Created in 1777 during the Revolution, the state of New York did not assume full governmental responsibilities for its territory until the end of the war and independence.
After several other cities had held the title, Albany, the longtime colonial capital, was formally established as the state capital in the 1790s.
The new state government did not need many buildings.
Both houses of the state legislature met in Albany's City Hall until the first state capitol was built in 1819, governors rented residences in the city, and the two highest state courts, the Court of Chancery and the Court for the Trial of Impeachments and the Correction of Errors, heard cases in the county courthouse or the capitol.
For those officials who needed a dedicated workspace, the first state office building, Old State Hall, was erected in the early 1800s at what is now the corner of Lodge and State streets.

In 1833, the occupants complained that the building was running out of space and inadequate in other ways—in particular, they said, the many records kept within it could be destroyed in a fire.
The legislature directed the capitol's trustees to find land for a new building.
The trustees acquired the current land and commissioned local architect Henry Rector to design the building.

According to architectural critic Talbot Hamlin, Rector's design "proclaimed the complete triumph of the Greek Revival in the Albany region."
The column bases and capitals on the exterior were copied from the Temple of Athena Nike on the Acropolis.
Marble for the building, mandated by the legislature, was quarried by inmates at the new Sing Sing Prison near the present-day village of Ossining in Westchester County and shipped up the Hudson River on barges.
It was completed by 1842 at a total cost of $350,000 ($9.09 million in modern dollars).
No other buildings of Rector's survive except for a row of houses on Westerlo Street in Albany's Pastures Historic District.

In addition to its architecture, the building would be notable for two aspects of its engineering as well.
One was the use of the stone groin vaults to support the ceilings instead of the timber framing common at the time, an early attempt at fireproofing.
The other was the stone staircase in the middle of the rotunda, which started at the first floor and cantilevered out up to the third floor with no visible means of support.

After the building's completion, the state chancellor, Register of Chancery, clerk of the Court of Appeals and its Supreme Court moved in.
The state's executive branch was represented by the attorney general, auditor, canal appraisers and commissioners, comptroller and state engineer and surveyor-general.
In 1846, a new state constitution reformed the courts, eliminating the Court of Chancery and relegating the Supreme Court to its current role of both appellate and trial court, supreme in that it has the last word on findings of fact but deferring to the new Court of Appeals on questions of law.

However, the tenants of the building remained unchanged.
The Court of Appeals sat in the state capitol, both the former building and the current one.
In the latter, Henry Hobson Richardson, supervising a construction process that had become delayed since it began in the early 1870s from Thomas Fuller's original plan, designed an ornate wooden courtroom with carved oak walls and furniture.
The judges began hearing oral arguments there in 1884.
It was described by a visiting Lord Coleridge, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, as "the finest courtroom in the world."

As the 19th century became the 20th, the state grew and with it its government.
By 1909 the judges and lawyers alike were complaining that the court's capitol space was inadequate to its modern legal needs.
The following year the legislature directed the court to appoint one of its judges to work with the state architect, then Franklin B. Ware, to determine whether the old State Hall could be renovated into an adequate facility.
The court appointed Judge William E. Werner.
He and Ware commissioned a report from a Rochester arc
Created in 1777 during the Revolution, the state of New York did not assume full governmental responsibilities for its territory until the end of the war and independence. After several other cities had held the title, Albany, the longtime colonial capital, was formally established as the state capital in the 1790s. The new state government did not need many buildings. Both houses of the state legislature met in Albany's City Hall until the first state capitol was built in 1819, governors rented residences in the city, and the two highest state courts, the Court of Chancery and the Court for the Trial of Impeachments and the Correction of Errors, heard cases in the county courthouse or the capitol. For those officials who needed a dedicated workspace, the first state office building, Old State Hall, was erected in the early 1800s at what is now the corner of Lodge and State streets.
In 1833, the occupants complained that the building was running out of space and inadequate in other ways—in particular, they said, the many records kept within it could be destroyed in a fire. The legislature directed the capitol's trustees to find land for a new building. The trustees acquired the current land and commissioned local architect Henry Rector to design the building.
According to architectural critic Talbot Hamlin, Rector's design "proclaimed the complete triumph of the Greek Revival in the Albany region." The column bases and capitals on the exterior were copied from the Temple of Athena Nike on the Acropolis. Marble for the building, mandated by the legislature, was quarried by inmates at the new Sing Sing Prison near the present-day village of Ossining in Westchester County and shipped up the Hudson River on barges. It was completed by 1842 at a total cost of $350,000 ($9.09 million in modern dollars). No other buildings of Rector's survive except for a row of houses on Westerlo Street in Albany's Pastures Historic District.
In addition to its architecture, the building would be notable for two aspects of its engineering as well. One was the use of the stone groin vaults to support the ceilings instead of the timber framing common at the time, an early attempt at fireproofing. The other was the stone staircase in the middle of the rotunda, which started at the first floor and cantilevered out up to the third floor with no visible means of support.
After the building's completion, the state chancellor, Register of Chancery, clerk of the Court of Appeals and its Supreme Court moved in. The state's executive branch was represented by the attorney general, auditor, canal appraisers and commissioners, comptroller and state engineer and surveyor-general. In 1846, a new state constitution reformed the courts, eliminating the Court of Chancery and relegating the Supreme Court to its current role of both appellate and trial court, supreme in that it has the last word on findings of fact but deferring to the new Court of Appeals on questions of law.
However, the tenants of the building remained unchanged. The Court of Appeals sat in the state capitol, both the former building and the current one. In the latter, Henry Hobson Richardson, supervising a construction process that had become delayed since it began in the early 1870s from Thomas Fuller's original plan, designed an ornate wooden courtroom with carved oak walls and furniture. The judges began hearing oral arguments there in 1884. It was described by a visiting Lord Coleridge, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, as "the finest courtroom in the world."
As the 19th century became the 20th, the state grew and with it its government. By 1909 the judges and lawyers alike were complaining that the court's capitol space was inadequate to its modern legal needs. The following year the legislature directed the court to appoint one of its judges to work with the state architect, then Franklin B. Ware, to determine whether the old State Hall could be renovated into an adequate facility. The court appointed Judge William E. Werner. He and Ware commissioned a report from a Rochester arc
New York Court of Appeals Building