Capitol Story, Third Edition

C. R. Roseberry (1902–1990) was a journalist and writer who lived and worked in Albany. He was the author of many books, including Glenn Curtiss, Pioneer of Flight and From Niagara to Montauk: The Scenic Pleasures of New York State, also published by SUNY Press. Diana S. Waite is President of Mount Ida Press. She is the author of Ornamental Ironwork: Two Centuries of Craftsmanship in Albany and Troy, New York and the editor of Albany Architecture: A Guide to the City.

"The book deserves a place on the shelf alongside other important, enduring reference books published on Albany history over the last 150 years." — Times Union

"C. R. Roseberry's Capitol Story, published in 1964, gave us a marvelous history of the anguished thirty-year building of the New York State Capitol—a cavalcade of political clashes over its ever-escalating cost, rampant graft, public scorn, a battle royal among its eminent architects, yet a project that overrode all fury and became the most grandiose capitol in America. Now, half a century later, Diana S. Waite has enhanced Roseberry's history, meticulously detailing the Capitol's restoration after fire, water, aging, and piecemeal changes marred its beauty and functionality. The book is elegantly designed with exquisite new color photos by Gary David Gold; a grand documentation of a great American work of art." — William Kennedy

"This third edition of Capitol Story brings the history of one of New York State's most important landmarks full circle—from its tumultuous thirty-year construction, through a devastating fire in 1911, to its recently completed world-class restoration. Along the way we are treated to the stories of the politicians, the architects, the craftspeople, and the preservationists that have created and preserved what many regard to be a state capitol like no other in the nation. Every student of New York architecture and preservation should know this story." — Jay A. DiLorenzo, President, Preservation League of New York State

"Capitol Story recounts the continuing saga of the people who planned, designed, built, renovated, and restored the New York State Capitol and Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza. Spanning more than 200 years, this book succinctly traces the political, economic, artistic, and innovative decisions made over time to create and maintain a government complex befitting New York State. Recent scholarship, contemporary photographs, and a new chapter on restoration efforts bring this story to the present." — Tammis K. Groft, Executive Director, Albany Institute of History & Art