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 Mysterious Owl

As I've noted before, downtown Albany is liberally peppered with carved faces and other figures on the facades of old buildings and, once you notice one or two, you start spotting them everywhere.

And City Hall has quite a few of these whimsical details. It seems like I discover another one every time I look up at H.H. Richardson's imposing Romanesque building.

This spooky-eyed owl with a star above its heads is perched on what seems to be a slim crescent moon above the windows on the Corning Place side of the building.

Other figures on City Hall:

City Hall Lion
Another Stone Face