In front of you rises the old Albany Academy building, a Federal-style brownstone once known as the Joseph Henry Memorial. This Federal-style brownstone was erected in the early 19th century to house The Albany Academy, which had been established a few years earlier. Philip Hooker's design here is the city's oldest public building and the less-altered of his two intact non-residential buildings in Albany.
In the 1820s Joseph Henry conducted experiments here and co-discovered electrical inductance — a finding later important to the development of the telegraph and, by extension, modern telecommunications of the Information Age. A statue by John Flanagan stands out front to commemorate Henry's accomplishment. For decades T. Romeyn Beck served as the school's principal and wrote important early works on forensic medicine within these walls.
In 1971 the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and later became a contributing property when the Lafayette Park Historic District was established. Out front, John Flanagan's statue commemorating Joseph Henry keeps company with Hooker's brownstone façade and its Federal details, a spot where education, architecture, and scientific history converge.