October’s “iconic image” features a painting by Jesse Handelman of the Gridley Building, paired with a historic photo of the Gridley Building from 1899. Look for it at the intersection of West Fayette Street and West Street, directly across the street from the Redhouse, overlooking the gateway entrance to Armory Square.

The photo is from the OHA archives and contains wonderful historic period details of a multimodal corridor that once included the Erie Canal and wide walkable streets, along with boulevards for carriages – and the new technologies like the first Franklin touring automobiles manufactured in Syracuse in 1902.

The goal of the “Connective Corridor” is to create those multimodal connections again through complete urban streetscapes that accommodate walking, biking, touring and transit, and infuse vision in an ambitious contemporary civic engineering project.

The Gridley Building was constructed in 1867 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is situated at the intersection of South Salina and Water Street (on Hanover Square facing Clinton Square), adjacent to the site of the former Erie Canal.  The building was designed by Horatio Nelson White (1814-1892) in the Second Empire style and completed in 1867. It was built of limestone quarried on Onondaga Nation territory.

According to the website, www.syracusethenandnow.org, “The innovative construction, using iron beams with masonry partitions, made the building highly fire resistant. The bank agreed to include a four-sided clock in the bank’s tower in exchange for the city’s closing a public right-of-way to the canal.”

“In 1875-76 a fifty foot addition, exactly matching the style of the original, was made to the building at the east end facing Hanover Square,” according to the website.  “This addition included a steam-powered Otis elevator.”

The date of the photo, 1899, is significant.  The bank moved its operations in 1897 to a larger facility across the street, and the building was purchased in 1899 by Francis Gridley who then hired renowned Syracuse architect Archimedes Russell to renovate the building.

“Archimedes Russell was one of the area’s busiest architects,” according to Syracuse Then and Now.  “He completed nearly 850 commissions during his forty-three year career, almost all of them in central New York.  He was responsible for almost 600 commissions in the Syracuse area alone.  By 1900 Russell had contributed more to the architecture of central New York than any other architect.”

One of Russell’s first changes was to close the Salina Street entrance, which at one time had stairs leading up to a bridge over the canal.  A 1905 postcard depicts the canal adjacent to the Gridley Building.

This section of the Erie Canal was filled in 1925 (100 years after the Canal was completed) and today comprises Erie Boulevard and Clinton Square.

The building was photographed in 1962 as part of the National Park Service, Historic American Buildings Survey.  In 1974, it underwent another major restoration, replacing windows, removing interior partitions and repairing and cleaning original features.

The building is currently owned by Dr. John Piper and houses a restaurant and professional offices.

“Iconic Syracuse” is a production of OHA and the Connective Corridor.  Changing monthly, it features a large scale billboard installation at the gateway to Armory Square with iconic photos of historic Syracuse that highlight street scenes along the Connective Corridor, paired with oil paintings created by Greg Mawicke and Jesse Handelman of Syracuse University’s Industrial and Interaction Design department.

The photos used on the billboards are selected by OHA’s Curator of History, Dennis Connors.

The project will display different photos and paintings each month over a twelve-month period ending in September, 2013.  It is collaboration with Syracuse University’s Office of Community Engagement and Economic Development and VPA’s Industrial and Interaction Design department, working with Associate Professor Denise Heckman.

October’s artist, Jesse Handelman, is a third-year Industrial and Interaction Design student and a native of the Rochester area.  “I’m very excited to be a part of this Connective Corridor project. The images of downtown Syracuse provided by the OHA are a captivating look into the scope of such a fascinating, historic city. I hope my work will illustrate some of the beauty we continue to see in this city every day.”

  

1905 historic postcard of the scene …