All Over Albany

Painted scenes from Albany's history

Here's a larger view, if you'd like to look closer.

A bonus track from the post about the Rezone Albany downtown UAlbany neighborhood public event: We took a few minutes during Monday's session in Milne Hall 200 to take in the murals that circle the room. And they're worth a look if you ever have the chance.

Here's a UAlbany library page with images and descriptions of each of the murals.

The murals were created by artist David Cunningham Lithgow in 1935 and they each depict a scene from Albany's history (with one exception), among them Henry Hudson's arrival, the signing of the Dongan Charter, and -- as you can see in the pic above -- the courtship of Elizabeth Schuyler and Alexander Hamilton.

Lithgow made the murals for what was then The Milne School, a sort of experimental high school at which students in the New York State College for Teachers could teach. Milne 200 served as the library for the high school program. (The program had a long run, ending in 1977.)

Over the years, the murals started to show the effects of decades in a room that wasn't climate controlled. And in 2003 a four-year, more-than-$100k effort to the restore the murals started.

As it happens, you've almost certainly seen other work by David Cunningham Lithgow, who was born in Scotland in 1868 and emigrated to the United States at age 20, later moving to Albany and opening a studio here. He painted murals in buildings around the Albany area, including the ceiling of the Smith Building. He also designed the figure atop the Spanish-American War memorial in Albany's Townsend Park -- on which his name is misspelled.