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Talk:New York Court of Appeals Building/GA1

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GA Review

[edit]
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Reviewer: Epicgenius (talk · contribs) 19:25, 15 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]


Hi Daniel Case, I will review this article. I'll leave some in-depth comments later. Epicgenius (talk) 19:25, 15 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

GA review
(see here for what the criteria are, and here for what they are not)
  1. It is reasonably well written.
    a (prose, spelling, and grammar):
    b (MoS for lead, layout, word choice, fiction, and lists):
  2. It is factually accurate and verifiable.
    a (references):
    b (citations to reliable sources):
    c (OR):
    d (copyvio and plagiarism):
  3. It is broad in its coverage.
    a (major aspects):
    b (focused):
  4. It follows the neutral point of view policy.
    Fair representation without bias:
  5. It is stable.
    No edit wars, etc.:
  6. It is illustrated by images, where possible and appropriate.
    a (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales):
    b (appropriate use with suitable captions):

Overall:
Pass/Fail:

· · ·

Prose, POV, and coverage

[edit]

Lead:

  • In 1971 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, one of seven buildings housing a state's highest court currently so recognized.[a] Seven years later it was included as a contributing property when the Lafayette Park Historic District was listed on the Register. - Chronologically, wouldn't this fit in the last paragraph of the lead? In other NRHP articles I've seen (excluding my own) this seems to generally be at the end of the lead.
I know some people do it that way but I don't think we should. The first graf of the intro should IMO explain at least a significant aspect of why the subject is notable, why the reader should be interested in it, and for NRHP listings that's usually a big part of it. Daniel Case (talk) 06:08, 21 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • At the time it was built it was known - I would recommend condensing to "When built, it was known..."
 Done Daniel Case (talk) 06:08, 21 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • building's rotunda, and uses stone arches - The comma is unnecessary here as the second part of the sentence after "and" would not be a standalone clause.
 Done Did I do that? I may have forgotten to take the comma out when recasting the sentence. Daniel Case (talk) 06:08, 21 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • Lewis Pilcher oversaw a rear addition in the early 20th century when the courtroom was moved.[9] [paragraph break] Pilcher's renovation came when the court outgrew its traditional space in the capitol,[10] taking Richardson's courtroom along with it except for the ceiling. - I would recommend putting these two sentences in the same paragraph (doesn't matter if it's third or fourth, or even if you combine the third and fourth paras, but the fact that they are in different paragraphs interrupts the flow).
 Done Daniel Case (talk) 04:09, 26 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

More later. Epicgenius (talk) 17:09, 17 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Daniel Case: So sorry for the delay. I'll add some further comments. Epicgenius (talk) 19:24, 26 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Building

  • The building itself takes up the southwestern quadrant; its parking lot the southeast - As it is, the second part of the sentence is technically a run-on. The easiest way to solve this is to add a comma after "parking lot".
 Fixed Daniel Case (talk) 06:25, 27 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • North, on the other half of the block - Would this be "on the northern half of the block"?
 Fixed Yes indeed! Daniel Case (talk) 06:25, 27 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • Just to its south, visible from the Court of Appeals building through Corning Park behind City Hall, is St. Peter's Episcopal Church,[12] a French Gothic-style edifice by Richard Upjohn and his son that is a National Historic Landmark (NHL) as well as a contributing property to the Downtown Albany Historic District, which borders the Lafayette Park Historic District to the east at this point.[13] - This feels like a run-on sentence to me, and it can possibly be split into 2 sentences.
 Fixed Daniel Case (talk) 06:25, 27 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • Above it Alfred E. Smith Building's 34 stories - Does this mean geographically above (north), topographically above (on higher terrain), or literally above? Also, I would suggest adding a comma after "Above it".
 Fixed "The" was the intended missing word.
  • The building itself is a three-story, 11-by-7-bay structure - Do you know which axis is the longer axis? (I.e. which sides have 11 bays and which have 7?)
The custom seems to be that the front side's bay count (usually larger in any event) is given first. But if you feel it would work better for the reader, especially one not well versed in architectural discourse, to make that distinction more explicit, I'll do it. Daniel Case (talk) 06:25, 27 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • with plain entablature - This could be "with a plain entablature", since this is a noun.
The usage without an article seems to be standard, as entablature is the horizontal bottom member of every pediment. Sort of like how you wouldn't say "a cake with a white frosting". Daniel Case (talk) 06:25, 27 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • groin vaulted - There should be a hyphen here.
 Done Daniel Case (talk) 06:25, 27 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • "marble flag." - I probably know the answer to this, but do you know what this is?
 Fixed It's now the clearer "marble flagstone" (I assume that's what you were thinking? ) Daniel Case (talk) 18:19, 27 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • An Art Deco chandelier of modern construction lights - I would reword this, as it seems a little dense. I'd personally suggest putting commas before and after "of modern construction", but you can also say "A modern Art Deco chandelier...".
 Done Daniel Case (talk) 05:02, 30 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • It is floored with a red carpet decorated with geometric patterns - I would say something like "The floor has a red carpet...". It's unusual to see "floored" used as a verb in this way.
 Done Daniel Case (talk) 05:02, 30 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

History

  • Both houses of the state legislature met in Albany's City Hall until the first state capitol was built in 1819, governors rented residences in the city, and the two highest state courts, the Court of Chancery and the Court for the Trial of Impeachments and the Correction of Errors, heard cases in the county courthouse or the capitol - Perhaps you can add semicolons after "1819" and "in the city", since this seems to be a serial list with three items. The item "the two highest state courts, the Court of Chancery and the Court for the Trial of Impeachments and the Correction of Errors, heard cases in the county courthouse or the capitol" has commas, hence the suggested use of semicolons.
 Done Daniel Case (talk) 05:02, 30 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • modern dollars - I suggest adding which year, using {{inflation/year}}.
 Done I didn't know we had this now ... excellent! Daniel Case (talk) 05:02, 30 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • No other buildings of Rector's survive - Ever, or in Albany?
Ever, apparently. Daniel Case (talk) 05:02, 30 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • As the 19th century became the 20th, the state grew and with it its government - I suggest adding commas before and after "with it".
 Done Daniel Case (talk) 05:02, 30 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • in a manner similar - I suggest something like "similarly".
 Done Daniel Case (talk) 05:02, 30 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • which was possible except for its original ceiling - I'm confused about the thing that "was possible". I presume it was the east wing.
 Fixed It was that the ceiling of the courtroom could not be moved ... not without destroying it, I guess. Daniel Case (talk) 05:02, 30 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • But by the late 1940s its age was catching up to it. - This seems a little informal, especially with the phrase "its age was catching up". Also, I'm not sure if "But" is needed, given the next sentence.
 Fixed Daniel Case (talk) 05:02, 30 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • another serious problem occurred - Occurred, or was discovered?
 Fixed Daniel Case (talk) 05:02, 30 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • depicts the three seasons during which the court sits - Which are the three seasons? This may be a pretty minor point, though.
 Fixed Couldn't hurt IMO. Daniel Case (talk) 05:02, 30 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • some small additions to the building in addition - The use of "addition" seems repetitive here. I would reword it.
 Fixed Daniel Case (talk) 05:02, 30 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • As the building had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since its last renovation, - The fact it was NRHP-listed in 1971 is never mentioned in the prose.
 Fixed Daniel Case (talk) 05:02, 30 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • removed, to be replaced - I would suggest "was removed and replaced".
 Fixed I went you one better and just went with "replaced" ... when you replace one thing with another, by implication the first thing is removed. Daniel Case (talk) 05:02, 30 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

References

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  • The references are all reliable or are used to cite basic facts (e.g. Google Maps). Does the government of Albany have a mapping website? It may be better than Google Maps if it exists; this is not a big deal, however.
  • Spot checks of the references did not reveal anything concerning.
  • I did notice that a majority of the references are from the NY or US governments, and there seems to be little in the way of news/book sources. The breadth of coverage in this article seems fine, which is why this isn't a big concern, plus I understand it may be harder to find other sources about this building. If you plan to improve this further (e.g. to FA), I would look into adding a greater variety of sources like this, but this is beyond the scope of GA. Epicgenius (talk) 15:35, 16 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]
[edit]
  • All images appear freely licensed (many were taken by the nominator).
  • Copyvio check doesn't reveal anything concerning (there are a bunch of phrases matching, but they tend to be proper names or unavoidable common phrases).
  • This is optional, but in the infobox, would it be feasible to add an interactive map? Usually just pasting
    | district_map = {{Maplink|frame=yes|plain=yes|frame-align=center|frame-width=250|frame-height=250|zoom=14|type=point|marker=|title={{subst:PAGENAME}}}}
    into the infobox would work (you could change the zoom level, width, height, etc as appropriate). Epicgenius (talk) 20:39, 15 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]
 Done Thanks ... it worked! Daniel Case (talk) 18:44, 16 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

General comments

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@Daniel Case: My apologies for not getting back to this nomination earlier. I honestly forgot about it. I'll do some reference checks and spot-checks within the next few days, as that's really the only thing left for the nomination. Epicgenius (talk) 23:35, 12 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]
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