Ice & Fuel

Old metal sign on the wall of the old City Ice & Fuel Company at the corner of Park Avenue and Swan Street. I've previously written about an unwelcome "additive" of sorts that was found in ice from this facility decades ago in a post about the building's distinctive red tubes.

Underwater Work

The inner workings of the fountains on the Empire State Plaza's main platform are ready for spring. These pipes and valves are responsible for the fountain's towering artificial geysers. Two of the reflecting pools are already filled. This one, the southernmost, is still empty.

Send Off

A sign on the long-vacant Trailways terminal on Division Street.

Capitol Faces

It might sound a little cliched to say it, but the New York State Capitol is most definitely a showcase of the stone carver's art. Both inside and out, the building features scores of stone faces. Some are portraits of figures from the State's history, others were left to the whims of the carvers. This handsome male face, surrounded by hammers and a carpenter's square, can be found just above the south side of the Goblin Passage.

Wise Owls

A crown of owls on one of the intricate lamp posts flanking the west entrance to the old State Education Building on Washington Avenue. The lamps are fabulously detailed with the Zodiac and other celestial symbols and, fittingly, these striking owls.

A Bookish Fellow

A bespectacled reader carved on the ornate old Albany Evening News building (now part of the State University Plaza) to glance down at Broadway.

The Empty Bottle

An old-fashioned glass bottle sits alone on a bit of exposed brick in this trompe l'oeil mural under the overpass on Broadway at Orange Street.

More on the mural: Lost Glasses

Civil War 150

Today marks 150th Anniversary of the firing on Fort Sumter and the beginning of the Civil War. The photo above is a close-up of Albany's Soldiers & Sailors Monument.

Located at the northern entrance to Washington Park at Henry Johnson Boulevard, the 1912 memorial is covered with some of the finest Civil War imagery in the area.

See also:

Veterans Day
A Closer Look

Small Gems

It's a little too high on the wall to really catch your eye as you pass and I've never seen light - from inside or out - catch the stained glass to make it sparkle. But I like this small window on Madison Avenue near Dove and wish the setting showed it off better.

Broken Broadway

A building on Broadway south of Plaza Row and just across from the old Hudson River Day Line ticket office. The original carved street sign broke, apparently right down the middle of the first "A" and was repaired with less-than-even lettering.

Deteriorating Doorway

Elegant, but crumbling carved brownstone surrounds a doorway just off Broadway near the old Albany bus terminal.

Shelter

The little green wooden "houses" covering the water fountains on the Empire State Plaza have an oddly quaint look, especially compared to the stark, modern marble building of the Plaza. Meant to protect the fountains from winter weather, they should be gone any day now as the main level of the Plaza re-opens for the year.

Forgotten Doughnuts

Someone left a box of glazed doughnuts outside the main branch of the Albany Public Library this afternoon. I saw a number of people pause for the tiniest fraction of a second and glance discreetly at the abandoned sweets, eyeing them as if they were wondering if the doughnuts were fresh and safe or stale or laced with something more sinister than refined sugars and artificial flavors.