Union Station, also known as Albany Union Station, is a building in Albany,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, on the corner of Broadway and Steuben Street. Built during 1899–1900, it served originally as the city's

railroad station A train station, railroad station, or railway station is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track, and a station building providing such ...

but now houses credit union offices. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

(NRHP) during 1971.

History

Rail service

The station received 96 trains per day during 1900 and 121 per day during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It was 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 politic ...

's main railroad station until December 1968. Built primarily to serve the

New York Central The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

's passenger trains, it also hosted the services of the Delaware & Hudson. In 1968, Rensselaer Rail Station began operation across the river in Rensselaer, serving the newly merged company

Penn Central Railroad The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Railroad classes, class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals, the Pennsylvania Railroad, ...

, and three years later,

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

. The station was listed on the

in 1971. Its NRHP application asserted:

Perhaps no other building has been so important to the growth of Albany during the twentieth century as Union Station. It was designed in 1899 by
Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge was a successful American architectural firm based in Boston. As the successor to the studio of Henry Hobson Richardson, they completed his unfinished work before developing their own practice, and had extensive commissi ...
, the successors to the firm of H.H. Richardson and the designers of the newly completed
South Station South Station, officially The Governor Michael S. Dukakis Transportation Center at South Station, is the largest railroad station and intercity bus terminal in Greater Boston and New England's second-largest transportation center after Logan I ...
in Boston and
Union Station A union station, union terminal, joint station, or joint-use station is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway company, railway companies, allowing passengers to connect conveniently bet ...
in
Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is the most populous city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, and its county seat. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ea ...
. The construction was carried out by
Norcross Brothers Norcross Brothers, Contractors and Builders was a nineteenth-century American construction company, especially noted for its work, mostly in stone, for the architectural firms of H.H. Richardson and McKim, Mead & White. The company was founded in 1 ...
, who were considered to be one of the finest contractors of the period. an
''Accompanying two photos, exterior, from 1905 and undated''

Office building

During 1986 Peter Kiernan, president of Norstar Bankcorp Inc, relocated the headquarters of the

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...

bank from

Guilderland, New York Guilderland is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Albany County, New York, United States. In the 2020 census, the town had a population of 36,848. The town is named for the Gelderland province in the Netherlands. The town of Gu ...

, to Union Station in Albany, and contracted the architecture company EYP Architecture & Engineering to complete a $14.5 million renovation of the historic building. This renovation of Union Station is documented in a book that also details the history of the station. During construction a bottle was discovered hanging on a nail behind a plaster wall ornament; inside was a note dated August 12, 1900. Signed by "AA Johnsen. Foreman," the note mentioned the names of the workers and companies involved in the original construction. It listed the workers' wages as 45 cents per hour. Kiernan then placed a new time capsule regarding this construction behind another plaster ornament on an upper floor. Union Station was renamed Norstar Plaza, and when Norstar Bancorp merged with

Fleet Financial Group FleetBoston Financial was a Boston, Massachusetts–based bank created in 1999 by the merger of Fleet Financial Group and BankBoston. In 2004 it merged with Bank of America; all of its banks and branches were converted to Bank of America. Hist ...

Inc of

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

, during 1988, Norstar Plaza became one of two headquarters (with Providence) of the new company. Kiernan died later that year, and during 1989 the corporation renamed the building Peter D. Kiernan Plaza in his honor. At the end of 1999, soon after Fleet purchased

BankBoston BankBoston was an American bank based in Boston, Massachusetts, which was created by the 1996 merger of Bank of Boston and BayBank. One of its predecessor banks started in 1784, but the merged BankBoston was short-lived, being acquired by FleetB ...

to become

FleetBoston Financial FleetBoston Financial was a Boston, Massachusetts–based bank created in 1999 by the merger of Fleet Financial Group and BankBoston. In 2004 it merged with Bank of America; all of its banks and branches were converted to Bank of America. Histo ...

, the new company decided to spend a total of $25 million on new software, hardware, and electrical, heating, and cooling systems for the building. During 2004

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (Bank of America) (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in ...

bought FleetBoston and kept the building. The next year, the bank sold Kiernan Plaza to American Financial Realty Trust and leased the building back. During 2008 American Financial Realty Trust was bought by Gramercy Realty Corp. and during 2009 October Bank of America decided to consolidate its operations at Kiernan Plaza with others in Albany by relocating them to a State Street building also owned by Gramercy, with no job losses. In 2013, the building was acquired by Fuller Road Management, a real estate development arm of the

College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering The College of Nanotechnology, Science, and Engineering is part of the University at Albany, SUNY in Albany, New York. Founded in 2004 at the University at Albany, SUNY, the college underwent rapid expansion in the late-2000s and early-2010s bef ...

, from a subsidiary of Gramercy. The college subsequently opened its Smart Cities Technology Innovation Center (SCiTI) there. The building is also headquarters for the State Employees Federal Credit Union (SEFCU).

References

{{NYC Main Line stations Buildings and structures in Albany, New York

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)

Railway stations in the United States opened in 1900 Beaux-Arts architecture in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Albany, New York Former railway stations in New York (state) Transportation in Albany County, New York

History

Rail service

Office building

See also

References