Benjamin Walworth Arnold House

The brick structure on the west side of Sprague Pl. north of the intersection with State St. is the Benjamin Walworth Arnold House. The Colonial Revival style home was built in 1905 for a local millionaire lumberman, banker, and philanthropist. Besides contributing to the National Register Washington Park Historic District (listed in 1972), the Arnold House and its nearby carriage house (307 Washington Ave.) were listed together in 1982. They are the only known structures in Albany designed by famous architect Stanford White. The Arnold family lived here until 1945. The next decade saw the house become a dormitory and sorority house for the New York State College for Teachers. The Albany Catholic diocese bought the house in 1956 and restored it in the 1960s. The building now houses offices of the New York State Catholic Conference.

When Benjamin Walworth Arnold Sr. died in January 1891, the Albany lumberman was mourned by his colleagues at the Albany League of Lumber Dealers as one of their "oldest and most prominent dealers" and by the fellow trustees of the Fourth Presbyterian Church. For years, Benjamin served as an elder in the church and as superintendent of the Sunday School. Large crowds attended his funeral at the church, including employees of Arnold & Co. Benjamin W. Sr. was born in Wayne County, New York in 1821 and moved to Albany in 1847. He partnered in the lumber business with Alexander Folsom, who died in 1890. Benjamin W.'s heirs were his widow and his son Benjamin Walworth Arnold Jr.

Benjamin Walworth Arnold Jr. took over his father's lumber business beginning in the 1890s; the company timbered in the Great Lakes and Canada. He also became president of the Duluth and Minnesota Railroad. In the first decades of the twentieth century, Benjamin W. Jr. was one of the directors of The Union Trust Company of Albany and of the Albany Home for Aged Men. He was one of the trustees of the Albany Academy for Girls, a boarding a day school at 155 Washington Ave. in 1913. Mrs. Arnold was involved in a number of local charities; she was elected a Vice President of Associated Charities in 1920. His first wife, Sarah Elizabeth Van Renssalaer, was from one of the most prominent families in the state. When Sarah died, Benjamin W. Jr. married her sister; he died in 1932 and his second wife passed away in 1945. 

On the heels of the U.S. Congress passing a multi-billion-dollar war revenue authorization bill in April 1917, a patriotic mass meeting was held in Albany. The meeting was for the masses to join in a public pledge of "Loyalty, Liberty, and Service" to flag and country. Held in Harmanus Bleecker Hall in the afternoon of April 15th, the meeting included speeches by the New York Governor (Hon. Charles S. Whitman) and others. Albany Mayor Joseph W. Stephens invited attendance via a front-page ad in the Albany newspaper, The Argus. Benjamin W. Jr. was Chairman of the Mayor's Advisory Committee.

The well-known architect Stanford White took Colonial Revival style and added unique details for the new house built for Benjamin W. Jr. from 1904 to 1905. The house is faced in brick with glazed headers and has white marble trim. The high basement is faced in white marble. The central entry porch faces Sprague Place and sports fluted Ionic white marble columns supporting a white marble entablature; above is a second-floor iron railing. The end bays are elliptical, and the building's corners feature brick quoins. Beneath the roof is an elaborate cornice with a balustrade at the roof edge. The interior has a central hall plan with elaborate woodworking details; one room has a fireplace mantle made of onyx and others have mahogany paneling with leather trim. The Arnold House overlooks Washington Park, designed by Frank Law Olmstead. Before the house was built, the Sprague Chapel stood at this corner.

Albany Academy for Girls. "The Albany Academy for Firls: Ninety Ninth Year." Argus (Albany) January 25th 1913. 53-53.

Anonymous. "Benjamin W. Arnold." Argus (Albany) January 25th 1891. Obituaries sec, 11-11.

Anonymous. "The Late Benjamin W. Arnold." Argus (Albany) January 27th 1891. Obituaries sec, 7-7.

Anonymous. "A Last Earthly Tribute." Argus (Albany) January 28th 1891. 5-5.

Anonymous. "Directors Elected." Argus (Albany) October 3rd 1900. 3-3.

Anonymous. "School Needed for Volunteers." Argus (Albany) April 6th 1920. 8-8.

Botch, Judith. Opalka, Anthony. Larsen, Neil G. NRHP Nomination of Benjamin Walworth Arnold House and Arnold House, Albany, N.Y. National Register. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 1981.

Stephens, Joseph W. "Albanians are Encouraged to Attend Patriotic Mass Meeting To-Day." Argus (Albany) April 15th 1917. 1-1.

Union Trust Company. "The Union Trust Company of Albany, N.Y.." Argus (Albany) December 16th 1906. 16-16.