New York State Office of General Services Harrison and Abramovitz South Mall Project Design Implementation Files

Records are arranged by subject; meeting center files are arranged by section number.

In May of 1962, Governor Nelson Rockefeller appointed Wallace Harrison, George Dudley, and Henry Blatner to develop the Albany South Mall (Empire State Plaza) concept into a preliminary plan. Harrison's architectural firm of Harrison and Abramovitz later assumed responsibility for the overall design of the structure.

The series contains correspondence, reports, scattered architectural drawings, work point index sheets, and schedules of hardware related to the implementation and alteration of or deviation from Harrison and Abramovitz 's architectural designs. The focus of the records is clearly on the daily issues that arose during the construction process, rather than the development of the original designs.

Most correspondence is authored by South Mall project managers from the George A. Fuller Company and concerns the meeting center sections of the main platform superstructure. Many items are courtesy copies of Fuller Company correspondence addressed specifically to Walsh-Corbetta, the general contractor responsible for construction of the main platform superstructure. This correspondence and related attachments typically address proposed or approved changes to contract specifications or remedial work required to satisfy specifications. Additional correspondence between the director of South Mall construction in the state Office of General Services, Fuller Company project managers, and Harrison and Abramovitz representatives documents requests for revisions to architectural drawings or for specific information required to properly direct contractors at the project site.

B1876Series B1876, Cultural Education Center planning files, contains additional South Mall construction files.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of the material.