Empire State Plaza

The Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza is a complex of several state government buildings in downtown Albany, New York.

The complex was built between 1965 and 1976 at an estimated total cost of $2 billion. It houses several departments of the New York State administration and is integrated with the New York State Capitol, completed in 1899, which houses the state legislature. Among the offices at the plaza are the Department of Health and the Biggs Laboratory of the Wadsworth Center. The Empire State Art Collection, a major public collection of 1960s and 1970s monumental abstract artworks, is on permanent display throughout the site. The New York State Office of General Services maintains the plaza. The Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza Performing Arts Center Corporation is a New York state public-benefit corporation that was created in 1979 to manage the performing arts facility in the plaza.