E-Comm Square, Infrared | 05.25.2025

E-Comm Square, Infrared | 05.25.2025
Albany, New York

This infrared black-and-white photo was taken today at the remains of E-Comm Square in downtown Albany.

The buildings along this stretch of Broadway date back to the mid-1800s, rebuilt after a devastating fire in 1848. For decades, this row was part of a thriving corridor of commerce and industry, warehouses, storefronts, and later, state offices. In the early 2000s, the property was acquired for a proposed convention center. When plans shifted elsewhere, the site was left behind.

Years of vacancy followed. Roof collapses. Red X placards. Emergency demolitions. Today, the block is mostly silent—its story told through fading signs and photos like this.

Infrared photography reveals what the eye doesn’t catch. Here, the green of spring foliage appears ghostly white, casting the scene in spectral contrast. It’s a reminder of how quickly nature begins to reclaim the built environment once we step away. Weeds rise through concrete. Roots settle in mortar. Decay isn’t dramatic, it’s patient.

The sign still reads “E-Comm Square,” but its function is long gone. All that remains is form, and nature, slowly taking it back.

Originally appeared on www.restorationobscura.com.

© 2025 John Bulmer Photography, John Bulmer Media, Restoration Obscura, and Nor'easter Films
www.bulmerphotography.com
www.johnbulmermedia.com
www.restorationobscura.com
www.noreasterfilms.com
All Rights Reserved

Serenading the Storm | 05.24.2025

Serenading the Storm | 05.24.2025
Troy Waterfront Farmers Market, Troy, New York 

© 2025 John Bulmer Photography, John Bulmer Media, Restoration Obscura, and Nor'easter Films
www.bulmerphotography.com
www.johnbulmermedia.com
www.restorationobscura.com
www.noreasterfilms.com
All Rights Reserved

Pinhole Image: Former D&H Building

Pinhole Image:

Former D&H Building, now the SUNY System Administration Building
Albany New York

This pinhole image was made using a homemade camera — lanything light-tight can become a camera. The photo captures spring foliage rising around the building’s Gothic tower, a soft impression of a structure with a long and layered history.

History of the Building:

The D&H Building was completed in 1914 for the Delaware and Hudson Railroad Company and designed by Albany architect Marcus T. Reynolds. Its French Gothic Revival design — with turrets, stone carvings, and cathedral-like windows — gave the railroad a headquarters that looked more like a castle than an office.

It later became home to the Albany Evening Journal, tying it to the city’s media history as well. In the 1970s, the State University of New York acquired the building, converting it into the SUNY System Administration headquarters.

Hidden Details in the Sculptures:

Every detail carved into the stone tells a story. This isn’t just decoration — it’s a record of the people, industries, and institutions that once moved through these halls.

Look closely, and you’ll see figures worked into the stone: newsboys, railroad workers, and office clerks — everyday faces that reflect the building’s original tenants. Gargoyles and grotesques appear around corners and beneath ledges, some in traditional medieval forms, others with a more local character, almost cartoonish in expression.

There are sculpted trains and sections of track woven into the architectural flourishes, subtle nods to the Delaware & Hudson Railroad that commissioned the building in 1914. Faces carved into keystones may represent company executives, construction workers, or even the architect himself, Marcus T. Reynolds.

When the Albany Evening Journal also occupied the building, additional symbols found their way into the design — quills, typebars, and printing press motifs, still visible today if you know where to look.

Together, these carvings form a kind of visual archive. They anchor the building to Albany’s industrial and journalistic past — a physical record of the railroad men, newspaper staff, and city leaders who once passed through its doors.

Episode one of the Restoration Obscura Field Guide podcast is a primer on how to read the city like a history book. You can listen now on Spotify or any major streaming platform. A new episode drops Monday, May 5.

You can listen at: www.restorationobscura.com.

© 2025 John Bulmer Photography, John Bulmer Media, and Nor'easter Films
www.bulmerphotography.com
www.johnbulmermedia.com
www.noreasterfilms.com
All Rights Reserved