New York State Parks Announces Completion of $7.8 Million Maintenance Center at Olana State Historic Site

Carbon-neutral building helps offset electric use at recently opened Frederic Church Center for Art and Landscape

Images of the complex are available here

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) today announced the completion of a $7.8 million upgrade to the maintenance center at Olana State Historic Site in Hudson. The new complex serves as the headquarters for maintenance operations at the popular historic site, as well as for Clermont Historic Site in Germantown. Rooftop solar panels make the building carbon-neutral and help offset the use of electricity at Olana's Frederic Church Center for Art and Landscape.

The new energy-efficient maintenance building features all-electric heating and cooling. Its maintenance bay, mower and tool shop, wash bay, and garage space will ensure vehicles and equipment servicing the property can be stored indoors and cleaned on a regular basis, prolonging vehicle life cycles and lower maintenance requirements. The complex is configured as a state-of-the-art electric shop with interior chargers for tools and exterior charging stations for State Parks fleet vehicles.

Exterior support facilities now include a freestanding salt shed, dedicated vehicle and equipment parking areas, and dark sky compliant lighting. The rooftop solar array will generate over 72,000 kWh of electricity back to the electric grid annually, allowing the maintenance center to be fully carbon-neutral while also helping to offset usage at the rest of the historic site. The installation costs for the 50kWAC solar array were supplemented by a nearly $1.9 million New York State Energy Research and Development Authority's (NYSERDA) Carbon Neutral Community Economic Development grant.

New York State Parks Commissioner Pro Tempore Randy Simons said, "By offsetting electricity at Olana State Historic Site with solar power, this new maintenance complex demonstrates State Parks' commitment to resilient infrastructure well into the future. Olana exemplifies all that's possible through public-private partnerships here in New York State, and I'm grateful to NYSERDA and all of our partners for helping to achieve this new standard of excellence as we look ahead to the next generation."

State Parks is committed to transitioning to 100% renewable electricity by 2030 and to a 100% light-duty electric vehicle (EV) fleet by 2035. The agency met its BuildSmart 2025 energy savings goal in 2024, a year ahead of schedule, and is reducing energy use at facilities and building solar projects across the state. This is part of a nation-leading climate goal set forth by Governor Kathy Hochul to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions at all state properties.

Olana, a New York State Historic Site and National Historic Landmark that attracts over 200,000 visitors annually, was the 19th century home, studio and designed landscape of Hudson River School artist Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), his wife Isabel and their four children. The 250-acre historic estate features an elaborately stenciled, Persian-inspired mansion filled with original sketches, studies and paintings by one of the mid-19th century's most famous artists. A diverse decorative arts collection includes objects from around the world.

The Frederic Church Center for Art and Landscape welcomes and orients visitors at the historic site and includes a spacious entry lobby for ticketing and orientation, a café, gender neutral restrooms and a multipurpose room adjoining outdoor terraces and paths that connect to Olana's historic carriage road network.

Five miles of carriage drives, many of which are now pedestrian-use only, traverse the property developed much in the way Church created his canvasses, with strategically revealed vistas of one of the most strikingly beautiful places in the Hudson Valley. Visitors to Olana enjoy guided house tours, changing exhibits in the Evelyn & Maurice Sharp Gallery, self-guided walking tours, and programs and special events for all ages.

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority President and CEO Doreen M. Harris said, "The new maintenance center at the Olana State Historic Site is a great example of how construction projects at a historic location can be advanced through energy efficient design and construction. This strategic planning, along with the solar panel installation, maximizes building comfort for staff and visitors, offsets energy costs and facilitates peak performance of onsite operations."

The Olana Partnership President Dr. Sean Sawyer said, "The Olana Partnership is very pleased that this important element of Olana's Strategic Landscape Design Plan has been completed and gratified that the NYSERDA Carbon-Neutral Economic Development Program grant we received in Round XI of the Consolidated Funding Application process has funded the installation of the solar array to offset electrical usage at The Frederic Church Center for Art & Landscape"

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees more than 250 parks, historic sites, recreational trails, golf courses, boat launches and more, and welcomes over 88 million visitors annually. For more information on any of these recreation areas, visit parks.ny.gov , download the free NY State Parks Explorer app or call 518.474.0456. Connect with us on Facebook , Instagram , X , LinkedIn , the OPRHP Blog or via the OPRHP Newsroom .