His grave remains in the current church, making him the only British peer buried in the United States.

It is often considered one of the elder Upjohn's best-known works, although his son was largely responsible for designing the tower, its most distinctive feature.

The interior includes some original Clayton & Bell stained glass windows and sculpture by Louis Saint-Gaudens.

The terrain slopes up toward the west, rising from the flood plain of the Hudson River a quarter-mile (500 m) to the east towards the higher ground on which much of Albany's more modern development has taken place.

North of it, across Pine Street, is the 1867 Italian Renaissance Revival St. Mary's Church, the home of Albany's oldest Roman Catholic congregation, and like St. Peter's listed on the National Register both as a contributing property and individually.

[citation needed] North of the church are two older buildings, one housing some city government offices.

Northwest of the church are the small Corning Park and Albany's city hall, outside the historic district but on the Register as well.

West of the church along the north side of State are the Guild House, its parish hall, and smaller, older commercial buildings.

[citation needed] At the second story, set off by a large water table, are four narrow lancet arched windows, with a rosette in their transoms.

The shorter fourth stage has three small windows recessed behind an intricate set of smooth round columns and Gothic arches.

The three lancet windows on its faces are divided by molded shafts and topped by arches supported by sculpted heads.

[9] A credence table, also of Caen stone, with a recessed arch enclosed in a square and sculptured corbels on its exterior molding, is on the south wall.

Across the chancel the pulpit rises from the crypt, made of red Carlisle sandstone in the Venetian Gothic style.

After taking Albany from its Dutch founders in 1664, the British assumed the military responsibility of protecting it against a possible French incursion from the north via the newly renamed Fort Frederick, which sat just above the stockaded settlement.

[10] In 1701 the Church of England established the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts to promote its growth in the colonies.

"A great many Dutch children, who at my first arrival were altogether ignorant of the English tongue, can distinctly say our catechism, and make the responses at prayers," he wrote.

However, the Iroquois were largely either resistant to converting or in the depths of alcoholism, so he warned that any other missionaries should be prepared for a difficult task.

In 1714 Governor Robert Hunter granted Barclay a license to begin collecting funds for the church, and personally gave all the stone and lime necessary.

[10] A site just below the fort,[10] at Chapel and Yonkers (today's State) streets, was chosen, one block east of the current location.

Barclay and others were arrested and released on bail; Hunter refused the council's request to revoke the building permit.

A letter requesting an assistant for him also asked that such person speak clear English as "Mr. Barclay spoke so broad Scotch that it was difficult to understand him."

When the French captured Fort Ticonderoga at the south end of Lake Champlain, refugees from the outlying areas began flocking to the city.

He died in the arms of Philip Schuyler, one of his junior officers and a close friend, who would later fight against his former comrades as a general in the Continental Army and serve as one of the state of New York's first U.S. senators.

[18] He is interred in a vault under the steps of the current church, the only British peer buried in the United States.

St. Peter's applied for a charter from King George III; it was granted by Governor Henry Moore later that year and signed by the church leadership in 1769.

[10][21] After the Revolutionary War of the next decade led to American independence, the church was rechartered by the New York State Legislature.

Philip Hooker designed a stone[23] Federal style building, facing south, with a tall steeple.

This reflected the city's growing population and industrialization as a result of the opening of the Erie Canal 15 years earlier.

He worked on the design with his son, Richard M. Upjohn, introducing a distinctly French Gothic sensibility that had not been present in the earlier church.

[1] The former organ was conveyed to St. George's Episcopal Church in Schenectady; Johnson & Son built the replacement.