page_title: Lafayette Park Historic District
section_title: =Parks
hierarchical_section_title: Lafayette Park Historic District / =Parks
caption_attribution_description: English: Lafayette Park Albany plaque
context_page_description: The Lafayette Park Historic District is located in central Albany, New York, United States. It includes the park and the combination of large government buildings and small rowhouses on the neighboring streets. In 1978 it was recognized as a historic district and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Many of its contributing properties are themselves listed on the National Register. One of them, the New York State Capitol, is a National Historic Landmark as well. Other government buildings include City hall, the building housing Albany County government, the state's highest court and the offices of its Education Department along with the the offices of the City School District of Albany. The Episcopal Diocese of Albany's cathedral is at one corner of the district.
  While the state capitol building has always been located on its present site, for most of the 19th century the neighborhood was best known for the townhouses on Elk Street, then one of the most desirable addresses in the city. Many politicians, including some of the state's governors and presidents Martin Van Buren and Franklin D. Roosevelt, lived there at different times.
context_section_description: Academy Park: The first park in the district was created in 1833 and named for the nearby school. In its two acres (8,100 m²) is a statute of Joseph Henry, commemorating his discovery of electromagnetism in the nearby building. Unlike the other three parks in the district, it is administered by the city and not the state.
  East Capitol Park: A statute of Civil War general Phillip Sheridan, who lived in Albany as a boy, stands between Eagle Street and the main steps of the state capitol building. Daniel Chester French lobbied to have it placed here after sculptor John Quincy Adams Ward's death.
  Lafayette Park: The larger portion of land west of the Academy building was a developed block until the 1920s. The resulting park was named in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette, who lived in the city during 1778 and returned during his 1824 visit.
  West Capitol Park: A modest 1898 design by the sons of legendary park designer Frederick Law Olmsted was eventually expanded to its present size in the 1930s by several other architects in an attempt to create one of the "courts of honor" favored by the City Beautiful movement. Its statue is a replica of Jean-Antoine Houdon's George Washington, facing the capitol, placed to commemorate the bicentennial of his birth.
caption: Plaque in Lafayette Park
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