Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Albany, New York)
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The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception is a
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
church near the
Mansion District A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word ''manse'' originally defined a property la ...
in Albany, New York, United States. Built in the period of the 1848-1852, it is the
mother church Mother church or matrice is a term depicting the Christian Church as a mother in her functions of nourishing and protecting the believer. It may also refer to the primary church of a Christian denomination or diocese, i.e. a cathedral or a metro ...
of the Diocese of Albany. In 1976 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 ...
. It has several claims to architectural and ecclesiastical history. Designed by
Irish American , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...
architect
Patrick Keely Patrick Charles Keely (August 9, 1816 — August 11, 1896) was an Irish-American architect based in Brooklyn, New York, and Providence, Rhode Island. He was a prolific designer of nearly 600 churches and hundreds of other institutional buildin ...
to accommodate Albany's growing population of Catholic immigrants, it is the second-oldest
cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...
in the state, after St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. It is also the third oldest Catholic cathedral in the United States, and the first American Catholic cathedral in the
Neo-Gothic 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 ...
architectural style An architectural style is a set of characteristics and features that make a building or other structure notable or historically identifiable. It is a sub-class of style in the visual arts generally, and most styles in architecture relate closely ...
.. See embedded audio file, 0:20–0:24. The interior features the original
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, imported from England, and award-winning
Stations of the Cross The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Way of Sorrows or the Via Crucis, refers to a series of images depicting Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and accompanying prayers. The station ...
statuary. When completed, it was the tallest building in Albany. It has hosted visits by
cardinals Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...
and leaders of other faiths, including one
Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
, and the weddings of two Catholic governors' daughters. In 1986 it hosted the first-ever service of forgiveness between Catholics and Jews on
Palm Sunday Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. Palm Sunday marks the first day of Holy ...
, an event commemorated by a sculpture outside the building. Construction of the cathedral, at the behest of the diocese's first bishop,
John McCloskey John McCloskey (March 10, 1810 – October 10, 1885) was a senior-ranking American prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the first American born Archbishop of New York from 1864 until his death in 1885, having previously served as Bishop of ...
, took four years. Its south tower took 40, and it was not
consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...
until its 50th anniversary in 1902. The construction of Empire State Plaza, the nearby New York state government complex, threatened the cathedral in the 1960s when it required the demolition of most of the surrounding neighborhood. It has been through several renovations in its history, including a $30 million
restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...
early in the 21st century.


Building

The cathedral is located in a one-acre () lot on the southwest corner of the intersection of Eagle Street and Madison Avenue (
U.S. Route 20 U.S. Route 20 or U.S. Highway 20 (US 20) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway that stretches from the Pacific Northwest east to New England. The "0" in its route number indicates that US 20 is a major coast-to-coast route. S ...
). The terrain sloping gently westward from 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 ...
roughly three-quarters of a mile (1.1 km) to the east. It is just outside the Mansion Historic District, also listed on the National Register.
Bleecker Park Bleecker Park is a small urban park in Albany, New York. The park is triangle-shaped, bounded by Madison Place to the south, Madison Avenue to the north, and Eagle Street to the west. The Cathedral of Immaculate Conception is across Eagle Stree ...
is just across Eagle; beyond it are
rowhouse In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...
s that contribute to that district. Other than that, the surrounding neighborhood consists of large state-government buildings and the spaces around them. To its south a parking lot separates the cathedral and the governor's mansion, another listed property. The remaining nearby buildings are in a more
modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...
late 20th-century style. On the west, past a plaza with a small fountain, is the large building that houses the
New York State Museum The New York State Museum is a research-backed institution in Albany, New York, United States. It is located on Madison Avenue, attached to the south side of the Empire State Plaza, facing onto the plaza and towards the New York State Capitol. ...
,
library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
and
archives An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...
. Erastus Corning Tower, the centerpiece of Empire State Plaza and the tallest building in
upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...
, rises to the north behind a high
retaining wall Retaining walls are relatively rigid walls used for supporting soil laterally so that it can be retained at different levels on the two sides. Retaining walls are structures designed to restrain soil to a slope that it would not naturally keep to ...
. East of the cathedral is a
parking garage A multistorey car park (British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a build ...
for state government workers.


Exterior

An iron railing along both sidewalks sets off the church building, shaped like a
Latin cross A Latin cross or ''crux immissa'' is a type of cross in which the vertical beam sticks above the crossbeam, with the three upper arms either equally long or with the vertical topmost arm shorter than the two horizontal arms, and always with a mu ...
, with two side aisles,
clerestory In architecture, a clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey) is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, ''clerestory'' denoted an upper l ...
and circular
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 ...
at the west (rear) end. Its
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 long, the
transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...
two bays, and the chancel is divided into seven sections. Two towers flank the main entrance.
Structurally A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...
the nave has vaults dividing its four sections, with secondary ribs and much bossing. The brick walls are faced in
sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
. Slate shingles cover the
gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
d rolled lead roof. On the east (front) facade are three portals with
crocket A crocket (or croquet) is a small, independent decorative element common in Gothic architecture. The name derives from the diminutive of the French ''croc'', meaning "hook", due to the resemblance of crockets to a bishop's crosier. Description ...
ed gables, divided by four miniature
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 with crocketed pinnacles. Two larger buttresses, similarly treated, rise to roof level on either side. A large Gothic tracery window is above them, topped by a small recessed
quatrefoil A quatrefoil (anciently caterfoil) is a decorative element consisting of a symmetrical shape which forms the overall outline of four partially overlapping circles of the same diameter. It is found in art, architecture, heraldry and traditional ...
window in the gable apex. At the roofline is a pierced tracery
parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...
. There are small arched tracery windows in the facade's flanks. The towers rise four and a half stories to their
spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...
s. At the base they are supported by double-angled buttresses on their corners topped with crocketed pinnacles three stories above. The first two stories have paired windows topped by a small quatrefoil under a pointed dripstone. At the third story this pattern changes to double windows under cusped arches topped by a crocketed
ogee An ogee ( ) is the name given to objects, elements, and curves—often seen in architecture and building trades—that have been variously described as serpentine-, extended S-, or sigmoid-shaped. Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combinatio ...
arch, above which is a line of plain
corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the s ...
s. The fourth story windows, surrounding the belfry, consist of three narrow
louver A louver (American English) or louvre (British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". Mor ...
ed arches with a cusped dripstone and gable. On the north tower the top half-story is faced on all sides with a clock while a sexfoil window occupies that position to the south. From a
castellated A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...
base rise the spires, pierced by small narrow gabled
dormers A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable space ...
just above the base. Rows of vertical crocketing decorate the section lines. Four more buttresses rise two stories to the roof along the sides of the nave, setting apart Gothic tracery windows. These buttresses, too, are topped with crocketed pinnacles at the castellated roofline. The circular chancel offsets the rectilinearity of the rest of the church.


Interior

The main doors open into a full-width vestibule with flat-beamed ceiling. From it doorways go to the towers and the three aisles of the
sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a saf ...
. At its front is a
baptismal font A baptismal font is an article of church furniture used for baptism. Aspersion and affusion fonts The fonts of many Christian denominations are for baptisms using a non-immersive method, such as aspersion (sprinkling) or affusion (pouring). ...
of white
Caen stone Caen stone (french: Pierre de Caen) is a light creamy-yellow Jurassic limestone quarried in north-western France near the city of Caen. The limestone is a fine grained oolitic limestone formed in shallow water lagoons in the Bathonian Age about ...
.Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, , retrieved November 13, 2012.
Walnut A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true ...
pews sit on a marble patterned floor. The vaulted ceiling is supported by clustered engaged columns with heavy capitals decorated with organic motifs. Among them are many grapes and grape leaves, a particularly Romanesque touch. Heavy bosses connect the ceiling vaults. Modern electric light fixtures are attached to the walls between the arches. The
Stations of the Cross The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Way of Sorrows or the Via Crucis, refers to a series of images depicting Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and accompanying prayers. The station ...
are done as small sculptures along the sides. Between them are the
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, original to the building. In the rear 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 ...
is lighter, emphasizing its verticality. The altar sits on a raised concrete platform. Each of the seven sections is separated by a single column with a small capital. They have a recessed arched panel with a statue of a saint. Above are
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 with more stained glass. On its south is the bishop's
cathedra A ''cathedra'' is the raised throne of a bishop in the early Christian basilica. When used with this meaning, it may also be called the bishop's throne. With time, the related term ''cathedral'' became synonymous with the "seat", or principa ...
.


History

The cathedral was built as much for social reasons as the practical needs of the church in an area where its presence had previously been minimal. It took the latter half of the 19th century to complete, and was only
consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...
on its 50th anniversary. The building suffered from neglect in the 20th century, and was extensively restored at the beginning of the 21st.


1796–1847: Catholicism comes to Albany

The small Catholic population that had developed in New York during the 18th century was enough to sustain the entire state as a single
parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
, primarily concentrated in New York City. St. Mary's Church, formally established in
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 ...
in 1796, was the only Catholic church upstate. Both it and St. Peter's (established in New York City ten years earlier) were part of the Diocese of Baltimore. In 1808 the Diocese of New York was created. Nine years later, in 1817
Irish immigrants The Irish diaspora ( ga, Diaspóra na nGael) refers to ethnic Irish people and their descendants who live outside the island of Ireland. The phenomenon of migration from Ireland is recorded since the Early Middle Ages,Flechner and Meeder, The ...
began coming to Albany to build the
Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...
. The industry that grew around the canal terminus attracted even more immigrants, and the Catholics among them began settling not just in Albany but elsewhere in the
Capital District A capital district, capital region or capital territory is normally a specially designated administrative division where a country's seat of government is located. As such, in a federal model of government, no state or territory has any poli ...
and
Mohawk Valley The Mohawk Valley region of the U.S. state of New York is the area surrounding the Mohawk River, sandwiched between the Adirondack Mountains and Catskill Mountains, northwest of the Capital District. As of the 2010 United States Census, th ...
, establishing new churches and subdividing St. Mary's original parish. Immigration from Ireland rose even more in the 1840s due to the Great Famine. By 1847 the Catholic Church and its congregations were well entrenched in Albany and the other cities of the region, and Pope
Pius IX Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...
granted requests to establish the Diocese of Albany.
John McCloskey John McCloskey (March 10, 1810 – October 10, 1885) was a senior-ranking American prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the first American born Archbishop of New York from 1864 until his death in 1885, having previously served as Bishop of ...
, later Archbishop of New York, was installed as the first bishop of Albany in 1847, with St. Mary's as his
procathedral A pro-cathedral or procathedral is a parish church that temporarily serves as the cathedral or co-cathedral of a diocese, or a church that has the same function in a Catholic missionary jurisdiction (such as an apostolic prefecture or apostolic ...
. Like many of the other churches in the new diocese, St. Mary's had been run by a board of trustees due to its distance from the diocesan seat in New York. McCloskey clashed with many of them over their poor financial management, which had left many of them deep in debt. "What should belong to the present and the future is already mortgaged to the past!" complained McCloskey's superior, John Hughes,
Archbishop of New York The Archbishop of New York is the head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, who is responsible for looking after its spiritual and administrative needs. As the archdiocese is the metropolitan bishop, metropolitan see of the ecclesiastic ...
. Before he had taken up his position in Albany, McCloskey had warned that "sooner or later, the trustee system as it exists will destroy or be destroyed by the Catholic religion."


1848–1852: Construction

To accomplish the latter end and consolidate its bishop's authority, the new diocese needed a dedicated cathedral. There were also broader social reasons. Irish Catholic immigration had led to a nativist backlash, in the form of the
Know-Nothing Party The Know Nothing party was a nativist political party and movement in the United States in the mid-1850s. The party was officially known as the "Native American Party" prior to 1855 and thereafter, it was simply known as the "American Party". ...
, and McCloskey knew that a cathedral in Albany would be an assertion of the immigrants' place in their new country. At the first retreat he presided over, McCloskey persuaded the assembled priests to pledge over five thousand dollars as the seed of a building fund.Farley
174–78
He commissioned
Patrick Keely Patrick Charles Keely (August 9, 1816 — August 11, 1896) was an Irish-American architect based in Brooklyn, New York, and Providence, Rhode Island. He was a prolific designer of nearly 600 churches and hundreds of other institutional buildin ...
, an Irish immigrant himself, to design the cathedral, one of 500 churches he would eventually build. Keely was not a design pioneer, but he followed his era's architectural trends closely. For the cathedral he was most influenced by the ideas of British architect
Augustus Pugin Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin ( ; 1 March 181214 September 1852) was an English architect, designer, artist and critic with French and, ultimately, Swiss origins. He is principally remembered for his pioneering role in the Gothic Revival st ...
, as epitomized in Pugin's book ''True Principles'' and his St George the Martyr Southwark church in London, both dating to 1841. As a resident of
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, Keely would also have been familiar with recent American applications of the
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 Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...
, such as
Richard Upjohn Richard Upjohn (22 January 1802 – 16 August 1878) was a British-born American architect who emigrated to the United States and became most famous for his Gothic Revival churches. He was partially responsible for launching the movement to su ...
's Trinity Church and James Renwick's Grace Church, both Episcopal churches in Manhattan. For Immaculate Conception, he seems to have combined the walls of those two churches with the twin-tower facade of Calvary Church, another Renwick work then under construction. Over 10,000 watched on a rainy July day in 1848 as McCloskey and Hughes laid the church's
cornerstone The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. Over time ...
. McCloskey raised funds for the cathedral's construction from not only the rest of the U.S. but the international Catholic community as well. He wrote to both the
Leopoldine Society The Leopoldine Society was an organization established in Vienna for the purpose of aiding Catholic missions in North America. Based on the French model of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, the Leopoldine Society was founded in 1829 i ...
in
Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
and the
Society for the Propagation of the Faith The Society for the Propagation of the Faith (Latin: ''Propagandum Fidei'') is an international association coordinating assistance for Catholic missionary priests, brothers, and nuns in mission areas. The society was founded in Lyon, France, in ...
in France. To save time he had the interior done in
plaster and lath Lath and plaster is a building process used to finish mainly interior dividing walls and ceilings. It consists of narrow strips of wood ( laths) which are nailed horizontally across the wall studs or ceiling joists and then coated in plaster. The ...
painted to look like stone. Most of the workers were immigrants; many of them volunteered their time and effort. The final construction cost was $250,000 ($ in modern dollars). Hughes and McCloskey returned to dedicate the cathedral late in 1852, and it opened for services thereafter.


1853–1902: Completion and consecration

The building was not yet complete, however. On the outside, the spires had not yet been built. Inside, the west side ended in a wall as 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 ...
had not been added. In it was set the
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 ...
window depicting the life of the
Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...
, known as the Lady Window, which had been imported from England. It had been designed by H.W. Ackroyd of
Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
and built by William Wailes of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is als ...
in a 14th-century style. The other stained glass windows were also imported from England, where they were made in
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
. Construction continued, and by 1858 the money was available to add one of the spires. The north tower was completed in 1862. Its height made it the city's tallest building for many years. Bells cast at the
Meneely Bell Foundry The Meneely Bell Foundry was a bell foundry established in 1826 in West Troy (now Watervliet), New York, by Andrew Meneely. Two of Andrew's sons continued to operate the foundry after his death, while a third son, Clinton H. Meneely, opened a se ...
in nearby West Troy (today Watervliet) were hung in the belfry and rung for the first time on the
Feast of the Immaculate Conception The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, also called Immaculate Conception Day, celebrates the sinless lifespan and Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 8 December, nine months before the feast of the Nativity of Mary, celebrate ...
, December 8, 1862. In 1868 the iron fencing around the cathedral was added. Fueled by continued immigration, with
Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...
and
Italians , flag = , flag_caption = The national flag of Italy , population = , regions = Italy 55,551,000 , region1 = Brazil , pop1 = 25–33 million , ref1 = , region2 ...
joining the Irish, Albany's Catholic population continued to grow in the later 19th century. A
restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...
was necessary in 1882. The diocese was able to build the south tower's spire in 1888 and, four years later, the
apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...
and
sacristies A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is usually located ...
were added, completing Keeley's design. The interior was also renewed, with the gradual addition of most of the stained glass windows, including the one in the south
transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...
depicting the
Last Judgment The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...
in 1897. Like many of the interior finishes added during this period, they were European in origin. The
choir stalls A choir, also sometimes called quire, is the area of a church or cathedral that provides seating for the clergy and church choir. It is in the western part of the chancel, between the nave and the sanctuary, which houses the altar and Church tab ...
were
carved Carving is the act of using tools to shape something from a material by scraping away portions of that material. The technique can be applied to any material that is solid enough to hold a form even when pieces have been removed from it, and ...
in Belgium in 1894, and the high
pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...
was carved of Dutch oak. The original painted
Stations of the Cross The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Way of Sorrows or the Via Crucis, refers to a series of images depicting Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and accompanying prayers. The station ...
were replaced with the current Beaux-Arts sculptures, which had won an award at the Paris Exposition of 1889, in 1900. Two years later, on the 50th anniversary of the cathedral's opening, it was formally
consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...
by Bishop Thomas Burke. The same year, the exterior was refaced.


1903–2008: Neglect

With the cathedral complete, it played its intended role in the city and the church for the first half of the 20th century. Priests were
ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...
and bishops consecrated there. Visitors included many
cardinals Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...
, and leaders from other faiths, such as
Michael Ramsey Arthur Michael Ramsey, Baron Ramsey of Canterbury, (14 November 1904 – 23 April 1988) was an English Anglican bishop and life peer. He served as the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury. He was appointed on 31 May 1961 and held the office until 1 ...
,
Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
and thus leader of the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
. In the 1920s New York elected a Catholic,
Al Smith Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was an American politician who served four terms as Governor of New York and was the Democratic Party's candidate for president in 1928. The son of an Irish-American mother and a C ...
,
governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
, the first one to be elected to that position in the history of the state. Living in the governor's mansion next door, he became a regular parishioner at the cathedral. In 1928, the year Smith ran unsuccessfully for president, his daughter Catherine was married in the cathedral. In 1936 the buttresses on the north and south aisles were replaced with stronger ones. There was no other significant work on the building otherwise during the first half of the century. In the 1960s, however, the cathedral faced a threat to its existence. Most of the neighborhoods to the north and west that had made up its parish were demolished to clear the way for Empire State Plaza, the
modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...
complex of state government buildings envisioned by Governor
Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...
. Only 300 houses remained, and with the resulting diminution of the congregation it was uncertain that the cathedral could survive as an institution—and as just a building, it faced demolition. Rockefeller and Bishop William Scully worked together to prevent that from happening. Edwin Broderick, Scully's successor, realized that it was not enough to merely save the church. Its age was evident, and it was time to restore it. But he soon realized how extensive the task was, and how costly it would be. It would be limited to new
crocket A crocket (or croquet) is a small, independent decorative element common in Gothic architecture. The name derives from the diminutive of the French ''croc'', meaning "hook", due to the resemblance of crockets to a bishop's crosier. Description ...
s on the towers and, inside, new buttresses for the
clerestory In architecture, a clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey) is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, ''clerestory'' denoted an upper l ...
.
Howard Hubbard Howard James Hubbard (born October 31, 1938) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of Albany in New York from 1977 to 2014. Biography Early life Howard Hubbard was born on October 31, 1938, ...
took over as bishop in 1977, the first native of the diocese to achieve that position. His interest in
ecumenism Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...
led to the first-ever
Palm Sunday Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. Palm Sunday marks the first day of Holy ...
service of reconciliation between Christians and Jews, held at the cathedral in 1986. At the service, called "From Fear to Friendship" and attended by approximately 1,200 guests, both Christian and Jewish, Hubbard "expressed contrition and remorse for the centuries of anti-Jewish hostility promulgated under the Church's auspices". ''Portal'', a sculpture that stands just west of the building, commemorates the event. Seven years later, in 1993, the daughter of another Catholic governor and parishioner,
Mario Cuomo Mario Matthew Cuomo (, ; June 15, 1932 – January 1, 2015) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 52nd governor of New York for three terms, from 1983 to 1994. A member of the Democratic Party, Cuomo previously served as ...
, was married in the cathedral.


2009–present: Restoration

The building continued to deteriorate. Every winter, a ceiling leak in one corner of the roof would form a icicle, almost reaching the floor. One year in the early 21st century, a large chunk of plaster fell off the ceiling, nearly striking a visiting bishop. Hubbard realized badly needed repair and restoration could no longer be postponed. He began a campaign to raise money for the work. The estimated cost of everything needed or wanted was $10 million, at first. Ultimately the diocese raised about two-thirds of that amount, and closed the cathedral for a year and a half while rotten structural lumber was replaced, plaster restored, electrical wiring replaced and the walls repainted to, as much as possible, their original colors. The altar was moved closer to the pews and placed on a raised concrete platform, and the
baptismal font A baptismal font is an article of church furniture used for baptism. Aspersion and affusion fonts The fonts of many Christian denominations are for baptisms using a non-immersive method, such as aspersion (sprinkling) or affusion (pouring). ...
moved to the rear of the church. The pews themselves were widened and their backs reclined further to make them more comfortable to sit in. On the outside new sandstone from England replaced the deteriorated original on the north tower and clerestory.
Granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
steps and new sandstone portals were added to the main entrance. The north tower's spire was completely replaced with new stone when it was found to be leaning over the street; a new cross was set atop it once it was completed. A rolled lead roof, the only one currently in place in the United States, was installed to make sure it was watertight. After $19 million total had been spent, the cathedral was reopened in 2010 and rededicated on its 158th anniversary later that year. A thousand people attended the
Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...
celebrated by Hubbard along with his New York counterpart,
Timothy Dolan Timothy Michael Dolan (born February 6, 1950) is an American cardinal of the Catholic Church. He is the tenth and current Archbishop of New York, having been appointed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009. Dolan served as the president of the United S ...
, and Dolan's predecessor, Cardinal
Edward Egan Edward Michael Egan (April 2, 1932 – March 5, 2015) was an American cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport in Connecticut from 1988 to 2000 and as archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York i ...
. Hubbard called the cathedral's presence among the many state government buildings nearby a reminder of the presence of God in human affairs and said it was for the whole community, not just Albany's Catholics. He called particular attention to the restored original colors, recalling how he had been disappointed with the building's gloomy interior on his first visit to it as a boy. Many who attended were impressed with the restoration, particularly the return of the original paint.


Music

Music has been a major part of the cathedral's spiritual offerings since its construction, although it has been affected by the same neglect that the building suffered from in the 20th century. Former musical director Thomas Savoy, who composed as well as programmed the musical selections for services, found in his research that the cathedral had a resident orchestra and 75-member choir, and performed classical music regularly at services. The cathedral sees regular use as a performance space. In addition to an annual schedule of sacred music, it has been host to performances by secular ensembles such as the
Albany Symphony Orchestra The Albany Symphony Orchestra is a professional symphony orchestra based in Albany, New York. Founded in 1930 as the People's Orchestra of Albany by Italian-born conductor John Carabella, the Albany Symphony is the oldest professional symphony ...
and Empire State Youth Orchestra. Visiting artists who have performed at the cathedral include Irish
tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...
Anthony Kearns Anthony Kearns (born 17 August 1971, in Kiltealy, County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, Ireland) is an internationally acclaimed tenor, record producer, and a member of The Irish Tenors. Early life Anthony Kearns is one of six children in a music ...
.


Organ

Upon its opening in 1852, the cathedral had a three- manual
pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...
designed by
Henry Erben Henry Erben (5 September 1832 – 23 October 1909) was a rear admiral of the United States Navy, who served in the American Civil War and the Spanish–American War. His father, also named Henry Erben (1800–1884), was a prominent builder of pipe ...
. The instrument, high, deep and wide, cost $8,000 ($ in modern dollars). It had 42
stops Stop may refer to: Places *Stop, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the United States * Stop (Rogatica), a village in Rogatica, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina Facilities * Bus stop * Truck stop, a type of rest stop for truck dri ...
and 3,000 pipes. Modifications in 1880 included overhanging keys, additional notes and mechanical stop control. In 1947 that organ was incorporated into a new organ built by M.P. Moller's facility in
Hagerstown, Maryland Hagerstown is a city in Washington County, Maryland, United States and the county seat of Washington County. The population of Hagerstown city proper at the 2020 census was 43,527, and the population of the Hagerstown metropolitan area (exten ...
. Several ranks of the original pipes were included while the original casework was replaced. A trumpet ''
en chamade ''En chamade'' (French: "to sound a parley") refers to powerfully voiced reed stops in a pipe organ that have been mounted horizontally, rather than vertically, in the front of the organ case, projecting out into the church or concert hall. They ...
'' was added in 1969. By the late 1970s vibrations and other damage from the construction of the Empire State Plaza state government complex in the neighborhood had left the organ effectively unusable. An
electronic organ An electric organ, also known as electronic organ, is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally designed to imitate their sound, or orchestral sounds, it has since developed ...
was brought in to replace it. When the church was renovated in the first decade of the 21st century it was removed and replaced by a smaller temporary instrument. The pipes of the Moller organ were removed from the choir loft during the renovation. They were placed into storage in hopes that they will be used again in the future construction of a new pipe organ.


Bells

By the mid-1970s, none of the 10 Meneely bells in the towers had been rung for a long time, since at least the early 1960s. Their wooden supports, poorly built and incomplete, were too deteriorated. As part of the restoration, one volunteer, Joe Connors, looked into restoring them. A system had been installed to allow the bells to be run electronically, but Connors discovered that mistakes had been made on both the hardware and the software that ran it. As a result, the
Westminster Quarters The Westminster Quarters, from its use at the Palace of Westminster, is a melody used by a set of four quarter bells to mark each quarter-hour. It is also known as the Westminster Chimes, Cambridge Quarters or Cambridge Chimes from its place of ...
tones that rang every 15 minutes sounded off-key. According to Savoy, they had been programmed to play notes that the bells themselves didn't have. After fixing the software errors, Connors got it to play the quarters correctly, but deactivated any other hymns until new software could be purchased. In the meantime, he offered to restore the
pulley A pulley is a wheel on an axle or shaft that is designed to support movement and change of direction of a taut cable or belt, or transfer of power between the shaft and cable or belt. In the case of a pulley supported by a frame or shell that ...
s and belts that were broken, allowing them to be played manually. By early 2012 Connors had restored seven of the bells.


See also

*
List of Catholic cathedrals in the United States The following is a list of the Catholic cathedrals in the United States. The Catholic Church in the United States comprises ecclesiastical territories called dioceses led by prelate bishops. Each bishop is assigned to a cathedral from which he ...
*
List of cathedrals in the United States This is a list of cathedrals in the United States, including both actual cathedrals (seats of bishops in episcopal Christian groups, such as Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy and the Armenian Apostolic Church) and a few prominent church ...
*
Roman Catholic Marian churches Catholic Marian churches are religious buildings dedicated to the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary. These churches were built throughout the history of the Catholic Church, and today they can be found on every continent including Antarctica. ...
*
History of Albany, New York The history of Albany, New York began long before the first interaction of Europeans with the native Indian tribes, as they had long inhabited the area. The area was originally inhabited by an Algonquian Indian tribe, the Mohican, as well as the ...
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York There are 75 properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Albany, New York, United States. Six are additionally designated as National Historic Landmarks (NHLs), the most of any city in the state after New York City. Another 1 ...


Further reading

*Servier, Christine. ''History of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception'', Albany: Argus, 1927.


References


External links


Official Cathedral SiteRoman Catholic Diocese of Albany Official Site
{{National Register of Historic Places in New York Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Roman Catholic churches in Albany, New York Immaculate Conception Albany Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany U.S. Route 20 Religious organizations established in 1847 Roman Catholic churches completed in 1852 Roman Catholic parishes of Diocese of Albany 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States 1847 establishments in New York (state) Gothic Revival church buildings in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Albany, New York