[5][6] The central tower of the building is thirteen stories high and is capped by an 8-foot-tall (2.4 m) working weathervane that is a replica of Henry Hudson's Half Moon.

The building and the land it sits on, which is located at the foot of State Street along Broadway, have a varied history.

[10] The idea of opening up the view of the waterfront to the public was considered unfeasible and undesirable at the time, as the river was full of commercial docks, wharves, warehouses, and railroads.

A plan initiated by the Albany Chamber of Commerce – later published under the title Studies for Albany – decided upon a public park as a plaza surrounded by buildings that would screen the locomotive smoke, obnoxious odors and sights of the working waterfront from the vista of State Street.

[4] William Barnes, editor of the Evening Journal, and the Republican boss of Albany[4] had a lavish apartment on the upper floors of his newspaper's building at the south end of the complex.

In 1924 the paper was sold to the Albany Times Union and the building became home to various other businesses including the predecessor to the New York State Department of Transportation.

William Hall Associates won the top Owens Corning Energy Conservation Award in the government category for their work in the renovation.

The central tower sports an 8-foot-tall (2.4 m) weathervane that is in the shape of explorer Henry Hudson's ship, the Half Moon while the gables of the entire building bear the shields and coat-of-arms of prominent colonial Dutch families including that of Albany's first mayor, Pieter Schuyler.

[11] The building serves as the scenic / picturesque terminating vista at the end of State Street in the Downtown Albany Historic District.