Albany Trust/ First Trust Company Building

The building with the curved walls wedged between State St. and Broadway is the Albany Trust Company, built in 1904. The Renaissance Revival style building was designed by Marcus T. Reynolds. Originally, it consisted of only the five bays at the curved corner. Reynolds designed two matching bays on the State St. side in 1907 for First National Bank. Additional bays were built along Broadway and State Street after the two banks merged in 1926, forming the First Trust Company of Albany. The Albany Trust/ First Trust Company building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and it also contributes to the Downtown Albany Historic District.

There have been banks in Albany since 1792 when the Bank of Albany was formed; it was the second bank established in New York State. First National Bank began in 1864 and Albany Trust Company wasn't organized until March 20, 1900.

The northwest corner of State and Broadway was once the site of a stagecoach office, built around 1830. The office later became Trowbridge's Albany Museum, which closed in 1855. The building burned down in 1861. A new building, very similar to the first, was constructed and housed the Western Union Telegraph Company and Marble Pillar restaurant. Albany Trust Company purchased the property in 1902 and had the present building designed soon after. The grand opening was September 15, 1904.

The 1902 design, by Marcus T. Reynolds, used some of the basic massing, cornice line, and fenestration of its predecessor as inspiration, with a curving street side facade and a domed roof. The building features four dormer windows on each street-facing side; stone cornices wrap around the street fronts above the first and fifth stories. The first floor is twice as tall as the upper five stories. Early twentieth-century innovations included shifting the weight of floors two to six onto stone piers on the first floor; that allowed the spaces between the piers to be open for windows. The light-colored stone of the first floor contrasts with the red brick of the stories above. A cartouche is above the windows on second and fourth floors. A brick chimney topped with stone rises from the northeast corner. The mansard roof is covered in slate and the dome atop the building's southeast corner is covered in stamped sheet metal.

By 1907, the City of Albany had two trust companies, six banks of discount, and seven savings banks. In 1907, two matching bays were constructed adjacent to the State St. end of the Albany Trust Co. building, at 35-37 State St; the new building was occupied by First National Bank. In 1926, Albany Trust Company merged with First National and became First Trust Company. Additional bays were built in the early 1930s in the same style to create a single building for the combined bank. The main entrance at the curved corner led to a fan-shaped room with a decorative gilded ceiling and a curving teller counter on the east (Broadway) side.

Liebs, Chester. Brooke, Cornelia E. NRHP Nomination of First Trust Company Building, Albany, N.Y. National Register. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 1970.

Whish. John D. Albany Guide-book. Albany, NY. J. B. Lyon Company, 1917.

Albany Chamber of Commerce. Facts: Albany, New York. Albany, NY. Albany Chamber of Commerce, 1907.