Tuesday, March 8, 2011

The Pruyn Building

Located at 70 North Pearl Street (adjacent to the well-known Kenmore Hotel), the Pruyn Building is one of my favorite buildings in downtown Albany.

Built as a commercial building with apartments above two storefronts by Robert Hewson Pruyn (who served as the U.S. minister to Japan during Abraham Lincoln's presidency), the gorgeous Queen Anne building was designed by architects William A. Potter and Robert H. Robertson (they also design another Pruyn's residence on Willett Street).

This lovely cast iron ornament is one of a pair flanking the surviving storefront. A terra cotta plaque above it dates the building to 1879.

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