Timeline

The architectural grandeur of St. Joseph's Church is one of the most prominent features of the downtown Albany skyline, situated at the north end of the business district of the State's capital city.

St. Joseph's presents a unique and exciting opportunity for investment in one of the city's most important historic landmarks. The extraordinary Gothic style building is situated near the eighteenth-century Ten Broeck Mansion, in the center of the Arbor Hill Historic District, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

St. Joseph's was Albany's third Catholic parish, founded to serve the Irish population associated with the construction of the Erie Canal. This building was designed by Patrick Keeley of Brooklyn, one of the most prolific nineteenth-century architects in the United States, and was completed in 1860. For over one hundred years, it served a thriving congregation in the Arbor Hill neighborhood.

As interest in Albany's historic neighborhoods grew, the area surrounding the Ten Broeck Mansion and St. Joseph's Church saw the formation of an active neighborhood association. 

In the 1970's, the Ten Broeck Triangle became a focus of an urban homesteading initiative funded by Albany's Community Development Block Grant

program. Under this program, nearly thirty historic rowhouses were rehabilitated, inspiring other developers and individuals to undertake the revitalization of virtually all remaining buildings in the Arbor Hill Historic District. The beauty of the neighborhood today reflects the efforts of these community leaders, developers and homeowners.

As the population of Arbor Hill changed, so too did St. Joseph's parish. As a result, the local Catholic population dwindled to numbers unable to sustain the church. It was sold to an individual in 1981 and leased back to the parish. 

For a few years, the diocese continued to use the church for religious services, but in 1994, the congregation merged with another, and use of the building as a church ceased. It is once again owned by the Catholic Diocese of Albany, and it remains vacant and unused.