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The James Hall Office, a part of Sunshine School, now Castle Island Montessori School, is located in Lincoln Park in the city of Albany, New York, United States. It is a small brick Italianate building now annexed to a more modern school building. In 1976 it was designated a National Historic Landmark.〔 It is one of the few buildings remaining from a brief period of collaboration between Andrew Jackson Downing and Calvert Vaux. Hall, a paleontologist, led research on the geology of North America during the 19th century. He spent much of his time working in this small building, which served him as both office and laboratory. Among his many discoveries here, Hall found that the stromatolite fossils discovered at Petrified Sea Gardens, a site near Saratoga Springs, also a National Historic Landmark, were originally organic.〔 and 〕 In the late 20th century it was expanded slightly and annexed to one of Albany's elementary schools. It served that purpose until 2011. After voters approved the school district's plan to sell it, the building and annex were purchased by the Boys and Girls Club of Albany. They in turn leased it to a local Montessori school, which began holding classes there in 2013 after renovating the building. ==Building== The former office is located on the northwest corner of the building, in the southwest portion of the park. One of the park's internal access roads, to the south, provides access to a parking lot on the west. Beyond it, Morton Avenue is 300 ft (100 m) to the south. On the west is a large octagonal children's swimming pool, basketball court and tennis courts along Delaware Avenue (U.S. Route 9W). To the north is another, larger school.〔 A wooded area past it buffers the park from the Center Square/Hudson–Park Historic District to the north. Eastward, the park extends for another half-mile (800 m) to Eagle Street, sloping gently down toward the Hudson River a mile (1.6 km) further to the east. The South End–Groesbeckville Historic District begins along Morton just southeast of Eagle. The building itself is a one-story three-by-four-bay brick structure with a gently pitched front-gabled roof. A small tower is at its southeast corner, topped by a flat roof pierced by a brick chimney. On its east it is joined to the school building for the entire length. A stairway to the basement, with modern metal guardrail, is cut into the pavement at the southwest corner. It has been painted white, which has begun to fade and flake off, with green trim.〔 A string course of projecting brick divides the basement and first story. Windows are all set with six-over-six double-hung sash. All have simple sills of brick; the central window on the south (front) facade has a similar lintel. The main entrance is located to its east.〔 Above that central window is a commemorative plaque. It is topped by a pair of smaller windows, segmentally arched in splayed brick. At the roofline is a molded cornice. The tower has a stringcourse separating its top and bottom stages, with a single segmental-arched window similar to those on the south facade on each of its faces. Small brackets hold up the cornice.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「James Hall Office」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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