Schenectady County Public Library

Nott Memorial Schdy R 974.744 G78. Greater Schenectady. ca. 1910. illus. 21 cm. [photo 17.5 x 12.5]

This book contains 71 photographs of nineteenth century Schenectady. This picture by William F. Dawson shows Union College's Nott Memorial, probably Schenectady's most recognizable landmark. It is the centerpiece of the first architecturally-planned campus in America, and historian David McCullough has said, "There's nothing like it anywhere else in the world." The sixteen-sided High Victorian Gothic building was begun in the 1850s by architect Edward Tuckerman Potter; it is 89 feet in diameter and 100 feet high. The exterior of the dome is covered with three colors of Vermont slate. The Nott Memorial has housed the library and the college bookstore; after extensive restoration it now has a 400-seat meeting room and the Mandeville Gallery, which has exhibited treasures from the Smithsonian and the College's Audubon prints.