[3] In the 1820s, Joseph Henry co-discovered electrical inductance in experiments conducted in the building, a discovery that was important to the later development of the telegraph and, by extension, the modern telecommunications of the Information Age.

T. Romeyn Beck wrote his important early works on forensic medicine while serving as the school's principal for three decades.

Opposite Lafayette Park on Hawk is the monumental Classical Revival New York State Department of Education Building, with Cathedral of All Saints, seat of the Episcopal Diocese of Albany, concealed at the other end of the block.

Opposite the park to the east, along Eagle, are the county courthouse, the New York Court of Appeals building, and Albany City Hall.

[5] The building itself is positioned sideways to Elk Street, with its main entrance on the east (front) facade and its north elevation facing the rowhouses opposite.

Just above them the water table serves as a base for the six fluted Ionic pilasters that rise both stories, forming a colossal order.

[6] The pilasters' Ionic capitals support a molded frieze with an egg-and-dart pattern underneath the modillioned cornice at the roofline.

At the top of a pair of sideways stone steps with iron railings is the main entrance, paneled wooden double doors with sidelights and a fanlight.

It, too, has six-over-six double-hung sash, set in singly arched windows that are otherwise similar to their counterparts on the main block.

Starting in 1815 they were held in a building rented from Killian K. Van Rensselaer, a member of one of the city's most prominent families, who had served several terms in Congress.

[7] Hooker's Federal style design, with extensive classically-inspired decoration, echoed the school's original curricular focus.

It shows the influence of New York City Hall by Joseph Francois Mangin and John McComb, Jr., also a new building at that time.

[7] Beck also hired a talented early graduate of the Academy, Joseph Henry, to return as a science teacher after he finished his studies at Union College in nearby Schenectady in a year.

Often he would demonstrate these properties to students by using a wire routed around the classroom to make an iron bar ring a small bell.

By the 1920s, it was clear more space would be needed, and the academy bought 30 acres (12 ha) on Highland Avenue, in Albany's newer, more suburban neighborhoods.

[7] Marcus T. Reynolds, like Hooker the city's most prominent architect in his day, who had designed the new Academy building, supervised the renovation.