Just off Broadway, a large brick building fills Quackenbush Square, once known as the Quackenbush Pumping Station of the Albany Water Works. This large brick building was constructed in the 1870s and expanded later in the century to serve one simple purpose: to pump municipal water from the nearby Hudson River. For 60 years it did that work, then moved through time to new uses.
In 1983 the station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and part of the building has been converted into a popular local restaurant and brewpub — a reuse that drew an award from the Preservation League of New York State. Another area now serves as the city of Albany's visitor center. Quackenbush Square itself is a small pedestrian mall named for the nearby Quackenbush House, one of the oldest buildings in Albany.
Take in the building’s main block: a two-story, four-by-four-bay brick mass with a hipped roof shingled in slate. Notice the large elliptically arched windows, doubled on the second story and trimmed with brick lintels and keystones, framing the square below.