Redfield Monument Sculpture Restored and Returned to Forman Park

Syracuse, NY. Redfield Monument and Forman Park from an old postcard.

Redfield Monument Sculpture Restored and Returned to Forman Park
by Samuel D. Gruber (photos by Samuel D. Gruber 2010)

Some of you may already have read Dick Case's recent column in the Post-Standard and online about the return of the Redfield Monument statues to Forman Park, and event that took place when winter was already upon us and was not otherwise significantly celebrated. The bronze sculpture representing the two figures of Lewis Redstone and Joshua Forman and the single seated figure of an Indian, possibly Hiawatha, were removed in 2007 for restoration by sculptor and restored Sharon BuMann, about whom I have written before. Redfield was an important early newspaper editor in Syracuse and Joshua Forman was a founder of Syracuse. Hiawatha was said to be a founder of the Iroquois Confederacy.


The Indian figure is represented in a dignified seated pose. He is nude, except for a cloth on his lap. One can see his pose as contemplative as he gazes west, or one can read it is passive, as he sits beneath the civilizing influence of Forman and Redfield whose robust clothed figures are set on a higher level and dominate the monument. They would have looked toward downtown Syracuse, though today they see little more than I-81. The architecture of the monument in simple, but accented by a notable Classical (civilized) cornice and pediment directly above the Indian's head. In this way European culture dominates and supersedes Native American traditions. If this is Hiawatha, his presence would be, or could be, a nod to the Iroquois federation as a foundation to American democracy, represented in part by freedom of the press, of which Redfield was Syracuse's outstanding 19th-century exemplar.

Syracuse, NY. Redfield monument by N. C. Hinsdale and Fidardo Landi.

To see more examples of Indians in Syracuse sculpture see my earlier blogpost.
Last year BuMann completed the restoration of the Kirkpatrick Monument in Washington Square Park, that also featured figures of local Indians.


The monument of Westerly blue granite was designed by architect N. C. Hinsdale was donated in 1906 by Mrs. W.H.H. Smith, the daughter of Redfield. The sculptures by an Italian artist Fidardo Landi (1866-1918) were unveiled in 1908. Mrs. Smith died the following year. A photograph of the work’s first model (which I have not seen) apparently shows an entirely different Indian figure sitting next to a standing Civil War soldier at the base. The Bronze was cast by Fonderia G. Vignali, and .Leland & Hall Company was the project contractor. 

Forman Park was first established in 1839 and was known as Forman Square. Redfield, a pioneer printer, was one of those who owned property adjacent to the park. Redfield and others donated land the comprised the park which at Redfield's suggestion was named Forman Park.

According to a biography of Redfield published in New York state men: biographic studies and character portraits, Volume 2, by Frederick Simon Hills (Argus Company, 1910), Redfield was:

"one of the pioneer newspaper men of Onondaga County, was born at Farmington. Conn., November 26. 1792, son of Pelig Redfield, a soldier in the army of General Washington. He learned the printer's trade with James D. Bemis, publisher of the Ontario, N. Y., "Repository." and after six years with Mr. Bemis he engaged in business for himself at Onondaga Valley, wl1ere. with the assistance of his former employer, he established the " Onondaga Register." Mr. Redfield was an active advocate of the then proposed Erie Canal, and when a change was made in its route favorable to Syracuse he removed to that place. His paper was consolidated with the Syracuse "Gazette," which had been established by John Durnfield in 1823. For the accommodation of the printing plant he erected a commodious building on the site of the first Onondaga Savmgs Bank building, and here for some years he also conducted a book store. Mr. Redfield retired from active business in 1842. He married Ann Maria, daughter of Thomas Tread well, member of the Continental Congress and of the first State Senate. Mr. Redfield died July 14, 1882."

Landi was born in Carrara, Italy and according to his New York Times obituary, by the age of twenty was already a professor of sculpture at the academy of Fine Art in Carrara (he also married the daughter of the school's Dean, who also served as mayor of Carrara). Landi came to America in 1900 and in addition to the Redfield Monument he created to sculpture fountain groups for the Guggenheim villa and many individual works before dying of pneumonia at age 51.

I am looking for information on N.C. Hinsdale. Please let me know if you know anything.

Syracuse Architects: Earl Hallenbeck (1876-1934)

Syracuse University. Photo after 1906 0f new buildings by Hallenbeck and Revels. From left to right, Sims Hall, Bowne Hall, Carnegie library, Archbold Gymnasium.

 

Syracuse University. Sims Hall (1907).

 

Syracuse University. Slocum Hall (1918).

 

Syracuse Architects: Earl Hallenbeck (1876-1934)  

by Samuel D. Gruber 

Earl Hallenbeck is one of many forgotten architects of Syracuse and Central New York, but his many solid and stolid buildings still help define the institutional landscape of the region. Since I recently wrote of Hallenbeck's work in partnership with Frederick Revels in the designing the 1906 campus plan for Syracuse university and designing Carnegie Library (1907), I thought I'd point out some of Hallenbeck's other work in the region, especially as his biography and corpus of work is not yet listed on Syracuse Then and Now the best compendium for info on local architects. 

Hallenbeck was born on March 14, 1876 in Marathon, New York and died at age 58 in Syracuse on June 2, 1934. He attended Sy­ra­cuse Uni­ver­sity in the late 1890s, and except for his work as an architect in worked New York City after graduation, he spent most of his life, beginning in 1902, teaching at Syracuse University in the Col­lege of Li­be­ral Arts and working as a regional architect. In addition to his work on the Carnegie Library, he designed other University buildings solely or in partnership with Revel. These are Haven Hall (1904, demolished), Lyman Hall (1907), Sims Hall, originally a dormitory (1907), Bowne Hall (1907), the University Power Plant (1904), Archbold Gymnasium and Stadium (1908), Slocum Hall (1918) and well as Reid Hall downtown. all of these buildings were embellished with a free interpretation of classical and Renaissance motifs. Lyman Hall is the most ornate. Of Lyman Hall, influential architectural critic Montgomery Schuyler lamented "'the author has never been forewarned with Emerson, that the vice of the times and the country is an excessive pretension." Today, however, the subsequent blandness, banality and brutality of many campus buildings make the "outrageous self-complacency and aggressiveness" of Lyman - and its encrusted exterior decoration - an enjoyable and even uplifting visual respite.

Syracuse University. Lyman Hall (1907). Photos: Samuel D. Gruber 

 

The sole exception is the power plant (photo), built in 1904 - before the plan - and located where Link Hall is now. This was built in a Neo-medieval style apparently suggested by the Castle of Rheinstein. In any case, the architects hid the chimney within a "medieval" tower. Hallenbeck also designed a number of private houses and school buil­dings which remain to be fully documented and the Onondaga Valley Presbyterian Church (1924). The Revels-Hallenbeck plan really shaped the development of Syracuse University's campus for more than a half century, and today we are thankful that enough of it remains to provide the campus with some of its best moments of organized space, architectural framing, skyline accents and coherent landscape. Unfortunately decades of changing taste and conflicting plans have sapped the design of its original integrity and coherence. 

 In some aspects, however, especially in the placement of Hendricks Chapel, the plan of Pope and Baum improved upon the Revel's and Hallenbeck's work. According to the authors of the Syracuse University Campus Plan 2003 (Syracuse University Office of Design and Construction): 

 "focused on the Old Oval, proposing that the field be defined on its south side by a new range of buildings set parallel to the Old Row. Revels and Hallenbeck sited a stadium in a shallow ravine to the west of the new range of buildings, freeing the Old Oval to become a ceremonial green space. The plan's most remarkable feature was a domed addition to the rear of the Hall of Languages. This accretion, intended to contain an assembly hall, would have remade the University's first building as the north wing of a massive structure extending southward along the edge of the Old Oval. The proposed addition, which would have necessitated demolishing the Gymnasium, would have reshaped the Oval into two formal open spaces set perpendicular to one another and together forming an "L." Their "Great Quadrangle," organized along a north-south axis, was to join a smaller open space to the south of the Hall of Languages addition. Revels and Hallenbeck's scheme also marked the first appearance of the idea to relocate Holden Observatory – in this instance, to Mount Olympus – so that the open space bounded on the north by von Ranke Library, Crouse College, and Steele Hall could be better defined. Chancellor James Roscoe Day embraced the 1906 plan, and Revels and Hallenbeck were commissioned to design the Carnegie Library (1907), Bowne Hall (1907), Sims Hall (1907), Archbold Stadium (1908), and Archbold Gymnasium (1909), quickly completing the south side of the new "Great Quadrangle." Meanwhile, the distinctive tower of Lyman Hall (1907), together with Machinery Hall (1907), rose above the Lawn, emphatically punctuating the extension of the Old Row. Soon after, however, the University was financially overextended. Construction stopped, with no additional development occurring until Slocum Hall was built for the College of Agriculture in 1918. The leviathan addition to the Hall of Languages was never built, and the Oval became a single quadrangle, rather than the two perpendicular open spaces that were originally proposed. Perhaps the 1906 plan's most lasting effect was the reinforcement of the campus' two seminal open spaces. It transformed and formalized the Oval, creating a Main Quadrangle that would serve as a new organizing feature for the campus. The plan also called for the eastward extension of the Old Row and the Lawn, siting a new generation of buildings along the crest of the hill."

Fabius, NY. Former Fabius Central School (now Fabius-Pompey Elementary School). Earl Hallenbeck, architect (1931) Photo: Samuel D. Gruber

 Hallenbeck designed High Schools in Fabius, Liverpool and Cazenovia, and probably elsewhere. The Fabius Central School survives as the local elementary school. It was completed in 1931 in the Collegiate Gothic style, and is included as a late architectural contribution in the Fabius Village Historic District. The following obituary, posted at on a local genealogy website appeared in the local Syracuse paper (Post-Standard?) on June 2, 1934:

Nine of Campus Buildings Were Planned by Architect Death which came last night to Prof. Earl Hallenbeck of Syracuse University at his home, 433 Maple Street, closed the distinguished career of a widely known educator, the designer of many Central New York school buildings, including nine of the largest structures on the University campus. He was 58 years old and had been a member of the faculty of the College of Liberal Arts for 32 years. Professor Hallenbeck died of heart disease, with which he had been seriously ill since last fall. The condition became acute about two weeks ago. Fellow members of the faculty today mourned his death and paid tribute to his ability and to his tireless efforts which were, they said, largely responsible for the growth of the department of architecture at the University. "We consider his death a very serious loss to the college" said Dean Harold L Butler of the College of Fine Arts. "He was not only a fine practicing architect, but he was also an exceptional teacher. He had the admiration and respect of his colleagues and of all his students". Professor Hallenbeck was born in Marathon, March 14, 1876. He was graduated from Syracuse University in the late 1890s and after working as an architect in New York City for several years, returned to join the University faculty in 1902. While a member of the faculty he worked with Prof. Frederick W Revels on the plans for Lyman Hail, Haven Hall, Browne Hall, General Library, the gymnasium, the Stadium, Sims Hall and the University power plant. Alone he designed Slocum Hall. Later he combined private practice with his teaching and drew plans for many Syracuse residents. He also designed high school buildings in Liverpool, Cazenovia and Fabius and many other Central New York school buildings. Professor Hallenbeck was a member of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity and of the East Genesee Presbyterian Church. He was of high standing in Masonic circles, having taken the 32nd degree. Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Margaret E. Telfer Hallenbeck; two sons, Andrew T Hallenbeck of Lysander and John S. Halenbeck of Syracuse; a daughter Mrs. John E Taylor of Syracuse; two brothers Charles F Hallenbeck of Illion and Frank H Hallenbeck of Syracuse; a sister Mrs. Wilbur Burrill of Syracuse; and a grandson. The funeral will be held privately Monday afternoon from the home at 2:30 o'clock. The Rev. John R. Woodcock, pastor of the East Genesee Street Presbyterian, will conduct the service. Burial will be in Morningside Cemetery. Friends may call between 2 and 4 o'clock tomorrow afternoon and between 7 and 9 o'clock tomorrow night."

Syracuse: University's Carnegie Library Reading Room to be Renovated

Syracuse University, Carnegie Library. Two recent views, photos: Samuel D. Gruber

Syracuse University, Carnegie Library. Architect's view of planned reading room renovation. Courtesy: Syracuse University Library

Syracuse: University's Carnegie Library Reading Room to be Restored as First Phase in Building Renovation
by Samuel D. Gruber

In my previous post I included a dramatic photo of sculptor Luise Kaish's bronze statue of the Saltine Warrior, back bent and bow taut between two towers of Syracuse University's Carnegie Library. I have good news about the building, designed by Frederick W. Revels and Earl Hallenbeck as part of the 1906 University Plan, and opened in 1907 as one of the most impressive academic Carnegie libraries in the country. The duo designed many of most impressive campus buildings of the first decades of the 20th century (Lyman Hall with it great tower remains my favorite). Their work was imposing and ornate, but never very graceful. Many of these classically inspired Beaux-Arts buildings are bulky and ponderous on their exteriors, but they were well-designed for multipurpose academic use, and most still function today as class buildings. Their virtue is that they are well built and relatively easily adaptabted to all but the most intensely hi-tech fields. Only where their original spaces have been carved up and/or extra floors added - as in Bowne Hall - do they seem really awkward. The recent restoration of Slocum Hall, for example, has returned the building to much of its original spacious and appealing layout and appearance.

The history of the building in word and images can be found at Carnegie Library 1907-2007, a site developed for the building's centennial celebrated in 2007. Click "browse" to view this collection of over 200 photographs of the Carnegie Library, that includes the 1905 ground breaking through the 2007 centennial. The historical images were digitized from the Syracuse University Archives’ collection of campus building photographs. Links to historical news articles and information may be found at the Carnegie Library History.

After a hundred years of hard use, so hard in fact that the original entrance from the very Quad it helped define is now closed, the Carnegie Library will be renovated. Progress depends on money, but already the first of five planned phases has begun. The grand reading room will be restored and returned to its original purposes.

In time other spaces in the building that have been chopped in pieces, as well as blocked circulation paths, will returned a much as possible to their original purpose and appearance. The building is apparently only one of three academic (as opposed to public) Carnegie libraries in the country that still - at least in part - serves it original function. built as the main campus library to replace the much smaller von Ranke Library (now Tolley Hall), the structure is now served by the Science-Technology Library, the Math library and the Math Department. Phase I of the project involves moving some of the Math Department functions from the great second floor reading room to newly newly reorganized space on the first floor. in the reading room floor, ceilings, furniture and lighting will all be refurbished, restored or replaced in accordance to the space's original appearance - updated with plenty of electrical outlets to accommodate laptop computers. In Phase III the building's main entrance will be reopened with new glass doors and railing on the exterior stairs, while new restrooms and other amenities are added inside. You can read more about the renovation on the Syracuse Library website.

Tonto Revisited: Images of Native Americans in Syracuse

Syracuse, NY., Syracuse University. The Saltine Warrior by Luise Kaish (1951).

Syracuse, NY., Washington Park. The Kirkpatrick Monument, Gail Sherman Corbett (1908)

Tonto Revisited: Images of Native Americans in Syracuse
(all photos by Samuel D. Gruber)

This month there are several local exhibitions related to art by and representations of Native Americans. New art of Haudenosaunee artists is on view at the Everson Museum in the exhibition Haudenosaunee: Elements. Popular and especially commercial and advertising images American Indians fill the walls of ArtRage Gallery in an exhibition of the collection of artist Tom Huff, entitled Tonto Revisited. Tom, a Seneca/Cayuga artist living on the Onondaga Nation, has been collecting “Indian Kitsch” for over 25 years.

Images of Indians are hardly new in Syracuse, a city situated in the center of the Onondaga Nation at the heart of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy. These exhibitions should make people even more attentive. Here are just of few notable examples. I think it significant that the two greater works of art, that are also the most heroic representation of Indians, are by two notable women sculptors with ties to Syracuse -- Gail Sherman Corbett (1872-1951) and Luise Kaish (b. 1925). Corbett was born and raised in Syracuse. She studied sculpture with Augustus Saint-Gaudens at the Art Students League in New York later studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris (1898-99), before creating several impressive bronze monuments in her hometown, and then establishing herself in New York.

I've already written about her magnificent Kirkpatrick Monument recently restored in Washington Park. Her representation of the Onondaga goes beyond the (then) popular notion of the 'noble savage," to include them as full community partners - a partnership then denied to both Indians and all American women.

Corbett's contemporary and fellow Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Art Students League student James Earle Fraser (1876-1953) - who created some of the most lasting images of the Western Indian - is also well represented in Syracuse. At the SU Art Galleries in the Shaffer Art gallery you can see several of Fraser's works included a bronze model of his famous End of the Trail, sculpted for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exhibition. This work has been much discussed over the decades. It depicts a weary - perhaps defeated Indian on his horse. The work, .while idealized, is full of pathos. It is a reflection on a passing age, and a passing way of life, but it is not to be taken as a statement of white victory. The SU collection also has a large plaster model of Fraser's design for the Indian head (or buffalo) nickle, minted from 1913 to 1938, with its profile of an Indian on the obverse. The SU library and art collections together have the world’s largest collection of Fraser materials, including dozens of pieces of sculpture)


In 1951 Syracuse University grad student Luise Kaish presented another view of the Indian in her powerful sculpture of the University's then-mascot, the Saltine Warrior. Kaish, a student of Ivan Mestrovic, won the commission from the Class of 1951, and she sculpted a taut and muscular Indian archer shooting skyward - a figure as much in the tradition of Greek myth than the salt beds surrounding sacred Lake Onondaga. As appropriate for a school mascot - White or Indian - the warrior is bent with bow, but unbowed. Kaish almost certainly knew of Mestrovic's own two powerful mounted Indians - the Bowman and The Spearman - sculpted in Croatia but installed in Chicago in 1928.

Kaish went on to a distinguished career (I've written about her grand bronze Aron-ha Kodesh designed 50 years ago for Temple Brith Kodesh in Rochester (where she just spoke two weeks ago). Luise was the first woman to win the coveted Rome Prize Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome, among many other awards. She later led Columbia university's fine Arts Program. .

Syracuse, NY. Former Onondaga Savings Bank, dtl. South Salina Street entrance (1897).

I include two other Syracuse representations of Indians - clearly in submissive roles. A stern chief with headdress adorns the former Onondaga County Savings Bank (now M & T Bank) downtown. This is certainly an "honest Injun" encouraging trust in the bank - though the banking industry has hardly served Indian interests in the American western expansion.

Syracuse, NY. Columbus Circle. Columbus Monument.
V. Renzo Baldi, Sculptor, Dwight James Baum, architect (1934)

Similar Indian heads - uncomfortably disembodied - seem to support the figure of Columbus on the Columbus monument at Columbus Circle. These heads hangs like war trophies on the obelisk monument - the way navies have hung the prows of defeated ships on their victory stele.

Join Me (and Chuck Bucci) on October 24th for a Special Tour of Syracuse University Restored Buildings

Syracuse University. Tolley Humanities Center. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2010

Syracuse University. Crouse College. Stained glass windows detail.. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber.

Syracuse University. Slocum Hall. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2010

Join Me (and Chuck Bucci) on October 24th for a Special Tour of Syracuse University Restored Buildings

I'll be joined by professionals from the Syracuse University Office of Campus Planning, Design, and Construction to visit and discuss major restoration building on campus of the past five years. We'll talk about architecture, history, planning and restoration process, as well as the complex issues of need, use and cost that are essential to the success of the reinvention and reuse of any aolder building.

Here is the announcement:

Preservation Association of Central New York (PACNY) will offer a tour of three restored, rehabilitated, and reinvented buildings on the Syracuse University Campus. Join architectural historian Sam Gruber and campus planner Chuck Bucci on a visit to Crouse College, Tolley Humanities Center, and Slocum Hall as they discuss the history of these buildings and their architecture, and especially the long hard process of restoring and renovating these three structures in the past five years.

The tour will begin at 1:00 pm at the Crouse College south entrance (across from the Maxwell School) and will last 2 hours.

Crouse College was built in 1889 and is one of the original university buildings. Designed by noted Syracuse architect Archimedes Russell, its dramatic turreted form has long been a landmark on the Hill, dominating the area and visible from afar. The building now houses the main hub for SU's College of Visual and Performing Arts, the School of Music, several art studios, music practice rooms, a beautiful 1,000-seat auditorium, and Crouse's Holtkamp Organ. In 2005 PACNY awarded Syracuse University a Preservation Merit Award for its work on the restoration of the exterior masonry and the stained glass windows of Crouse College.

Tolley Humanities Center was also designed by Russell in 1889 as the Von Ranke Library, in a more severe medieval style, but still with turrets. In 1907, when Carnegie Library was built its purpose changed. Later it was named Tolley Hall and served as the university administration building. Since its 2007 renovation it has been the Humanities Center and houses a variety of interdisciplinary programs.

Slocum Hall was designed by Syracuse University School of Architecture professors Frederick W. Revels and Earl Hallenback and funded by philanthropist Mrs. Russell Sage as a memorial to her father. Construction began in April 1916, but due to World War I and labor shortages it was not finished until 1918. It served as the home of the agriculture school and other programs, including the School of Architecture. Last year, after a two-year renovation, the building became the home of the School of Architecture, which now occupies the entire building. The renovation was carried out by Garrison Architects, and is highlighted by the opening up of the building’s great atrium, which had been built over in past years to gain floor space.

Gruber and Bucci will discuss the broad process and implications of bringing old university buildings up to twenty-first century standards while still maintaining their historic form, and they will look at many of the details of how this was done in these three buildings. The tour will end with discussion of the University’s newest renovation project, now in its planning phase.

Donation for the tour will be $10.00 for PACNY Members and $12.00 for non-members.

Sam Gruber is past-president of PACNY, and is now Director of the Plastics Center at the Syracuse University Library. Chuck Bucci is Assistant Director for New Construction at the Syracuse University Office of Campus Planning, Design, and Construction. Adding their expertise to the tour will be Jack Osinski, Project Manager, and Chris Danek, Academic Space Planner, both from the Syracuse University Office of Campus Planning, Design, and Construction.

The member-based Preservation Association of Central New York has been the area’s citizen voice for historic preservation for over 35 years. Founded as a reaction to the widespread neglect and demolition of historic buildings and neighborhoods in the 1960’s, PACNY has led the successful effort to transform our community’s perception and care of its historic resources so that now the City of Syracuse and Onondaga County have over a dozen historic districts which contribute to the region’s cultural and economic vitality.

For further information about PACNY, contact Michael Flusche (President of PACNY) at 315-569-6761 or flusche99@yahoo.com. See the PACNY website at http://pacny.net/.

UPSTATE: A Center for Design, Research, and Real Estate will host the "Formerly Urban: Projecting Rust Belt Futures" conference at Syracuse University

Formerly Urban: Protecting Rust Belt Futures

An important conferenc will take place at the Syracuse Univeristy School of Architecture this week on "projecting rust belt futures." It looks like a very stimulating program, though I note the apparent exclusion of historic preservationists, and known developers who have used historic preservation as a catalyst for urban renewal (as has been done effectively in downtown Syracuse and in many other cities). I don't know the work of all the participants, so I might be mistaken. Certainly the local firm of Munly Brown Studio is located in an older bulding on Hanover Square (owned and also occupied by SU Dean Mark Robbins, also a participant). UPSTATe director Julia Czedrniak has been a lead advocate and designer of Syracuse's Connective Corridor.

UPSTATE: A Center for Design, Research, and Real Estate will host the "Formerly Urban: Projecting Rust Belt Futures" conference at Syracuse University School of Architecture October 13-14, 2010.

The two-day conference will focus on the future of shrinking cities in America's Rust Belt, underscoring the centrality of design and innovation in their revitalization. International experts from architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design, as well as planning, policy, finance and economics will consider the ways in which design innovation can create urbanity in weak market cities whose urban character has devolved radically due to economic, demographic, and physical change – cities that are now considered “formerly urban.”

“Although many metropolitan centers are growing rapidly,” says UPSTATE: director, Julia Czerniak, “rust belt cities suffer from the loss of city fabric, diminishing social welfare networks and basic services, eroding public school systems, the loss of industry, increasing amounts of tax delinquent and vacant land, crumbling infrastructure, and declining population. We’re looking forward to exploring these issues with such an impressive group of panelists.”

“This conference is part of an ongoing series that focuses on the city and contemporary best practices in architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design,” says Mark Robbins, dean of the School of Architecture. “Through UPSTATE:, this forum explores approaches that will shape the future of our urban centers, locally and worldwide.”

Adriaan Geuze, renowned Dutch landscape architect and co-founder of West 8 Urban Design & Landscape Architecture, a leading design practice in Europe, will deliver the keynote lecture on Thursday, October 13 at 5:30 p.m.. West 8 and Geuze have established an international reputation with a unique approach to planning and design of the public environment. He is the winner of several international design competitions, including Governor’s Island in NYC, Playa de Palma in Mallorca, and Toronto’s New Central Waterfront.

Five sessions will examine: case studies of cities that have fostered vibrant civic life within diffuse urban fabrics; regional strategies such as planned shrinkage, consolidation, and land-banking; the potentials of landscape to build upon and maintain vast amounts of emerging land; ways in which buildings, infrastructure and other design interventions can catalyze urban effects; and financing structures for innovative development in weak market cities.

Participants: Theodore Brown, Professor, Syracuse Architecture, Partner, Munly Brown Studio

McLain Clutter, Assistant Professor, A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan

Julia Czerniak, Associate Professor and Director, UPSTATE: at Syracuse Architecture; Founding Principal, CLEAR

Toni L. Griffin, Founder, Urban Planning & Design for the American City; Adjunct Associate Professor, Harvard University Graduate School of Design

Rosanne Haggerty, President and Founder, Common Ground Eelco Hooftman, Partner and Co-Founder, GROSS. MAX. landscape architects

Mark Linder, Associate Professor, Syracuse Architecture; Principal, CLEAR James F. Lima, Partner, HR&A Advisors, Inc. Brian Lonsway, Associate Professor, Syracuse Architecture

Sébastien Marot, PhD, Professor of History and Theory, École d'Architecture de la Ville et des Territoires

Jonathan Marvel, Principal and Co-Founder, Rogers Marvel Architects

Don Mitchell, Distinguished Professor, Department of Geography, Syracuse University

Edward Mitchell, Principal, Edward Mitchell Architects; Assistant Professor, Yale University School of Architecture

Hunter Morrison, Director, Office of Campus Planning and Community Partnerships, Youngstown State University

Anne Munly, Professor, Syracuse Architecture; Partner, Munly Brown Studio

Marc Norman, Vice President, Deutsche Bank Community Development Finance Group Darren Petrucci, Professor and Director, Herberger Institute School of Architecture + Landscape Architecture, Arizona State University; Principal and Founder, A-I-R [Architecture-Infrastructure-Research] Inc.

Damon Rich, Urban Designer, City of Newark; Founder, Center for Urban Pedagogy

Mark Robbins, Professor and Dean, Syracuse University School of Architecture

Roger Sherman, Principal and Founder, Roger Sherman Architecture + Urban Design; Adjunct Associate Professor and Co-Director at cityLAB, UCLA Architecture and Urban Design

Charles Waldheim, Professor and Chair, Department of Landscape Architecture, Harvard Graduate School of Design

Mark Willis, Resident Research Fellow, Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, New York University

Jane Wolff, Associate Professor and Director, Master of Landscape Architecture Program, Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, the University of Toronto

Andrew Zago, Founder and Principal, Zago Architecture; Design Faculty, Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc)

UPSTATE: A Center for Design, Research, and Real Estate was established at the Syracuse University School of Architecture in 2005 to engage innovative design and development practices and address critical issues of urban revitalization. A book based on the “Formerly Urban” conference will be published in spring 2012 through a collaboration of Syracuse Architecture and Princeton Architectural Press , funded in part by the Rockefeller Foundation. The “Formerly Urban” conference is supported by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts and the Deutsche Bank Foundation, with additional support provided by the Central New York Community Foundation. The conference is free and open to the public. On October 13, sessions begin at 1:00 p.m.; on October 14 at 9:00 a.m.. For more information, visit soa.syr.edu/formerlyurban

Park Avenue Boulevard Architectural Walking Tour - This Sunday (Oct 3)

Syracuse, NY. "Five Sisters" on Park Avenue in 2009. Photo: Peter Chen, Post Standard

Park Avenue Boulevard Architectural Walking Tour - This Sunday (Oct 3)

Join PACNY vice-president, landscape architect, and Park Avenue home owner Jeff Romano on a walking tour of one of Syracuse's loveliest - but little known - streets - street that is a neighborhood. Park Avenue's Victorian "five sisters" houses recently received a PACNY preservation award, and St. Paul's Armenian Apostolic Church was also recently placed on the National Register of Historic Places (formerly Park Ave Methodist Church, built in 1888).

I hope to attend - but as a looker and listener only!

Historic Neighborhood Tour

Come explore one of Syracuse’s historic neighborhoods, see the city’s history in a new light.

Preservation Association of Central New York (PACNY)

will host a walking tour of the Park Avenue Boulevard in Syracuse, Sunday, October 3, from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm.

This tour will travel along the 300 - 600 blocks of Park Avenue and a side street or two. Come walk a timeline of the development of a neighborhood starting around 1830. On this tour, you will be introduced the beautiful "five sisters," the recently refurbished residences facing Leavenworth Park, and industrial remnants along with current developments. All of this will fit into a broader historical view of the neighborhood from its beginnings to what we have inherited as it is today, and a view into its future.

Please meet in the center of Leavenworth Park - rain or shine.

The tour starts promptly at 2:00 pm from Leavenworth Park (Leavenworth Ave at Park Ave .) 1 block south of West Genesee and 2 blocks north of Erie Blvd. The tour will finish at St. Paul's Armenian Apostolic Church, which was recently placed on the National Register of Historic Places (formerly Park Ave Methodist Church, built in 1888).

The tour will be hosted by landscape architect Jeff Romano, Vice President of PACNY and a member of the Syracuse Landmark Preservation Board.

Snacks and refreshments will be provided.

Restrooms will be available.

Donation:

PACNY members - $10

Non members - $12

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

The member-based Preservation Association of Central New York has been the area’s citizen voice for historic preservation for over 35 years. Founded as a reaction to the widespread neglect and demolition of historic buildings and neighborhoods in the 1960’s, PACNY has led the successful effort to transform our community’s perception and care of its historic resources so that now the City of Syracuse and Onondaga County have over a dozen historic districts which contribute to the region’s cultural and economic vitality. For further information about PACNY, contact Michael Flusche (President of PACNY) at 315-569-6761 or flusche99@yahoo.com. See the PACNY website at http://pacny.net.

You can read more about preservationist and PACNY member Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows, who also lives on the Park Avnue, on Post-Standard reporter Maureen Sieh's blog.

The Future of Blodgett and Central Schools: A Panel Discussion at the OHA Museum

The Future of Blodgett and Central Schools:

A Panel Discussion at the OHA Museum

Sunday, September 26, 2010

2 PM at the OHA Museum

Sponsored by the Onondaga Historical Association and

the Preservation Association of Central New York

Syracuse, NY. Former Central High School (1903)

In conjunction with its current exhibit, Recapturing that Old School Spirit: Syracuse High Schools of Days Gone By, the Onondaga Historical Association (OHA) Museum is hosting a panel discussion on the future of two of those buildings: Blodgett and Central.

Of Syracuse’s older high school buildings that remain, most have found new or continuing uses. The future of two, however, has been somewhat murky. Central High School, opened in 1903 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, has been empty for 35 years, despite its key downtown location. Recent plans to transform it into a major technical school for the region have faltered, leaving its future uncertain.

Blodgett, opened in 1918 as a vocational high school, now serves as a K-8 facility, but one in serious need of rehabilitation. The planning for that rehabilitation has become a much-discussed topic of late, as the Syracuse School District and the city administration wrestle with renovation budgets for a number of city schools. Some have even questioned whether Blodgett should be included.

Syracuse, NY. Blodgett School (1918)

OHA’s exhibit touches on the topic of these buildings, their historic status and meaning to the community. To engage the community further, OHA has joined with the Preservation Association of Central New York to organize a panel discussion about the topic. Participating on the panel are the following:

Ned Duell, Syracuse City School Board

Anne Messenger,Near West Side Initiative

Sehl Burns, Central High School Alumnus

Doug Sutherland, Local Developer

Nadar Maroon, Syracuse City Council

Beth Crawford, Preservation Association of Central New York

Serving as moderator for the discussion will be Sean Kirst, columnist for The Post-Standard newspaper.

Illustrations of Syracuse schools long gone and forgotten,from Boyd's Syracuse City Directory, 1883-84

May School at Seneca Street between Otisco and Tully.

Prescott School, Willow Street above Lock Street

Syracuse High School, W. Genesee St at Onondaga Creek (1869)

Those who plan to attend this program are encouraged to come early to view the related exhibit at the OHA Museum. The Museum is located at 321 Montgomery Street in downtown Syracuse. Admission is free.

For more information, contact the OHA Museum at 428-1864

T. Aaron Levy School (formerly Nottingham high School) in the Westcott Neighborhood.
Its future as a school is uncertain.

Centennial of Syracuse's Temple Concord Cornerstone

USA: Centennial of Syracuse's Temple Concord Cornerstone
by Samuel D. Gruber


(ISJM) This month marks the 100th anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone of present building of Temple Society of Concord, the oldest Jewish institution in Central New York and one of the oldest existing American congregations. The congregation will kick off this building centennial year (or years) with a brief ceremony and a wine and cheese reception before Shabbat services on Friday, September 10th. Events associated with the Jewish architecture and the building will be taking place all year, culminating with a re-dedication of the historic sanctuary next fall. The International Survey of Jewish Monuments has its office at Temple Concord, and I'll be giving a talk "Temple Concord, Jewish Architecture and City Beautiful" on April 11, 2011.

To take you back 100 years here is the story from the Syracuse Post-Standard from September 19, 1910 about the cornerstone laying ceremony. The full text of congregation president Gates Thalheimer is given. Thalheimer's remarks are indicative of American Reform sentiments at the time. I've written an article about these, and the role played by classical style architecture in promoting these sentiments and ideals, that should be out sometime in 2011.

The Post-Standard, Syracuse, N.Y., September 19, 2010

(transcribed by Samuel Gruber)

Corner Stone of Temple set with Trowel of Gold

Impressive Services Are Held by Society of Concord

Rev. Dr. Guttman, Assisted by Two Rabbis Conducts Services.

Prominent Hebrews of City Congratulate Church Upon Progress

The corner stone of the $85,000 house of worship bring erected at University avenue and Madison street by the Temple Society of Concord was set yesterday afternoon with a gold trowel presented by the Building Committee to the president of the society, Gates Thalheimer. Despite the unfavorable weather there was a large congregation at the impressive ceremonies which marked an important epoch in the growth of the society.

The corner stone contains a copper box in which was placed the customary documents, and on one side is this inscription: “Society of Concord, 1910.” The building, it is expected, will be dedicated in June next year.

Rev. Adolph Guttman, rabbi of the society, was assisted in conducting the services by Rabbis Jacob Kohn and J. H. Stolz. Besides Dr. Guttman and Mr. Thalheimer addresses were made by Dr. Nathan Jacobson, Dr. Henry L. Einer and Henry Danziger, chairman of the Building Committee. Dr. Guttman made an appeal for Godliness, declaring that no enterprise can succeed without the spirit of God. Dr. Jacobson said he regarded the ceremony as an important event in Jewish history in Syracuse and vicinity, and referred to it as the first evidence of expansion. “There are only two conditions in this world,” said Dr. Jacobson, “namely, growth and decay. We are showing growth. What we want inside of these cold walls is a spirit that will give life and sympathy and the development of religious thoughts and principle. Such an institution will bid welcome to all who seek admission.”

Dr. Eisner believed the influence of the Temple Society of Concord in its new building would be far-reaching. He spoke of the value of culture and good influence.

The trowel was presented to Mr. Thalheimer by Henry Danziger. It is engraved as follows: “With this trowel was set the corner stone of the Temple Society of Concord in 1910. Presented to Gates Thalheimer, president, by the members of the Building Committee.

Mr. Thalmeimer made a short address which was cordially received. In part he said:

The laying of this corner stone is an event, toward which many of us have looked for a long time. When the thought of building a new Temple first arose among us there were many problems to settle. First among these was the matter of location. I am sure that now we will all agree that this problem was settled right. Many of our people have worshiped in the old Temple at State and Harrison streets. That Temple has had a noble history. There are many tender associations there, which we shall not forget. But changes of population have been great since our old Temple was built. We have chosen, therefore, this place on this hill, surrounded by a fine neighborhood of beautiful homes, close to the campus of a great university. It does seem a most appropriate place for us to locate and build. We shall cherish the memories of the old house of God, but our faces are turned towards the future and we are planning for the years to come. We are thinking of our children, and of our children’s children. We are carrying out a programme which ought to increase the usefulness and influence of our society.

What we are doing now ought to forecast a new epoch of prosperity and provide a permanent home for our people for generations to come.

Our business now is to complete this Temple, equip it, pay for it and do our best to make it a worthy monument to the living vitality of the faith of Israel. So much in a business way.

I am not your pastor. I would be out of place preaching to you, or exhorting you. I certainly have no desire to pose as a religious leader. But there are thoughts that crowd the mind of a plain business man at such a time as this. There are associations with our temple building which stir ancient and noble memories. There are interests here greater than those of brick and stone and builder’s accounts.

We who are members of this temple Society of Concord are also members of the household of Israel. We ought to be proud of this fact. We ought to be glad that we are Israelistes. It is the best thing in all that we inherit form the past that we were born among that ancient people whose history is older than the throne of Caesar’s or the ideas of Plato.

To-day we are far from the home where our fathers lived. The land they loved is in ruins. The temple they built is no more. Some among our people dream of a time when they will return to Palestine and rebuilt her waste places. Perhaps that time may come. Possibly some future age may see Zion restored to her ancient beauty. But that is not for us who are settled here in this new world. We are a remnant of the people of God, but we have learned to love this great Republic. We are among its citizens. Its duties and its right are ours.

This brings me to my final word and to the thought which is behind all I have so far said. This land of ours is a great workshop. Its looms and wheels turn fast. The opportunities for education, wealth and power are marvelous. The temptations are also great. We are drawn into the whirlpool of this vast tumult. This is no time nor place for ancient superstitions or outgrown fables.

But it is a time to recall the one thing which has made Israel immortal. We are to be modern up to date men and women. We are to be Americans. But it will be a miserable mistake if we forget that we are also of that people who made that ancient covenant with Jehovah. With malice toward none and with love toward all we are building this Temple because we are sharers in Israel’s hope. That hope which from Abraham until now has never failed our race.

The very thing we can do for ourselves, four our children, and for our country, is to renew our vows to the God of our fathers that in our day and generation we will serve Him. This Temple is to be our pledge that Israel’s faith is one, and that though we are divided by continents and seas and languages, yet our hope is one.

Several hymns were sung by the quartet choir of the Temple Society of Concord under the direction of George K. Van Deusen.

Historic Ithaca to Hold Window Workshops in September

The replacement of good long lasting wooden windows with new short-lasting vinyl replacements is one the most unnecessary changes wrought in older houses in older neighborhoods. Fast sales talk and sometime public energy savings subsidies often convince homeowners that rplacing old windows with new is cheaper, cleaner, easier and hassle free. I ain't so! Vinyl isn't final, and even when it lasts, poor installation, shoddy mechanisms and other faults often make "replacement" windows in need of replacement within a decade. Here's a chance - courtesy of Historic Ithaca - for contractors and others to learn more about working with older windows. Maybe we'll be able to bring this program to Syracuse...but until then here is an opportunity.

Historic Ithaca to Hold Window Workshops in September

Can you really believe everything the window salesman says about replacing your historic wood windows?

Many old windows have lasted 100 or more years. With the right repairs and maintenance, they'll last another 200 and be as energy-efficient as replacement windows.

Historic Ithaca is offering two hands-on wood window restoration workshops in September: a four-day intensive course for contractors, painters, and other building professionals and a one-day hands-on workshop for homeowners, landlords, and property managers.

The one-day workshop will equip building owners to keep their old windows in good working order. Participants will learn the basic skills to perform affordable and lasting window repairs. This workshop will be held on Saturday, September 25, 10am–4pm at Historic Ithaca's headquarters, 212 Center Street, Ithaca NY.

The four-day workshop will prepare professionals for successful work on clients' windows. This comprehensive on-site course includes evaluating conditions, removing windows, repairing damaged wood, reglazing, installation and restoration of hardware, paint removal, and lead safety. This workshop will be held Tuesday, September 21 through Friday, September 24, 9am–4pm each day.

Advance registration is required and space is limited in both workshops. The registration fee for the one-day workshop is $95 ($85 for Friends of Historic Ithaca) and the four-day workshop is $425 ($395 for Friends of Historic Ithaca). The fee is non-refundable and includes lunches and refreshments. Register online at http://www.historicithaca.org/.

Workshop instructor Steve Jordan is a graduate of Cornell University's Historic Preservation Planning program and a contributing editor for Old-House Journal magazine. He was formerly the rehab advisor for the Landmark Society of Western New York and an architectural conservator for Bero Architecture. He is the author of numerous articles about old-house repair and historic preservation, and he has many years of hands-on experience working on his own and his clients' old homes.

Historic Ithaca's window workshops are funded through a grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and through the support of these sponsors: Argos Inn, Chemung Canal Trust Company, Crawford & Stearns Architects and Preservation Planners, and Taitem Engineering.

For more information, visit www.historicithaca.org

Holy Trinity Church Named Syracuse Protected Site

Holy Trinity Church Named Syracuse Protected Site

Last week the Syracuse Common Council designated Holy Trinity Church at 501 Park Street as a City of Syracuse Protected Site. The action will help protect the historic and beautiful Gothic-style church from drastic change, though it does not offer full protection - only a good program of appropriate use and adequate funding can do that. Now that the building is protected the real planning for its future can begin - and it will not be easy!

(Holy Trinity church stained Glass. Photos by Samuel D. Gruber
click on any image picture for larger image)

The Preservation Association of Central New York supported the designation of Holy Trinity Church as a Local Protected Site based on its historic, architectural and artistic significance to the city and Central New York. Here is the statement that PACNY presented to the Planning Commission that was also considered by the Common Council. I was happy that I was able to provide the Landmarks Preservation Board with some additional information about the architect and the maker of the glorious stained glass. I've previously posted galleries of photos of the church exterior and interior. Today I'm also including images of the stained glass windows.

The Preservation Association of Central New York supports the designation of Holy Trinity Church as a Local Protected Site based on its historic, architectural and artistic significance to the city and Central New York.

Holy Trinity Church, built from 1905 to 1912, is one of Syracuse’s most impressive Gothic Revival buildings. Designed by Syracuse University trained architect Charles W. Eldridge (1882-1947) and decorated by dozens of large stained glass windows from the studio of Otto F. Andrle (d. 1933) of Buffalo, the two-towered Gothic church is one of Syracuse’s most striking neighborhood landmarks and one of its finest religious spaces.

The closing of the church was announced in December 2009, together with the pending closing of Saint John the Evangelist Church, another great Gothic building that once served as the city’s Catholic Cathedral. Protected Site designation will recognize the inherent qualities in the building and, and in the spirit of the ordinance, it is our hope that designation will help protect these qualities whatever the use to which the building is put in the future. We especially urge the designation of the complete exterior envelope of the church including its exceptional stained glass windows, as well the interior space of the sanctuary with all of its built-in architectural elements (columns, capitals, moldings, etc.).

At the turn of the 20th century, the Northside was home to many German Catholic and Lutheran churches. Many of these were in the Gothic style, a favorite among German-American immigrants beginning in the 1840s. Most are now demolished or transformed to different use. For at least the last half-century the congregation of Holy Trinity has been heavily Italian. More recently, a number of the new parishioners have been Vietnamese Catholics. Whatever the parishioners’ national origins, the great German-Gothic hall style church has been a landmark of architecture, community and faith in the neighborhood. Its tall two-towered façade, augmented by its location on a local highpoint, soars above other buildings in area. It is the most impressive building of any sort in that part of the city.

The interior of the structure is striking. The impressive open space is in the German Gothic tradition in which the considerable height is maintained across all three aisles for the entire width of the church. That also means there are no side galleries, just a choir loft over the entrance narthex (vestibule). The great open space accentuates the light, color and line of the excellent set of narrative stained glass windows by Otto Andrle Studio of Buffalo. They rank among the very best in Central New York. They include many traditional images, but also several unusual window scenes, such as that of the Garden of Eden. The windows are inscribed with passages in German and were mostly donated by members and member societies. (The Syracuse Landmark Preservation Board has a list of all windows subjects and the names of donors).

Otto Francis Andrle was born and educated in Buffalo and was a student of Buffalo artist Lars G. Sellstedt. “Early in his youth, he completed an apprenticeship with Florian Feyl, frescoing, and studied stained glass painting in the studios of Booth and Riester, later the Buffalo Stained Glass works, the pioneer craftsmen of the art in Buffalo. From about 1893 to 1902 he operated his own painting and decorating business, Andrle & Co. at 222-224 Genesee Street in Buffalo. The Teck and Star theaters were among the many Buffalo homes, schools and churches that exhibited his work.” [www.andrle.com/chris/windows2.htm]. Andrle was also an actor, making his professional debut in 1892. He founded the Otto F. Andrle Stained Glass and Art Institute with Jacob J. Diebolt in 1913 after his retirement from the stage.

The church architect was Charles Eldridge (1882-1947), who was born in Canandaigua and received his architectural training at Syracuse University and in the offices of Gordon and Madden and Harry C. Parks. Eldridge opened his own office in 1912 and Holy Trinity must be one of his very first significant commissions. Eldridge went on to become a prominent architect in Rochester and head architect for the Rochester Diocese. He later was an Associate in the firm of Gordon and Kaelber. Among his important works in Rochester are the Columbus Civic Center and its auditorium, the Eastman Theater at the Eastman School of Music, the Rundel Memorial Library, and Corpus Christi Church, Holy Rosary Church, Saint Peter and Paul Church, St. Mary’s Hospital and St. Mary’s Church in Canandaigua. Holy Trinity Church is the only building in Syracuse known to have been designed by Eldridge.

The architect demonstrated his design competence in this early work, aided by first-rate plasterers who carried out all the interior decorative work, including the capitals. The building is probably brick throughout - with the interior covered with plaster roughed and scored and painted to look like ashlar stone blocks. The vaults appear to be plaster, which could be verified by an examination from above in the attic space.

This building is still in very good condition. Two extended visits to the church earlier this year and examination all of the publicly accessible areas, including the tower stairway to the organ loft, revealed a small number of areas visibly in need of repair. There are small areas of deteriorated plaster from water damage in the west tower stairwell. These seemed to be dry, indicating that the source of the damage (which was probably bad drainage off the roof) has been repaired. Also a small area of peeling paint and plaster is visible in the northeast section of the sanctuary. Thus, it is fair to say that this building is not comparable to some other religious structures which suffered from deferred maintenance. The Catholic Diocese and the parish have devotedly maintained this building well for almost a century.