REHABILITATING THE NEW YORK STATE CAPITOL’S EASTERN APPROACH
A Meticulous Rehabilitation
Starting in 2025, the New York State Office of General Services (OGS) will rehabilitate the Eastern Approach: its north and south promenades, executive drive, and east portico. OGS will reuse existing materials and apply traditional and modern construction techniques to ensure the staircase is structurally sound and weather-tight. Contractors will take apart the entire staircase–then put it back together.
Before removing the light-gray Hallowell granite, crews will take photographs or laser scans of each stone, then number and catalog them. Once repaired and cleaned, each piece of granite will be put back into its exact place. The staircase’s 28 original bronze lamps, designed by Mitchell Vance and Company, will be cleaned and conserved to remove corrosion caused by weathering and oxygen exposure.
OGS is proud to begin the long-awaited rehabilitation of the New York State Capitol’s Eastern Approach. The structure is more than a staircase—it is the entire eastern side of the Capitol. This complex construction project will reinforce the Eastern Approach’s structure, enhance public safety, preserve its historic nature, and restore East Capitol Park. The Eastern Approach directly connects New Yorkers to their Capitol, which is also a gateway to our great state’s capital city, Albany. Under Governor Hochul’s leadership, OGS is improving public infrastructure in Albany and across the state, and we look forward to addressing this century-old deterioration so we can welcome New Yorkers back to this important civic space.
-OGS Commissioner Jeanette Moy
The staircase will reopen to the public following the five-year project. The sidewalk surrounding East Capitol Park will remain open throughout the project. The park itself will reopen when the project is complete. This important work preserves the Eastern Approach for future generations of New Yorkers and visitors.
About the Eastern Approach
The Eastern Approach is a grand staircase with four flights of stairs that connect the center of East Capitol Park to a second-floor entrance to the Capitol, a building designated as a National Historic Landmark. A promenade deck flanks the staircase and wraps around the building to connect the north and south porticos.
Project Specifications and Timeline
Scope of work:
- Rehabilitating the Capitol’s north and south promenades, executive drive, and east portico while restoring East Capitol Park
- Reconstructing the stairs, balustrades (railing systems), underlying steel supports, and retaining walls
- Installing and replacing weatherproofing and storm drainage systems
- Installing additional security measures, including fencing and gates at the Capitol’s north and south promenades at entry points leading to the executive drive
- Cleaning, repointing, and repairing all granite elements
- Removing and reconstructing deteriorated landings
- Repairing and providing additional supports to the stairs and landings
- Providing new windows and doors that match the originals
- Cleaning and conserving the historic bronze lamps
Contractor: Louis C. Allegrone, Inc
Design consultants: John G. Waite Associates, TYLin/Silman, Sigma Psi Consulting Engineers, Gedeon GRC Consulting, MFS Engineers & Surveyors, Erdman Anthony
Work begins: Summer 2025
Project duration: 4.5 years
Historic Revival
Returning the Staircase to New Yorkers
Historical Significance and Design
During the 19th century, many public buildings—the U.S. Capitol, Library of Congress, and other federal and state government centers—featured monumental staircases as their main entrances. These long flights of stairs served as starting points of ceremonial entrances that led into significant interior spaces, like lobbies or rotundas.
Albany’s own architectural marvel, the New York State Capitol, showcases this feature in the Eastern Approach. Isaac G. Perry laid its foundation in 1891, eight years after Governor Grover Cleveland appointed him to complete the Capitol’s construction. “Capitol Commissioner” Perry and his team of designers and stone carvers spared no detail, creating intricate granite carvings to highlight events, portraits, and state wildlife, all surrounded by elaborate Romanesque patterns and designs from nature and history.
A Century of Challenges
Newspaper articles published as far back as 1924 reported on the Eastern Approach’s deterioration: Water consistently infiltrated and damaged parts of the structure. Officials found rust and displaced metal framing, cracked treads and landings, and more evidence of damage throughout the staircase.
In response, in 1926, state architect Sullivan Jones proposed demolishing the Eastern Approach and replacing it with a smaller staircase leading to a first-floor entrance. The staircase stayed but needed a significant intervention. The state initiated temporary repairs in 1952, installing concrete to reinforce steel framing, waterproofing the top landing, adding drains to lower landings, and excavating the sub-basement to make room for supports. The changes didn’t correct persistent water infiltration or stop damage caused by freeze-thaw cycles.
The staircase has been largely inaccessible to the public since 2016 for safety reasons—until now
The Mechanic is surrounded by tools of the trade.
Acanthus leaves swirl across the corbel.
The Manufacturer is a female head encircled with gears to run machines.
On the north wall, a spider is centered in its web that has been spun between flowers.