Erastus Corning Tower

The Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza (known commonly as the Empire State Plaza, and also as the South Mall) is a complex of several state government buildings in downtown Albany, New York. The complex was built between 1965 and 1976 at an estimated total cost of $2 billion. It houses several departments of the New York State administration and is integrated with the New York State Capitol, completed in 1899, which houses the state legislature. Among the offices at the plaza are the Department of Health and the Biggs Laboratory of the Wadsworth Center. The Empire State Art Collection, a major public collection of 1960s and 1970s monumental abstract artworks, is on permanent display throughout the site. The New York State Office of General Services maintains the plaza. The Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza Performing Arts Center Corporation is a New York state public-benefit corporation that was created in 1979 to manage the performing arts facility in the plaza.

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception is a Roman Catholic church near the Mansion District in Albany, New York, United States. Built in the period of the 1848-1852, it is the mother church of the Diocese of Albany. In 1976 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It has several claims to architectural and ecclesiastical history. Designed by Irish American architect Patrick Keely to accommodate Albany's growing population of Catholic immigrants, it is the second-oldest cathedral in the state, after St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. It is also the third oldest Catholic cathedral in the United States, and the first American Catholic cathedral in the Neo-Gothic architectural style.The interior features the original stained glass windows, imported from England, and award-winning Stations of the Cross statuary. When completed, it was the tallest building in Albany. It has hosted visits by cardinals and leaders of other faiths, including one Archbishop of Canterbury, and the weddings of two Catholic governors' daughters. In 1986 it hosted the first-ever service of forgiveness between Catholics and Jews on Palm Sunday, an event commemorated by a sculpture outside the building. Construction of the cathedral, at the behest of the diocese's first bishop, John McCloskey, took four years. Its south tower took 40, and it was not consecrated until its 50th anniversary in 1902. The construction of Empire State Plaza, the nearby New York state government complex, threatened the cathedral in the 1960s when it required the demolition of most of the surrounding neighborhood. It has been through several renovations in its history, including a $30 million restoration early in the 21st century.

The New York State Museum is a research-backed institution in Albany, New York, United States. It is located on Madison Avenue, attached to the south side of the Empire State Plaza, facing onto the plaza and towards the New York State Capitol. The museum houses art, artifacts (prehistoric and historic), and ecofacts that reflect New York’s cultural, natural, and geological development. Operated by the New York State Education Department's Office of Cultural Education, it is the oldest and largest state museum in the US. Formerly located in the State Education Building, the museum now occupies the first four floors of the Cultural Education Center, a ten-story, 1,500,000-square-foot (140,000 m2) building that also houses the New York State Archives and New York State Library. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the NYSM, State Archives, and State Library to close temporarily, with museum employees continuing to work behind the scenes, offering virtual programming and online exhibitions. The Museum reopened to the public with reduced hours and days of operation and some exhibits still unopened on May 17, 2021.

The New York State Library is a research library in Albany, New York, United States. It was established in 1818 to serve the state government of New York and is part of the New York State Education Department. The library is one of the largest in the world by number of items held, with over 20 million cataloged items in 2011.The library and its sister institutions, the New York State Museum and New York State Archives, are housed in the Cultural Education Center, which is part of the Empire State Plaza, a large complex of state government offices in downtown Albany. The New York State Library was formerly located in the New York State Capitol and then across Washington Avenue in the New York State Education Building. An annex containing books, journals, and newspapers is still located in the basement of the Education Building. The library undertook an effort to discard some of these items in 2014.

Bleecker Park is a small .37-acre (0.15 ha) urban park in Albany, New York. The park is triangle-shaped, bounded by Madison Place to the south, Madison Avenue to the north, and Eagle Street to the west. The Cathedral of Immaculate Conception is across Eagle Street from the park, while Madison Place, which is only one block-long, consists of rowhouses primarily in High Gothic and Italianate architecture, built in the mid-to-late-19th century. Across from the park on Madison Street is the Empire State Plaza East Parking Garage, built in 1999/2000. The park features the oldest fountain in the city which is surrounded by a small circular garden, two circular beds are also in the park and each feature a shrub surrounded flowers, these small gardens make Bleecker Park "a most charming and restrained Victorian public garden" according to an article in the Albany Times Union.

The Egg is a performing arts venue in Albany, New York. Named for its shape, the building was designed by Harrison & Abramovitz as part of the Empire State Plaza project, and built between 1966 and 1978. It is located in the northeast corner of the Plaza. It has become an icon of New York's Capital District due to its unusual shape and central location. The Egg is owned by the state of New York and managed by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza Performing Arts Center Corporation a not-for-profit that was created in 1979 to manage the performing arts facility in the Empire State Plaza. The Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company, a modern dance performing arts group, has been the resident company at the Egg for 28 years. The Egg is the summer home of the Ajkun Ballet Theatre, a New York City based professional company, since the year 2000

The Cultural Education Center is on the south side of the Empire State Plaza in Albany, New York. Located on Madison Avenue, it faces northward towards the New York State Capitol building. Construction of the building, which was designed in the Brutalist style, was completed in 1978. The eleven story, 1.5 million square foot (135,000 m³) building houses the main offices of the New York State Office of Cultural Education (part of the New York State Education Department), which include the New York State Museum (floors 1-4), the New York State Archives (floor 9), and the New York State Library (floors 5-8 and 11).

The New York State Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Albany, New York is dedicated to the New York firefighters who have died in the line of duty. Governor of New York George Pataki officially dedicated the memorial on October 5, 1998. It features a 54-foot (16 m) by 15-foot (4.6 m) gray granite wall, with 2,312 names permanently etched into the stone. In front of the wall stands a 10-foot (3.0 m) high dark bronze sculpture of two firefighters rescuing an injured colleague created by New York sculptor Robert Eccleston. The sculpture rests on a paved plaza with charcoal and red bricks forming a Maltese Cross. The Memorial stands on the northeast side of the Empire State Plaza in the park-like area bordered by Norway maples. It is easily accessible to the hundreds of thousand of visitors who travel to the New York State Capitol and Plaza each year. The Fallen Firefighters Memorial Ceremony is held each year during national Fire Prevention Week.

The New York State Executive Mansion is the official residence of the governor of New York. Located at 138 Eagle Street in Albany, New York, it has housed governors and their families since 1875.

The New York State Women Veterans Memorial is located on Madison Avenue in Albany, New York. It commemorates the role of women in military service.The ground-breaking ceremony for the memorial was held in June 1998 and presided over by Governor George Pataki; the memorial was unveiled in December of the same year.The memorial comprises three panels, each with a bronze bas-relief sculpture. The central panel features Liberty on the crown of England, holding the state flag aloft in her right hand. The other two panels show images of women veterans from various eras. The text on the memorial reads "Dedicated to the Women of New York State for their War Time Military Service in the Defense of this Nation".

Wilborn Temple First Church of God in Christ Inc. is a Pentecostal church in Albany, New York.

The Free School is the oldest independent, inner-city alternative school in the United States. Founded by Mary Leue in 1969 based on the English Summerhill School philosophy, the free school lets students learn at their own pace. It has no grades, tests, or firm schedule: students design their own daily plans for learning. The school is self-governed through a weekly, democratic all-school meeting run by students in Robert's Rules. Students and staff alike receive one equal vote apiece. Unlike Summerhill-style schools, the Free School is a day school that serves predominantly working-class children. Nearly 80 percent of the school is eligible for reduced-price meals in the public schools. About 60 students between the ages of three and fourteen attend, and are staffed by six full-time teachers and a number of volunteers. The school runs on a shoestring budget as a tradeoff for its financial independence and accessibility to low-income students. Tuition is billed on a sliding scale based on what parents can afford. Revenue from rental properties and fundraising supplements tuition income. The Free School started a high school program in 2006 that later spun off as the Harriet Tubman Democratic High School before closing in 2017. Journalists have likened the school's approach to unschooling and homeschooling, and its work to that of prefigurative politics. The Albany Free School is one of the few schools remaining from the 1960s and 1970s free school movement. It inspired the program of the Brooklyn Free School.