Isaac Perry's 1890 armory occupies the corner of Washington Avenue and Lark Street: officially the Washington Avenue Armory Sports and Convention Arena, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Washington Avenue (Tenth Battalion) Armory. This rededicated, multi-purpose arena occupies the corner of Washington Avenue and Lark Street in downtown Albany. Built in 1890 for the Tenth Battalion of the New York National Guard and designed by state architect Isaac Perry, the building has served generations of spectators.
It holds 4,300 people for concerts and conventions and 3,600 for sports events, and because it was for many years the only suitable basketball facility in the Albany area, several college and minor league basketball teams have played here since the earliest years of professional and collegiate basketball. The Armory has also hosted boxing, and in the 1960s and 1970s it was home to the WWF wrestling association owned by the McMahon family, whose Friday night cards were always a sellout. In 1956 the arena even hosted two regular season NBA games: Fort Wayne Pistons versus Syracuse Nationals on December 4, and the Minneapolis Lakers versus Rochester Royals on December 20.
Picture the crowds packed in for a Friday night wrestling card, or for those two NBA games back in 1956, filling this same corner with noise.