St. Joseph's Church (Albany, New York)

St. Joseph's Church is a historic Gothic church in the Ten Broeck Triangle section of Albany, New York's Arbor Hill neighborhood. The current structure is the second to hold this name in Albany, the first structure was the third Roman Catholic church built in the city, and the first north of Downtown. The current structure is considered a city landmark and an important part of the skyline. The Protestant Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford, Connecticut is based on the plans for St. Joseph's.

By 1842 a church to serve the large increase in the Roman Catholic population of the northern area of Albany was needed due to the fact that the only Catholic churches that existed at the time were St. Mary's in Downtown Albany and St. John's in the South End. The first church was built on the northeast corner of North Pearl Street and Lumber Street (today Livingston Avenue). Built in 1842 and dedicated in 1843 at a cost of $28,000, it soon became too small for the growing congregation. The second structure built was at the current site along Ten Broeck Street between First Street and Second Street, purchased for $45,000. Patrick Keely was the architect, who had also designed the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Ground was broken in 1855, the cornerstone laid in 1856, and completed in 1860 at a cost of approximately $250,000. In attendance at the dedication were all the bishops in the ecclesiastical Province of New York including the Bishop of Albany and the Archbishop of New York, the Bishop of Boston, and the Bishop of Newfoundland. The limestone exterior was originally trimmed with Caen stone but that type of limestone did not weather well and so was replaced with Ohio sandstone in 1866. Around 1874 the original church was sold to a bakery and in 1876 the church congregation incorporated.

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