proximity of the Hudson River one-half mile (800 m) in that direction.

In the surrounding neighborhood are many similarly large buildings, most of them governmental or institutional and contributing properties to their historic districts.
North, on the other half of the block, is the Albany County courthouse, an early 20th-century neoclassical building architecturally sympathetic to the Court of Appeals building.
South, across Pine, is Albany's City Hall, a stone Romanesque Revival building by Henry Hobson Richardson from the 1880s, also listed on the Register individually.
Just to its south, visible from the Court of Appeals building through Corning Park behind City Hall, is St. Peter's Episcopal Church, a French Gothic-style edifice by Richard Upjohn and his son that is a National Historic Landmark (NHL) as well as a contributing property to the Downtown Albany Historic District, which borders the Lafayette Park Historic District to the east at this point.

Across Eagle Street is the two-acre (0.81 ha) open space of Academy Park.
Across it, slightly to the northwest, straddling the boundary between it and the larger Lafayette Park beyond, is the Old Albany Academy Building, an 1815 stone Federal-style work by Philip Hooker that now serves as administrative offices of the City School District of Albany.
Its modest scale is in contrast to the monumental New York State Education Department Building, visible across Lafayette Park.
Above it Alfred E. Smith Building's 34 stories tower over the New York State Capitol, also an NHL, across Washington Avenue (New York State Route 5) to the west.
The taller towers of the modernist Empire State Plaza are to the southeast.
East of the Court of Appeals building, across Lodge Street, is St. Mary's Church, home to the city's oldest Roman Catholic congregation and another listed property that contributes to the Downtown Albany Historic District.
The courthouse occupies half of the block between Columbia, Eagle, Lodge and Pine streets. The building itself takes up the southwestern quadrant; its parking lot the southeast. The land slopes gently to the east, reflecting the proximity of the Hudson River one-half mile (800 m) in that direction.
In the surrounding neighborhood are many similarly large buildings, most of them governmental or institutional and contributing properties to their historic districts. North, on the other half of the block, is the Albany County courthouse, an early 20th-century neoclassical building architecturally sympathetic to the Court of Appeals building. South, across Pine, is Albany's City Hall, a stone Romanesque Revival building by Henry Hobson Richardson from the 1880s, also listed on the Register individually. Just to its south, visible from the Court of Appeals building through Corning Park behind City Hall, is St. Peter's Episcopal Church, a French Gothic-style edifice by Richard Upjohn and his son that is a National Historic Landmark (NHL) as well as a contributing property to the Downtown Albany Historic District, which borders the Lafayette Park Historic District to the east at this point.
Across Eagle Street is the two-acre (0.81 ha) open space of Academy Park. Across it, slightly to the northwest, straddling the boundary between it and the larger Lafayette Park beyond, is the Old Albany Academy Building, an 1815 stone Federal-style work by Philip Hooker that now serves as administrative offices of the City School District of Albany. Its modest scale is in contrast to the monumental New York State Education Department Building, visible across Lafayette Park. Above it Alfred E. Smith Building's 34 stories tower over the New York State Capitol, also an NHL, across Washington Avenue (New York State Route 5) to the west. The taller towers of the modernist Empire State Plaza are to the southeast. East of the Court of Appeals building, across Lodge Street, is St. Mary's Church, home to the city's oldest Roman Catholic congregation and another listed property that contributes to the Downtown Albany Historic District.
New York Court of Appeals Building