The former Church of the Holy Innocents, later known as Church of the Nativity of our Virgin Lady, was originally an

Episcopal Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United State ...

church located on North Pearl Street (

New York State Route 32 New York State Route 32 (NY 32) is a north–south state highway that extends for through the Hudson Valley and Capital District regions of the U.S. state of New York. It is a two-lane surface road for nearly its entire length, with f ...

) in Albany, New York, United States. It and an adjacent chapel were built in the mid-19th century in an early

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style designed by Frank Wills. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1978. A small garden surrounding the church and chapel gives it the feel of an English country parish church despite its urban surroundings. Its interior has several

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

windows designed by John Bolton, brother of

William Jay Bolton William Jay Bolton (31 August 1816 – 28 May 1884) was the first artist in the United States to design and manufacture figural stained glass windows.Clark, p. 40 ''Bolton was now prepared to undertake a larger project, an impressive array ...

. A century after its construction the Episcopal congregation moved to a newer church and sold it to a

Russian Orthodox Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most ...

church, which renamed it and added an

onion dome An onion dome is a dome whose shape resembles an onion. Such domes are often larger in diameter than the tholobate upon which they sit, and their height usually exceeds their width. These bulbous structures taper smoothly to a point. It is a ty ...

. They have subsequently moved out and the building remains vacant.

Building

The church and chapel complex is located at the southeast corner of the intersection of North Pearl and Colonie Street, roughly one half-mile (1 km) north of

downtown Albany The Downtown Albany Historic District is a 19-block, area of Albany, New York, United States, centered on the junction of State ( New York State Route 5) and North and South Pearl streets ( New York State Route 32). It is the oldest settled area ...

and a few blocks east of the Arbor Hill neighborhood. It is located at the point where the terrain, flat all the way to the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

one-quarter mile (500 m) away, starts rising to the west, creating a dropoff at the east end of the property. The surrounding neighborhood is mostly residential, showing the varied effects of past

urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...

programs. Across Colonie, to the north, is a large vacant lot and some unused railroad tracks. To the south are some other older commercial and residential buildings. A pair of modern high-rise apartment buildings, with a complex of small, newer ones to their north, are across North Pearl to the west. Some other properties listed on the Register are nearby. The small Broadway–Livingston Avenue Historic District, is to the east and southeast, with the Broadway Row a block to the south of it. A block to the southwest is the northern end of the

Arbor Hill Historic District–Ten Broeck Triangle The Arbor Hill Historic District–Ten Broeck Triangle, originally the Ten Broeck Historic District, is a seven-block area located within the Arbor Hill neighborhood north of what is today downtown Albany, New York, United States. In 1979 its ...

and one of its

contributing properties In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

Ten Broeck Mansion The Ten Broeck Mansion in Albany, New York was built in 1797. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. A decade later it was included as a contributing property to the Arbor Hill Historic District–Ten Broeck Triangl ...

. The church and chapel are connected by a small

hyphen The hyphen is a punctuation mark used to join words and to separate syllables of a single word. The use of hyphens is called hyphenation. ''Son-in-law'' is an example of a hyphenated word. The hyphen is sometimes confused with dashes (figure d ...

. Both buildings are "T"-shaped two-and-a-half-story structures built of coursed rubble masonry. They are trimmed in

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries are cut in beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building sto ...

and topped by steeply pitched

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

covered gable roofs. The main church building is currently covered with ivy, obscuring the view of most of its decorative features. At the top of the front is a green

topped with an

Orthodox cross The Russian Orthodox Cross (or just the Orthodox Cross by some Russian Orthodox traditions) is a variation of the Christian cross since the 16th century in Russia, although it bears some similarity to a cross with a bottom crossbeam slanted the ...

. Underneath that vegetation on the west (front) facade are heavy corner

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...

es, an arched central entrance, four

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural element are typical of Gothic church edifices of the earliest period. Lancet wi ...

s on the second story and a single triangular window in the gable. The

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

is five

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...

long, with an additional entrance at the northeast. A smaller projecting gable on the east with two small shed-roofed wings is the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

Church of the Holy Innocents in Albany, NY

Inside the church's decor is restrained. Wooden

wainscoting Panelling (or paneling in the U.S.) is a millwork wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials. Panelling was developed in antiquity to make roo ...

runs along the lower portion of the walls. Above there is a small wooden gallery and a beamed ceiling. The original pews have been removed and chairs line the sides. Screens and

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...

s block the view of the altar. A modern counter is next to the entrance. The

and

grisaille Grisaille ( or ; french: grisaille, lit=greyed , from ''gris'' 'grey') is a painting executed entirely in shades of grey or of another neutral greyish colour. It is particularly used in large decorative schemes in imitation of sculpture. Many g ...

windows remain. The chapel is a similar, smaller building. The dropoff in the terrain exposes its brick basement in the rear. The wall above it is also brick. Inside, it too has partitions, screens and icons, but it has been extensively renovated. The floor is

linoleum Linoleum, sometimes shortened to lino, is a floor covering made from materials such as solidified linseed oil (linoxyn), Pine Resin, pine resin, ground Cork (material), cork dust, sawdust, and mineral fillers such as calcium carbonate, most com ...

and the ceiling has had skylights added. On May 4, 2015, a section of the church collapsed. In December 2016 a developer purchased the church, saving it from possible demolition. The developer reportedly planned to stabilize the structure and eventually open it as a community center or restaurant. In 2019, as no renovations appeared to have taken place, the Historic Albany Foundation placed it on their “Dirty Dozen” list of Albany’s most endangered historic structures.

References

External links

Photos of the church in 2019 and 1918
* {{National Register of Historic Places in New York Eastern Orthodoxy in New York (state) Former Episcopal church buildings in New York (state) Russian-American culture in New York (state) Russian Orthodox church buildings in the United States Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Churches completed in 1850 19th-century Episcopal church buildings Churches in Albany, New York Gothic Revival church buildings in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Albany, New York Episcopal churches in Albany, New York

Building

See also

References

External links