Church of the Holy Innocents, 275 North Pearl St (1848)

We begin our tour at the corner of North Pearl and Colonie streets, where you are looking at the Church of the Holy Innocents. You will have to use your imagination as much of the church is boarded up and the neighborhood has completely changed, but feel free to glance at the accompanying images to get a sense of the church in its heyday. This church is thought to be one of the oldest in the city and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

We begin our tour at the corner of North Pearl and Colonie streets, where you are looking at the Church of the Holy Innocents. You will have to use your imagination as much of the church is boarded up and the neighborhood has completely changed, but feel free to glance at the accompanying images to get a sense of the church in its heyday. 

The church was designed by architect Frank Wills from 1848-49 and was completed in 1850 as a memorial for Albany lumber baron William Dewitt’s four deceased children. Wills designed another similar structure - Grace Church, at the corner of Washington Ave and Lark Street which no longer stands. Wills was an influential figure in the American Gothic Revival movement, and inspired the use of English medieval styles for Episcopal churches. The small chapel was designed in 1866 by William L. Woollett and Edward Ogden, two other notable Albany architects. Between 1885 and 1913, 105 Ten Broeck Street served as the rectory for the church. The stained glass that can be found throughout the chapel was designed by John Bolton, a New York City glassmaker and important historical figure after he rediscovered medieval stained glass-making techniques.

Looking up at the church, you can see many elements of Gothic Revival architecture, evocative of a church in the rural English countryside. Looking at the front of the structure we see examples of the details that define the Gothic Revival style, such as the arched doorway and four lancet (pointed-arched) windows, the large front gable, the steeply pitched roof, and the heavy buttresses. The chapel to the right of the main church shares many of the same features, such as the lancet windows, gables, and arched doorway. Both structures are built with rough bluestone and trimmed with portland stone finishes.

The structure has seen better days, and has been significantly altered since it was built. The Church of the Holy Innocents was one of the five Episcopal churches in Albany at the time of its construction, and remained so when it merged with another congregation and moved out of the building. A Russian Orthodox congregation moved in and made significant alterations to the structure during the early 1960s, including the removal of the original bell cote (a small framework and shelter for bells) turret and its replacement with the onion dome you see today. In 1978, the church was put on the State and National Historic Registers as a historic site and in the 80s it was converted to a private residence. However, the building fell into disrepair in 1997, when it was sold to the Hope House Drug Rehab organization who purchased the building to prevent it from turning into a bar. After years of neglect, on May 4th, 2015, the back southwest corner of the church, along with a section of the roof, collapsed in on itself destroying one the the stained glass windows. 

The building is now owned by Patrick Chiou, and is part of the Downtown Revitalization Initiative Clinton Square project. It is proposed to be stabilized and preserved as an open-air artists’ venue and park. As of now, no forward movement has been made for the aforementioned project, the owner wishes instead to reuse the building as apartments. Stabilization activities have been performed and vines have been cut.

Waite, Diana S. Albany Architecture . Mount Ida Press.

Waite, Diana S. Architects in Albany.

Wills, Frank. Ancient English Ecclesiastical Architecture And Its Principles, Applied To The Wants Of The Church At The Present Day.