The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception is a Catholic church near the Mansion District in Albany, New York, United States.

[5][6] The interior features the original stained glass windows, imported from England, and award-winning Stations of the Cross statuary.

It has hosted visits by cardinals and leaders of other faiths, including one Archbishop of Canterbury, and the weddings of two Catholic governors' daughters.

In 1986, it hosted the first-ever service of forgiveness between Catholics and Jews on Palm Sunday, an event commemorated by a sculpture outside the building.

The cathedral is located in a one-acre (4,000 m2) lot on the southwest corner of the intersection of Eagle Street and Madison Avenue (U.S. Route 20).

The terrain sloping gently westward from the Hudson River roughly three-quarters of a mile (1.1 km) to the east.

On the west, past a plaza with a small fountain, is the large building that houses the New York State Museum, library and archives.

Erastus Corning Tower, the centerpiece of Empire State Plaza and the tallest building in upstate New York, rises to the north behind a high retaining wall.

[3] An iron railing along both sidewalks sets off the church building, shaped like a Latin cross, with two side aisles, clerestory and circular chancel at the west (rear) end.

The fourth story windows, surrounding the belfry, consist of three narrow louvered arches with a cusped dripstone and gable.

On the north tower the top half-story is faced on all sides with a clock while a sexfoil window occupies that position to the south.

[3] The vaulted ceiling is supported by clustered engaged columns with heavy capitals decorated with organic motifs.

[7] The cathedral was built as much for social reasons as the practical needs of the church in an area where its presence had previously been minimal.

Both it and St. Peter's (established in New York City ten years earlier) were part of the Diocese of Baltimore.

The industry that grew around the canal terminus attracted even more immigrants, and the Catholics among them began settling not just in Albany but elsewhere in the Capital District and Mohawk Valley, establishing new churches and subdividing St. Mary's original parish.

[1] Like many of the other churches in the new diocese, St. Mary's had been run by a board of trustees due to its distance from the diocesan seat in New York.

[1] At the first retreat he presided over, McCloskey persuaded the assembled priests to pledge over five thousand dollars as the seed of a building fund.

[12] He commissioned Patrick Keely, an Irish immigrant himself, to design the cathedral, one of 500 churches he would eventually build.

[4] The diocese was able to build the south tower's spire in 1888 and, four years later, the apse and sacristies were added, completing Keeley's design.

[1] The interior was also renewed, with the gradual addition of most of the stained glass windows, including the one in the south transept depicting the Last Judgment in 1897.

[7] The original painted Stations of the Cross were replaced with the current Beaux-Arts sculptures, which had won an award at the Paris Exposition of 1889, in 1900.

Only 300 houses remained, and with the resulting diminution of the congregation it was uncertain that the cathedral could survive as an institution—and as just a building, it faced demolition.

His interest in ecumenism led to the first-ever Palm Sunday service of reconciliation between Christians and Jews, held at the cathedral in 1986.

At the service, called "From Fear to Friendship"[14] and attended by approximately 1,200 guests, both Christian and Jewish,[15] Hubbard "expressed contrition and remorse for the centuries of anti-Jewish hostility promulgated under the Church's auspices".

One year in the early 21st century, a large chunk of plaster fell off the ceiling, nearly striking a visiting bishop.

A rolled lead roof, the only one currently in place in the United States, was installed to make sure it was watertight.

He called particular attention to the restored original colors, recalling how he had been disappointed with the building's gloomy interior on his first visit to it as a boy.

[18] Music has been a major part of the cathedral's spiritual offerings since its construction, although it has been affected by the same neglect that the building suffered from in the 20th century.

[22] A system had been installed to allow the bells to be rung electronically, but Connors discovered that mistakes had been made on both the hardware and the software that operated it.

In the meantime, he offered to restore the pulleys and belts that were broken, allowing the bells to be played manually.