Symposium for the People’s AME Zion Church, a fundraiser for the “Save 711 E. Fayette”

Saving A Syracuse Jewel: Symposium for the People’s AME Zion Church, A Fundraiser for the “Save 711 E. Fayette”

Almost two years ago I wrote about the need to save the former AME Zion church at 711 Fayette Street in Syracuse.  I am happy to say that my words - and those of others - were heard.   A group of hard working volunteers have organized a sustained effort to research the history of AME Zion churches statewide, but also to save our fine little building.  The group includes historians and activists, and the present-day congregation AME Zion (now in another building), and politicians including my own Assemblyman Sam Roberts.  This project follows directly on the work of historian Judith Wellman and creation by the Preservation association of Central New York of Syracuse's Freedom Trail, inaugurated in 2007.

To kick off serious education and fund-raising for the building there will be an event on Tuesday evening at the Erie Canal Museum.  I'll be part of a panel discussing the past and future of the building, and its history and architecture.  The event is in concert with the exhibition at the Museum about Syracuse's 15th Ward - its history and sad fate under the wrecking balls of the 'urban renewal' of the 1970s.  The 15th Ward was historically the mostly densely inhabited Jewish and African-American neighborhood in the city.

Your invitation to the event (we encourage  - but not require -  that you bring your checkbook to make a donation)

You are cordially invited to attend the Symposium for the People’s AME Zion Church, a fundraiser for the “Save 711 E. Fayette” project and a featured event for the Erie Canal Museum’s 15th Ward Exhibit.

Speakers and panelists include Judith Wellman (Historical New York Research Associates), Rev. Daren Jaime (AME Zion Church), Edward Bogucz (Syracuse Center of Excellence), Beth Crawford (Crawford & Stearns), Joan Bryant (Syracuse University), and Samuel Gruber (Gruber Hertitage Global).  Keynote speakers will discuss the historical significance of the building, and talk about the next steps to “Save 711 E. Fayette.” Attendees are asked to consider contributing to the launch of this important effort. To RSVP, please visit http://save711.eventbrite.co

Syracuse Freedom Trail

Re-Introducing The Discover Syracuse Freedom Trail
by Samuel D. Gruber

In July 2007, while President of the Preservation Association of Central New York, I had the privilege of unveiling with then-Mayor Matt Driscoll and others the 11-sign Freedom Trail through parts of the City of Syracuse designed to commemorate and teach the important history of Underground Railroad, Abolitionist and African-American historic and cultural sites in the city. Syracuse was a center of the Abolitionist Movement and the Underground Railroad.  The famous Jerry Rescue had already been commemorated in a striking monument on Clinton Square erected in 1990, but there was little else to tell the story of people and places throughout Syracuse.

The Discover Syracuse Freedom Trail project was a partnership of the City of Syracuse and the Preservation Association of Central New York and celebrates momentous events in the Syracuse that took place mostly between 1830 and 1860. The signs also remember abolitionists – white and black -who helped make Syracuse a center of the anti-slavery movement in America. Individuals commemorated included Jermain and Caroline Loguen, Prince Jackson, Samuel May, George Vashon, Thomas Leonard, Stephen Smith, Hamilton White, George and Rebecca Barnes, William “Jerry” Henry, James and Mary Baker, and many others. The primary research and much of the writing for the project was done by esteemed historian Judith Wellman.

Syracuse, NY.  September 2006 unveiling of design for Freedom Trail signs. Parks Commissioner Pat Driscoll, PACNY President Sam Gruber and members of the Network to Freedom.

Syracuse, NY.  July 2007 unveiling of  Freedom Trail signs.  PACNY past-president JAE Evangelisti, Councilman Van Robinson, Mayor Matt Driscoll, PACNY President Samuel Gruber and others.

Syracuse, NY.  July 2007 unveiling of  Freedom Trail signs.  PACNY president Samuel Gruber, Parks Commissioner Pat Driscoll and Glen Lewis, Parks Department project coordinator.

I'm afraid that these signs are still too-little known, and that those who do know them now take them for granted.  It took a lot of research and hard work by many people (mostly volunteers) to create this project - and now, during Black History Month I want to remind people of its existence.  It was mean, too, to be only the beginning.  There are still more places to mark, and this trail can be and should be the basis of a local history curriculum for schools and civic, community and church groups. 

I look forward to walking and biking the full Freedom Trail route when the weather warms up. 

A Little History: The Underground Railroad in Syracuse

Before passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1865, the United States was a land of slavery. New York State had slavery until 1827. In 1860, four million Americans, all of African descent, lived in slavery. Many resisted through flight. Traveling by foot, wagon, boat, or railroad, between 100,000 and 150,000 sought freedom in Mexico, Canada, or the northern U.S. For its relative secrecy and speed, this flight to freedom became known as the Underground Railroad.

Syracuse was the “great central depot” of the Underground Railroad in New York State. From the 1830s until the end of the Civil War, thousands of African Americans passed through Syracuse on their way from slavery to freedom. Here, freedom seekers found help from a biracial group of abolitionist men and women who promoted the end of slavery, worked to end prejudice against African Americans, and organized the Underground Railroad. Rev. Luther Lee, Wesleyan Methodist minister, hosted 365 freedom seekers in one year. AME Zion minister Rev. Jermain Loguen, himself a freedom seeker from Tennessee, and Caroline Loguen sheltered about 1500 freedom seekers.

Freedom seekers came to Syracuse on foot and by road, canal, and railroad. In Syracuse, owners of the New York Central Railroad gave them free passes. People escaping slavery arrived either through Binghamton and Elmira in the south or through Albany and Utica in the east. Many traveled on to Canada, going west through Auburn, Rochester, and Buffalo, or north through Oswego. Many also stayed in Syracuse, and some bought property on the near eastside.

By the 1850s, people celebrated Syracuse as a “free city” and the “Canada of the United States.” While much of the Underground Railroad remained secret, it often operated openly in Syracuse. When federal marshals captured Missouri freedom seeker William “Jerry” Henry in Syracuse in October 1851, two thousand Syracuse citizens successfully rescued him, and the federal government never again tried to capture a freedom seeker locally. Newspaper notices regularly carried notices of fugitives who passed through the city on the “Underground Railroad.”

Locations and topics of Freedom Trail signs

Jerry Rescue Site, Clinton Street, between West Water Street and Erie Boulevard, just west of Clinton Square. 

In 1851, William "Jerry" Henry, accused of escaping from slavery, was held in the police station that stood on this site. A crowd of African Americans and European Americans broke open the door and freed Henry, who was taken to Kingston and freedom. This successful rescue was one of several challenges to the Fugitive Slave Law in major cities across the North. It mobilized people in Syracuse to resist the Fugitive Slave Law, and it helped make Syracuse a major haven for freedom seekers in the 1850s.

The original police station was demolished and replaced by the Raynor Block, often called the Jerry Rescue Building. The Raynor Block was demolished in the early 1970s, and the site is now a parking lot. In 1990, Syracuse erected the Jerry Rescue monument on the west end of Clinton Square. Designed by Sharon BuMann, his monument shows Jerry Henry, flanked by Reverend Samual J. May and Rev. Jermain Loguen.

Hanover Square, East Genesee and Water Streets

Hanover Square was a busy commercial district and civic gathering place in the mid-19^th century, and African Americans were highly visible here at the heart of the city. Two major hotels, the Syracuse House and the Sherman House, stood along Genesee Street, where African Americans worked as porters, waiters, housekeepers, cooks, and cartmen.

In 1851, George B. Vashon, first African American lawyer in New York State, had offices in the Dana Block, at the northwest corner of Warren and Water Streets. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1824 and educated at Oberlin College, Vashon taught classics in Haiti and became New York State’s first African American lawyer in 1847. From 1855-58, he taught Latin at the abolitionist New York Central College in McGrawville, New York. After the Civil War, he practiced law in Washington, D.C., taught at Howard University, and became a clerk in the Treasury Department. He died in Mississippi in 1878. The Syracuse Standard noted that Vashon was “a Scholar, Lawyer and Orator, of . . . high endowments.” St. Louis, Missouri, named a school in honor of Vashon’s contribution to education.

Hanover Square witnessed many political rallies, some opposed to abolitionism. In January 1861, Samuel J. May and Susan B. Anthony spoke in Syracuse under the slogan “No Compromise with Slave Holders,” Men armed with knives and pistols invaded the hall, paraded the effigies of May and Anthony through the streets, and burned them in Hanover Square.

George and Rebecca Barnes Home, 930 James Street

George and Rebecca Barnes represent European American business and reform families, many of them identified with the Syracuse and Utica Railroad and the Unitarian Church, who were committed abolitionist organizers and Underground Railroad supporters and who used their resources to exert public pressure and to raise money for the cause.

Courier Building, NW corner of East Washington and Montgomery Streets

 In May 1851, from the balcony that still remains on the east side of this building, Daniel Webster, Secretary of State, issued a challenge. The federal government, he said, would enforce the Fugitive Slave Law in Syracuse “in the midst of the next anti-slavery convention, if the occasion shall arise.” This set the context for the famous rescue of William “Jerry” Henry on October 1, 1851.

Enoch Reed, Butternut Street

Enoch Reed was the only person convicted in the Jerry Rescue, but he died before he could appeal. It would be helpful to check assessments and maps again, to be sure of this location. Enoch and Jane Reed lived at the corner of Lodi and Butternut Street (where the Rite-Aid Drugstore is now).

Fayette Park, at East Fayette Street

Many outstanding houses once stood around Fayette Park, including the home of abolitionist Stephen Smith, who invited Frederick Douglass to speak in Fayette Park in 1847. Douglass, orator and editor of the North Star, was one of the country’s most influential abolitionists. Born in slavery in Maryland about 1817, he escaped in 1838 and moved to Rochester, New York. Throughout his career, he was a frequent visitor to Syracuse, working closely with local abolitionists. Hamilton White lived in the Greek Revival mansion at the southwest corner of the park, built in 1842. White gave money to the AME Zion Sunday School and to the Syracuse Orphan Asylum, and his brother Horace gave passes on the New York Central Railroad to freedom seekers.

Loguen Park, East Genesee Street

Instead of going to Canada, many freedom seekers stayed in Upstate New York. In Syracuse, they purchased property throughout the city, but especially on the near eastside, close to the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Second Congregational Church, and the mission School. In this area lived freedom seeker Thomas Leonard, who assisted Harriet Powell in her famous escape of 1839, who with his wife Jane kept a sage house on the UGRR, and who, as an old man, tried to enlist to fight in the Civil War. Other freedom seekers on the east side included Elisabeth Crown, William and Sarah Brisco, Edward and Arabella Whipple, Margaret and Alexander Montgomery and Samuel Castle. Most famous of all were Jermain and Caroline Loguen who lived on east Genesee Street a short distance from Lexington Park.

Site of home of Rev. Jermain and Mrs. Caroline Loguen, 293 East Genesee Street

While many abolitionists, both African American and European American, aided freedom seekers in Syracuse, Jermain and Caroline Loguen’s home became the major stopping point by the mid-1850s.  As Milton Sernett noted in North Star Country, Syracuse became known as “the great central depot” of the Underground Railroad in New York State, the “Canada of the North,” and Loguen was called the “Underground Railroad King.” (162, 174) This is the single most important site for underground railroad activity in Onondaga County.

Prince Jackson House Site, North State Street

Houses on North State Street that date from the 1820s through the 1850s. Several of these exist and help us understand the neighborhood context in which Prince Jackson (indicted for his part in the rescue of William “Jerry” Henry) and other African Americans worked along the canal.

Rose Hill Cemetery, Lodi street

Rose Hill Cemetery was the burial place of almost all African Americans who lived and died in Syracuse before the Civil War. Known abolitionists include Prince Jackson (indicted for his part in the rescue of William “Jerry” Henry) and Thomas Leonard, who assisted Harriet Powell’s escape in 1839.

Former Wesleyan Methodist Church, Jefferson Street

The Wesleyan Methodist Church was a biracial abolitionist congregation and a major center of the Underground Railroad. Luther Lee, pastor (1843 and 1852-55) and editor of the True Wesleyan (1844-52), assisted as many as 365 freedom seekers a year. Charles, Montgomery, and Chloe Merrick raised money and supplied passes on the railroad to freedom seekers. James Baker, Georgia-born whitewasher, and Mary Baker, his Maryland-born wife, were freedom seekers themselves. After helping to rescue William “Jerry” Henry in October 1851, the Baker family fled to Canada.

The church hosted a prayer service for John Brown when he was hung on December 2, 1859. It also hosted a gathering of Syracuse black citizens on January 20, 1863, to celebrate Lincoln’s issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation.   Wesleyan Church members also supported the early woman’s rights movement. Susan B. Anthony spoke here in 1852 and demanded for women “all the rights enjoyed by men, even to the ballot box.” 

Today the church houses The Mission restaurant. 

The Project: Background and Implementation

The Syracuse Freedom Trail commemorates places, people and events in Syracuse significant in the history of the 19th-century Abolitionist Movement and the Underground Railroad. The series of eleven illustrated information signs is a project of the City of Syracuse and the Preservation Association of Central New York (PACNY). Installation of the signs, will begin at Clinton and Hanover Squares, and continue at sites throughout the city during the summer of 2007.

The Freedom Trail project developed following PACNY’s leadership role in the rescue and conservation of the Wesleyan Methodist Church Faces, which had been deteriorating in situ beneath the abolitionist church located at Columbus Circle. PACNY helped create a coalition of community groups including the Central New York Community Foundation, the Onondaga Historical Association, Bethany Baptist Church and Syracuse University to ensure that the Faces stayed in Syracuse and were protected and conserved.

In 2001, PACNY urged community involvement to extend this work into the city by creating a trail of signs and markers to commemorate and teach the historic lessons of the 19^th-century abolitionist and freedom movement. A grant from the Preservation League of New York State funded the research to create such a trail. PACNY published the results in booklet form, and they have been on line since 2002

(http://www.pacny.net/freedom_trail/). Subsequently, the Syracuse Common Council, at the urging of then member Kate O’Connell and supported the rest of the membership, allocated fund for the manufacture of signs for a Freedom Trail provided PACNY create the signs. PACNY, in cooperation with the City Department of Parks and Recreation and Community Development and with input from local community and TNT groups, chose appropriate sites for the placement of signage, developed a format and overall design, undertook additional research, obtained illustrations and maps for use on the signs, and then wrote and edited appropriate texts. PACNY also negotiated with contractors for graphic design, and for the manufacture of the signs and their metal frames.

Acknowledgements:

Original research for this project by PACNY was made possible by a grant from the Preservation League of New York State and the New York State Council on the Arts. Funding for the manufacturer and installation of the signs comes from the City of Syracuse. The research, writing and editing of texts is the work of PACNY volunteer members led by Prof. Judith Wellman. The Queri Development Company provided additional funding.

PACNY, the City of Syracuse Department of Parks and Recreation, and the City of Syracuse Department of Community Development thank the many people who have made this project possible. Special recognition is due to Dr. Judith Wellman who headed the research team. J.A.E. Evangelisti who headed the production team; the staff of the Onondaga Historical Association, which provided help throughout the project; Commissioner Pat Driscoll and the staff of the Department of Parks and Recreation and Commissioner Ortiz and the staff of the Department of Community Development.  The implementation of this project was assisted by Dennis Connors, Beth Crawford, Samuel Gruber, Vanessa Johnson, Milton Sernett and many others.

Preservation Association of Central New York (PACNY)

Annual Meeting

Sunday, February 19, 2012,  2-4pm.

Barnes Mansion

930 James  Street

Syracuse, NY

Syracuse, NY. The Barnes Mansion. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber

Featured Speaker:  Mayor Stephanie Miner

Join the PACNY board, members and friends for a review of preservation-related events over the past year. Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner is the featured speaker.

 PACNY members and friends brave the cold for a behind-the-scenes tour of the former Central High School last (March 2011).  PACNY will announce its 2012 schedule of tours and lectures at the annual meeting (Photo: Samuel D. Gruber)

You’ll also have an opportunity to enjoy the Barnes Mansion.  Built in 1853 as the first home on the hill on James Street, this Italianate residence was largely remodeled in 1878 and 1882 by Joseph Lyman Silsbee. In 1893-94, George and Rebecca Barnes's daughter, Mary Elizabeth Barnes, hired Henry Wilkinson to add a third story and a Colonial Revival façade. Purchased by the Corinthian Foundation in 1947 and occupied by LeMoyne College for one year, the house narrowly escaped demolition in 1948.  It is now the home of the George and Rebecca Barnes foundation.

Please support PACNY by becoming a member to create a larger voice of Preservation in Central New York.   Membership forms will be available.  Donations accepted.

Lecture: Sam Gruber on New York Synagogues at OHA, Sunday, Jan. 15th

Sam Gruber to Lecture on New York Synagogues at OHA, Sunday, Jan. 15th (2 pm)

In conjunction with the exhibition "Landmarks of New York" I will present the lecture "Restoring Splendor: Synagogue Architecture in New York," about NY religious architecture styles, particularly as found in landmark synagogues. In the past two decades hundreds of historic synagogues have been documented and scores listed as local or National Register historic sites. More importantly, many have been magnificently restored.

The illustrated lecture is at 2:00 p.m., and is co-sponsored by OHA and the Preservation Association of Central New York (PACNY). It is free to the public. 

The Onondaga Historical Association is located at 321 Montgomery Street, Syracuse.

Recycling T. Aaron Levy Middle School / Central Tech

Recycling T. Aaron Levy Middle School / Central Tech
by Samuel D. Gruber (all photos copyright Samuel D. Gruber)

When most people think about saving old Syracuse schools, it is Blodgett and the former Central High School that most likely come to mind. PACNY and OHA sponsored a discussion on the fates of these buildings last year.

Much closer to (my) home is the former T. Aaron Levy Middle School on Harvard Place between Fellows and Westmorland Avenues. Built in 1924 as the William Nottingham Junior High School (soon after High School), the building is now serving as the temporary home of the Institute of Technology. As far as I know, plans are still on the books for the Institute to return downtown to new wing adjacent to the old Central High School (Central Tech). That will leave the Harvard Place building empty.

My solution - first thought of last year by my daughter when Nottingham High School senior - is to move the local Food Coop (Syracuse Real Food Cooperative, Inc.) to the school, and develop the school building in a public-private partnership. The ground floor would allow an expanded store, and the upper floors would make fine apartments - or perhaps one wing could be apartments and the other studios.




The Food Coop, now located a ten minute walk away on 618 Kensington Ave., had its plans to expand in the former Hematology / Oncology Center (previously Young Israel Synagogue) on Fellows at East Genesee scotched by neighbors worried about the increase in traffic - by delivery trucks and shoppers. I also thought the price that the Coop was going to pay for the property was rather steep, too, considering that they would have remodel, and then their members would be stuck paying the bill for a long time.

Moving the Food Coop to the former Nottingham/Levy would be a much better solution. The ground floors are already large and airy, there is an adequate parking and loading docks, and the neighbors have experienced students for decades - so how could they possibly complain about MORE noise and litter. Since the city already owns the school, they could lease the space to the COOP, provided the COOP paid for renovations. The money then planned for a purchase price could go right into developing the new store. There is a kitchen too, to encourage a catering business.

If the COOP just needed to use the cafeteria space, other ground floor spaces for might be leased to other tenants. Imagine a bakery on the premises and the smell of fresh bread in the neighborhood. Perhaps the gymnasium could be preserved for community use. or leased out for recreation purpose, perhaps through the Westcott Community Center. The playing field could remain green space for organized sports - or it could be landscaped as a recreational park.

The City should be able to recoup costs for insurance and maintenance, and some repair, through partnering with a private developer who could develop the second and third floors for residential or studio use. There are already several former schools on the Eastside that have been very effectively turned into housing, and one look at the example of the Delevan Center downtown for effective conversion to studios.

Over the past year I've begun to talk to a number of people in the neighborhood casually about this idea - and they seem to like it. The next step is to for neighbors brainstorm with school and city officials, and some experienced developers and architects.

I really think this can be done. What do you think?



A Little History

In the early 20th century the City of Syracuse was expanding rapidly, and the influx of immigrants put a strain on the school system. Building new schools was one of the big political issues of the day (sound familiar?). Under Mayor Walrath a massive building program began, but the mayor and School Board (under Superintendent Percy Hughes) argued about the number, size, and placement of new schools (sound familiar?). The Herald reported on May 18, 1923 that the city finally decided on the Fellows Avenue site for the William Nottingham Junior High School, after protests of plans to build the school within Thornden Park, off south Beech. Mayor Walrath battled Hughes over which plan to use for the building - Walrath pushed for a plan by Gordon Wright employed in the 19th Ward, which was less expensive and housed more students. Hughes and board held out successfully for a plan by Albert Brockway, first for the Thornden site, and then settling for Fellows Avenue. The school opened in September 1924 (see Syracuse Herald, Sunday, September 07, 1924). By the end of the decade is was renamed William Nottingham High School.

In 1953 the district opened a new high school on Meadowbrook at East Genesee, the first new school built since 1930, and transferred the Nottingham name. The old school was renamed the T. Aaron Levy Junior High School, later changed to T Aaron Levy Middle School, a name it retained until 2009, when Levy was disbanded, with 7th and 8th graders attending other schools, and the school became the temporary home of Central Tech. T. Aaron Levy had served on the School Board in the early part of the century. He was reformer, and worked hard to united different ethnic and religious groups in the city into a civic community. Levy advised the Roosevelt administration and was instrumental in Pioneer Homes being erected as one the first public housing projects in the United States. Levy was also Jewish, a member of Temple Society of Concord. That probably counted for a lot in the school naming, since the population of the neighborhood in the 1950s was significantly Jewish, and Concord's Rabbi Benjamin Friedman lived just up the street. Friedman also participated in the dedication of the new Nottingham on October 19, 1953.

More Terracotta: Rite Aid (Former Woolworth's) on South Salina Could be Beautiful

Syracuse, NY. Former Woolworth's Store (photo: Samuel D. Gruber, 2011)

Syracuse, NY. Old postcard view of South Salina Street with
Woolworth's on the left.

More Terracotta: Rite Aid (Former Woolworth's) on South Salina Could be Beautiful

After posting about the Byrne Square Building, I've been asked about other terracotta buildings in Syracuse. There are several, but the best known, but also most forlorn, is the 70-year-old former F. W. Woolworth's store, built in 1941 at South Salina and East Fayette Streets, where it replaced an earlier Woolworth store. The store closed in 1979 and was sold to the Rite Aid Drugstore chain, which still occupies the structure.

Much of the terracotta skin of the building remains visible, and some of the molded terracotta decoration. More of the facade and original trademark clock may still survive beneath the wraparound Rite Aid sign. The building was included in the recently (October 2009) designated South Salina Street Downtown Historic District. Listing, however, has not yet brought any change to the facade, though it may encourage repair and replacement of elements the next time the property changes hands.



The architecture of Woolworth's was all about the skin. Inside, was a large space (created by the steel frame construction) that allowed changing displays. Still, a lot more care went into the decor of the 1940s five and dime - with its display counters and long soda fountain - then we'll ever see in any new Family Dollar or other contemporary drug or discount store. Perhaps the best way to experience that old-style interior now is to watch The Best Years of Our Lives for the scenes where Dana Andrews is working as a soda jerk. Those long counters with stools on poles are now cultural icons, still replicated for new style diners and hamburger joints. They were also battlegrounds in a changing society - the scenes of sit-ins during the civil rights movement. The students who sat-in at the Woolworth's in Greensboro, North Carolina turned drugstore design into social action, and led to the desegregation of the Woolworth's counter.

By comparing the old postcard with the recent view, you can see how much more appealing the old street level storefront windows were. They were scaled to the passing pedestrian, and decorated to lure the passersby to stop, stare and then enter the store.

The Art Deco facade of Woolworth's was considered stylish and jazzy when it was built. In the 1940s, just before America went to war, the country was beginning to build again, and for the most part what was "modern" just picked up where building had stopped with the Great Depression (think State Tower Building). Woolworth's had fared better than most companies in the Depression. Woolworth's sold things people needed - at an affordable price.




The new Syracuse Woolworth's store opened on January 29, 1942, less than two months after the United States entered World War II. Commercial construction was again mostly halted as the country directed resources to the war effort. When building resumed after 1945 a new form of modernism was ascendant - linked more closely to the functional industrial architecture of the interwar years as than the flashy glamor of Art Deco and Art Moderne.

Exhibition: Onondaga County Landmarks Opens Tonight

Exhibition: Onondaga County Landmarks Opens Tonight

OHA is opening two new exhibits tonight (Friday, November 18) dealing with historic architecture. The first is entitled "The Landmarks of New York." This is a traveling exhibit of 90 framed photographs of official New York City Landmarks, curated by Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel. The opening event will be this Friday from 4 to 7 pm and also feature the curator signing copies of her new book of the same title, which is a complete compendium of NYC's designated landmarks and historic districts.

Accompanying the New York City photo exhibit, OHA has installed a supplementary exhibit featuring 20 framed photographs of "Onondaga County Landmarks." It is a more subjective exhibition, not driven by municipal landmark status, as is the NYC exhibition. However, the local photos and buildings are every bit as interesting.

The exhibits will be up until January 31, 2012. Make a point to stop by the OHA and see if one of your favorite buildings made the Landmarks of Onondaga County show.