Architecture Worth Saving in Onondaga County is a 1964 book that surveyed buildings across Onondaga County, New York, and discussed their historical value. Undertaken by the New York State Council on the Arts, and compiled by a group of professors at the Syracuse University School of Architecture, the book was initially well received by historians and architects who hoped the book would be the first of several profiling buildings with historic and architectural value around the United States. However, the book was out of print by 1975, and many of the buildings listed had been destroyed.
The New York State Council on the Arts developed Architecture Worth Saving in Onondaga County in the early 1960s. It was created as a "pilot project", and the Council intended that similar studies would be conducted in other places. William Hull, assistant director of the Council, started the project, while the Syracuse University School of Architecture led by Harley J. McKee carried it out. [1] Other architects at the school involved in writing the book were Patricia Day Earle, Paul Malo, and Peter Andrews. A forward was written by John H. MacFayden. Most of the photographs included were taken by Gilbert Ask. [2]
The book includes descriptions of 64 buildings across 206 pages. They considered buildings for their "architectural merit, unisequences of style, representation of period and historical value," with a focus on commercial buildings in the downtown area, which were considered to be at the greatest risk for destruction. Architecture Worth Saving also offered suggestions on how to save the architecture, including ways to re-purpose old buildings. [1] Buildings listed included: [3]
A review published in New York History praised the book as a "worthy volume" that would hopefully be the first of several surveys creating "unique collections" of commentary and images on New York's historic architecture. [2] Upon publication, an article in The New York Times wrote that after sending out information on the report to various officials and programs, "[t]he response in replies ha[d] far exceeded the council's expectations." [1] Ada Louise Huxtable considered the work a "significant pilot report" and described it as a "remarkably competent survey of buildings of architectural value and historical importance." Huxtable also hoped that the book would be the first of a series of several such projects in other American cities. [4]
A 1975 article in Pioneer America by Peirce F. Lewis argued that "the historic preservation movement in the United States has been, and continues to be, a thundering failure." He noted that the book had gone out of print, "perhaps because it has become obsolete— so many of the 'worth saving' buildings have been destroyed since the book was published, less than a dozen years ago." [5] In a 1976 article Clifford E. Clark cited the book as one of the best studies of American domestic architecture. [6]
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, Yonkers, and Rochester.
Marcellus is a village in the town of Marcellus in Onondaga County, New York, United States. The population was 1,813 at the 2010 census. The village is southwest of Syracuse and is in the southern part of the town of Marcellus.
The Onondaga Limestone is a group of hard limestones and dolomites of Devonian age that form an important geographic feature in some areas in which it outcrops; in others, especially its Southern Ontario portion, the formation can be less prominent as a local surface feature.
Arthur Delevan Gilman was an American architect, designer of many Boston neighborhoods, and member of the American Institute of Architects.
This is a list of the properties and districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Onondaga County, New York. The locations of National Register properties and districts may be seen in a map by clicking on "Map of all coordinates". There are 167 properties and districts listed on the National Register in the county. Of those, 55 are outside the city of Syracuse, and are listed here, while the rest are covered in National Register of Historic Places listings in Syracuse, New York. One property, the New York State Barge Canal, spans both the city and the remainder of the county.
Columbus Circle is a neighborhood and plaza in the downtown section of Syracuse, New York, United States. At the center of the circle is a large fountain and the Columbus Monument, designed by the Syracuse-born architect Dwight James Baum and dedicated in 1934. Columbus Circle is home to Syracuse's two cathedrals, the Episcopalian St. Paul's Cathedral and the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, as well as the Onondaga County Courthouse and the John H. Mulroy Civic Center.
Plainville is a hamlet on NY Route 370, approximately 4.5 miles west of Baldwinsville in Onondaga County, New York, United States.
Joseph Lyman Silsbee was a significant American architect during the 19th and 20th centuries. He was well known for his facility of drawing and gift for designing buildings in a variety of styles. His most prominent works ran through Syracuse, Buffalo and Chicago. He was influential as mentor to a generation of architects, most notably architects of the Prairie School including the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
The Gridley Building, built in 1867 and known previously as the Onondaga County Savings Bank Building, is a prominent historic building on Clinton Square and Hanover Square in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was designed by Horatio Nelson White and was built adjacent to what was then the Erie Canal and is now Erie Boulevard.
Syracuse Savings Bank Building, also known as Bank of America building, is a historic building in Syracuse, New York designed by Joseph Lyman Silsbee.
The Hall of Languages is a Syracuse University building designed by Horatio Nelson White in the Second Empire architectural style, and built in 1871–73. It was the first building constructed on the Syracuse University campus and the building originally housed the entire university.
Archimedes Russell was an American architect most active in the Syracuse, New York area.
Grace Episcopal Church is an historic Episcopal parish in Syracuse, New York. The Gothic Revival building was designed by Horatio Nelson White and was built in 1876. It is located at 819 Madison Avenue near Syracuse University. On March 20, 1973, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Horatio Nelson White was an American architect based out of Syracuse, New York and became one of New York State's most prominent architects from about 1865 to 1880. White designed many homes, armories, churches, and public buildings throughout Syracuse in Central New York, including the Hall of Languages at Syracuse University, the Oswego County Court House, Syracuse High School, the Weiting Block in Syracuse, Oswego's City Hall, and more.
Salt Springs is a Syracuse, New York neighborhood, located in the northeastern corner of the city. It corresponds to Onondaga County Census Tract xx.
The National Register of Historic Places listings in Syracuse, New York are described below. There are 113 listed properties and districts in the city of Syracuse, including 19 business or public buildings, 13 historic districts, 6 churches, four school or university buildings, three parks, six apartment buildings, and 43 houses. Twenty-nine of the listed houses were designed by architect Ward Wellington Ward; 25 of these were listed as a group in 1996.
The John Gridley House is located in the southern section of Syracuse, New York. This section of Syracuse was originally known as Onondaga Hollow, and was settled thirty years before the City of Syracuse. The John Gridley House is significant as one of few houses remaining of the original Onondaga Hollow settlement. The two storey Federal style house was built around 1812 of local limestone. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
The Manlius Village Historic District is a 15-acre (6.1 ha) historic district on the east side of the village of Manlius, in the town of Manlius, New York, about 9.5 miles from the downtown of Syracuse.
The third Onondaga County courthouse stood in Clinton Square, Syracuse, New York, from 1858 to 1968. Designed by Horatio Nelson White in the Italianate architectural style, the building functioned as a courthouse until 1907. After another courthouse superseded it, the building held various governmental offices for about fifty years.
The Church of St. John the Evangelist was a church in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse on 215 North State Street from 1855 to its closure in June 2010. Since 2014 the church building has housed the Samaritan Center, Syracuse's largest soup kitchen.