My Upcoming Lecture: "Temple Concord, Jewish Architecture and City Beautiful"

My Upcoming Lecture: "Temple Concord, Jewish Architecture and City Beautiful"

You are invited to the upcoming (free) illustrated talk “Temple Concord, Jewish Architecture and City Beautiful,” at Temple Concord next Monday, April 11, at 6 pm.

The talk is part of the on-going celebration of the centennial the National Register listed sanctuary which will culminate with a public re-dedication in September. The talk, co-sponsored by Preservation Association of Central New York (PACNY), is part of Temple Concord’s ongoing series featuring Syracuse University faculty presenting their work to an audience further down the Hill.

I will discuss the architecture of Temple Concord in the context of American synagogue design, the evolution of Reform Judaism and as an example of early 20th century civic architecture.



The talk will address several of my ongoing research/activist interests – synagogue architecture, the history of urban planning, and the past and future of Syracuse. Just as today; Concord when designed and built (1909-1911) was literally a pivotal building on the Connective Corridor. Its design had roots in consulting-architect Arnold Brunner’s (with Alfred Taylor) past work and writing about the origins of the synagogue, but it also was tied to the new Neo-Classical plan adopted by Syracuse University in 1906 and the completion of the new County Courthouse downtown the same year.




lecIn 1910, Brunner, who was the favorite architect of the New York Jewish establishment, became president of the American Institute of Architects New York chapter. He was nationally recognized as the leading designer and historian of synagogues in America, but also as one of the country’s foremost urban planners, thinkers and the most public and articulate spokesperson for what he called “City Practical.,” but which we now think of as the City Beautiful Movement. The same year that Concord was dedicated, Brunner’s Cleveland Federal Building was also completed culminating Brunner’s decade service with Daniel Burnham and John Carrere as the triumvirate behind the famed Cleveland Plan.

Researching the History of Your Home Part I, Feb 26th

Researching the History of Your Home

Part 1

Presented by the Preservation Association

of Central New York

in Partnership with

The Onondaga County Public Library

Saturday, February 26, 2011, 2-4pm.

Onondaga County Public Library, Local History / Genealogy, 5th Floor, Smith Room

The Galleries of Syracuse

447 South Salina Street, Syracuse, NY

If walls could talk, oh, the stories your house would tell…

If you own an older home, you’ve probably at some point wondered who slept in your bedroom long before you, when your plumbing was last updated, or, maybe, why that ghost keeps hiding your car keys. Want to get a glimpse into the secret past of your abode?

Join us for a presentation on tips and techniques for home history research hosted by PACNY followed by a tour of the OCPL Local History / Genealogy Department with discussion and examples of all the really neat stuff contained therein!

We’ll share with you the secrets of where to search for your home’s history, what rocks to look under, how to be a genuine house detective! The OCPL Librarians will share with you the unbelievable wealth of resources they have at your disposal. They will show you how to use historical files, Obits, maps, directories and that grossly underestimated jewel, THE CATALOGUE!

So, mark the date and don’t miss it!

Part 2 of the series will be presented by PACNY in partnership with the Onondaga Historical Association on Sunday, November 20, 2011, 2-4 pm. at OHA, 321 Montgomery Street, Syracuse NY.

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/.

Scottholm Neighborhood Documented By Cornell Students

Scottholm Neighborhood Documented by Cornell Students
by Samuel D. Gruber

Early in December representatives from the city's Bureau of Planning & Sustainability and students from Cornell University's Historic Preservation Program presented some of their results of a survey of 175 residential properties in Syracuse's attractive Scottholm neighborhood, on the East Side, two miles from downtown. Dick Case has already reported on the presentation and summarizes some of the findings in the Post-Standard, but I present some additional information and my own take on the history and the process.



The Cornell group presented their work in an attractive booklet that summarizes the history of the neighborhood and its development as well as the various styles of domestic architecture built - mostly during the 1920s. The publication is available on the City's website, through the Bureau of Planning & Sustainability page: http://www.syracuse.ny.us/uploadedFiles/Departments/Planning_and_Sustainability/Content/Scottholm%20booklet%20-%20FINAL_small.pdf. a color-coded map showing all house and street names and numbers and the periods of developments is particular helpful (especially to people like me who need help labeling photos when the house number is clearly visible).


Much of the booklet is taken up with reprinting style definitions from standard handbooks, but this may be useful to area residents, especially when the styles are applied to specific neighborhood houses, a few of which are featured as "house spotlights." Because of the nature of the accessible sources, most of the descriptive texts for individual houses is about the history of ownership with little specific information about the architect or designer, or the sources of the ready made plans.
It is often now impossible to recovery this information, or its take luck in finding plans, correspondence or recorded and signed contracts.

Development of the area began with creation of Genesee Turnpike, now Genesee Street in the 1830s, but what would became “Scottholm Estates” was sketched out in 1914 and lots were sold beginning in 1915. The survey identifies only about thirty houses as dating from from the 1915-1925. Most date from the late 1920s and some even from the early 1930s, suggesting the effects of the Depression took a while to by fully felt by Syracuse's white collar (and white color) commercial and other professionals, who made up a substantial portion of the neighborhood residents. Scottholm was designed by a landscape architect and planner Arthur C. Comey following the popular ideals for new garden suburbs easily reached by streetcar from urban commercial centers. These new developments, of which Syracuse has several notable examples, are typified by winding streets, mandated setbacks and front yards, organized tree-planting alongside sidewalks, and various protective covenants regarding ownership qualifications. The stone gates at the entrance to the neighborhood at Scottholm from East Genesee Street remain in place.

John W. Reps provides this biographical information about Comey on his invaluable website about American urban planning history before 1914:

Arthur Coleman Comey (1886-1954) graduated cum laude from Harvard University at the age of twenty­one in 1907 with a degree in landscape architecture. His teacher, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. helped place Comey in his first two positions as a park planner in Dixon, Illinois and as Superintendent of Parks in Utica, New York. In 1911 Comey returned to Cambridge where he began his practice as "Consultant on City Planning." In 1912 the City of Houston, Texas, retained him to prepare a city planning report, and he wrote this article that October proposing a system of regulating building height and bulk and the minimum size of lots.

In 1911 he decided to enter the international competition for the design of the Australian Federal Capital. Although he did not win a prize, his design was the second choice of the minority judge. Comey's career as a city planner had only begun. He entered and won second prize in 1913 in a competition sponsored by the Chicago City Club for the design of a typical 160­ acre tract in that city. In 1914 he won first prize of $5,000 in a competition with 146 participants for the design of a 350­ acre harbor, industrial, business, and residential complex at Richmond, California.

In 1914 he also began work on a study of suburban planning for the City Plan and Improvement Commission of Detroit. He also designed the garden suburb of Billerica, Massachusetts, a state-sponsored project. By 1917 Comey had served at least nine towns and cities, including Beverly, Brookline, Cambridge, Fitchburg, and Lawrence, all in the state of Massachusetts, and Woonsocket, Rhode Island.

He also was a Town Planner for the U. S. Housing Corporation in 1918 and 1919. Doubtless he drew on this experience during his twelve­year teaching career that began in 1928 when he was appointed a lecturer in the School of Landscape Architecture. He became an Assistant Professor in Harvard's School of City Planning and an Associate Professor in the Department of Regional Planning. During the 1930's and early 1940s he was also consultant to the U.S. National Resources Planning Board. With Max S. Wehrly Comey prepared a major study of American planned communities.

Comey was at one time an associate editor of the National Municipal Review and edited for publication in the Harvard City Planning Series a collection of the papers of Alfred Bettman. His own study for that series, Transition Zoning, published in 1933, reflects his interest in the legal and regulatory aspect of planning that he saw as necessary as ability in design. Among his other publications are Regional Planning Theory and Integration of the New England Regional Plan.

Comey helped found and became secretary and later vice chairman of the Massachusetts Federation of Planning Boards. He was a founding member of the American City Planning Institute in 1917 and was a member of its Board of Governors. He was a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Institute of Consulting Engineers, and the American Planning and Civic Association. He was also president of the Boston Society of Landscape Architects.

His most elaborate contribution to Landscape Architecture was his "Regional Planning Theory: A Reply to the British Challenge," published in 1923. Illustrated with several line drawings and color plates, this advocated a policy of multi­directional city growth along radial transportation lines laid out on hexagonal patterns.

One interesting fact from the student's research is that a “considerable Jewish presence in the Scottholm tract, beginning in the first decades through the 20th century.” This reflects the first big move east of the City's more affluent Jewish community, especially those like the Marksons (documented here) in retail trade. According to the report: "A notable business in Syracuse, the Markson Brothers company specialized in the sale of furniture and other home goods. Started by four Polish immigrant brothers in 1905, Markson Brothers had stores in downtown Syracuse, Utica, Auburn, Oswego, and Rome. Several members of the next generation of Marksons continued to operate the business for years to come. Interestingly, several members of the Markson family decided to settle in Scottholm during its first years of development." The extended Markson family occupied at least four houses in the development.

The presence of Jews in Scottholm in its early years probably distingishes it from most other garden suburbs. However, it does reflect the outward migration of Jews from city centers that began even before the widespread development of ex-urban suburbs following World War II. Similar migration patterns of Jews (and other immigrant groups) along streetcar lines can be seen in Boston, Cleveland, Detroit and many other cities.

There are some large and distinctive houses in the neighborhood, especially on Scottholm Boulevard and the north end of Scottholm Terrance when some interesting houses are built high in and up on the hillside. But since most Scottholm houses were built at a time of design and material standardization. Structurally most houses are the same, and what is called "style" is most often only represents modest different - perhaps the angle of a roof line, the proportion of windows, the type of siding preferred, or the decoration. There is no historic and little social difference between a 1920s "colonial," "Tudor," or Spanish," house when built on the same street in the same neighborhood. Similar houses are can be found in developments across the United States. The most significant difference which might given some insight into the original owner's taste or status is whether the house is a standard purchased pattern from a book, builder's catalog or developments template or whether it is a unique architect-designed house. In Central New York as in most of country the former type is the norm.

We do have in Syracuse, however, houses designed by Ward Wellington Ward (such Sanderson House at 301 Scottholm Blvd), Albert Brockway and a few others that have been documented, and possibly many others still to be researched. Some of these can be found in Scottholm. One of the most significant houses in the Scottholm neighborhood is excluded from the survey because of its relatively recent date, but this the Louis and Celia Skoler Residence at 213 Scottholm Terrace designed in 1957 by Louis Skoler (d. 2008). It is one of the most significance modern houses in the region, and is already listed on the National Register of Historic Places and as a designated local protected site (another fine Skoler House can be seen as 953 Comstock Ave. near the University where Skoler taught in the School of Architecture for 30 years).

The real meat of the Scottholm survey will be the reports on the history and architecture of the individual properties - and this has not yet been released. Katelyn Wright, a land use planner for the city says that it should be forthcoming early in 2011.

This survey is one small but necessary step in the improvement of the city's information regarding history and architecture. Relatively speaking - this project was an easy one - since it deals with properties built more or less at the same time under similar circumstances, and still occupied and well maintained. Fortunately, much information on such residential areas can be found through reviews of deed histories, city directories and importantly the real estate pages of the Post-Standard which are quite informative for new development after about 1910. Alas, we lack such details reporting for most 19th century neighborhoods - especially those on the West and North sides. Since those are the areas more deteriorated and endangered, they are the areas that cry out for research and better listing on the city's historic property registers.

We have now documented the post-World War I houses and landscaped developments of Sedgewick, Berkeley Park Strathmore and Scottholm. We really need to turn our attention to the more distressed areas of the city.

Unlike in Scottholm, unfortunately this is work not so easily done as course work for students, and the City has not in the past allocated funds for this kind of work, and is especially short of resources now. The likelihood of being able to hire graduated (and experienced) preservationists to do this work is slight. It is hoped, however, that with the new committed staff at the city’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, that outside resources may be procured.

Meanwhile, local professional and organizations will as always be called on to fill the informational breach. In the past this has been mostly in reaction to specific threats, often at the eleventh hour and too late. It is hoped that the new preservation planners will be able to better identify endangered areas, and marshall talent and resources to these sites.

According to Katelyn Wright "With regard to a preservation plan, City preservation staff (Kate Auwaerter and myself) are currently in the preliminary stages of developing a strategic plan for the local preservation program. We expect this plan to include many of the strategies called for in the ESF plan and are consulting the faculty that were involved in that effort." The ESF plan was a major step forward in articulating a rationale city policy toward historic preservation, and clearly demonstrating links between preservation, land use, quality of life and economically sustainable development. Unfortunately, until now it has largely been ignored. You can read of copy of it here.

Katelyn and Kate will publicly share some of these plans and their thoughts on local preservation priorities at the PACNY annual meeting on January 23rd. Meantime, a one-page handout outlining the City's preservation policy and priorities is available here: http://www.syracuse.ny.us/uploadedFiles/Departments/Planning_and_Sustainability/Content/Preservation%20Handout.pdf

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.