The White Memorial Building is a Gothic-style building prominently located on the main downtown street of

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

. It was designed by

Joseph Lyman Silsbee Joseph Lyman Silsbee (November 25, 1848 – January 31, 1913) 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 ...

Description

It is built primarily of Ohio sandstone blocks and red brick, plus Onondaga limestone along the base. Lines of cement were black, and there are occasional lines of black brick, providing "sharp dissimilatudes" which are "yet exceedingly pleasant to the eye", according to an 1876 review. The style is Gothic overall, though the roof is termed French. an
''Accompanying two HABS photos, exterior, from 1962''
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The White family

The Whites were a prominent local family which included financier and railroad magnate Horace White (1802-1860), his wife Clara Dickson White, and their sons

Andrew Dickson White Andrew Dickson White (November 7, 1832 – November 4, 1918) was an American historian and educator who cofounded Cornell University and served as its first president for nearly two decades. He was known for expanding the scope of college curricu ...

, co-founder of

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

, and Horace Keep White. The White family owned the Syracuse National Bank, whose building was the largest in Syracuse at the time, and also designed by Silsbee. The White Memorial Building was commissioned by Horace K. and Andrew Dickson White and dedicated to the family patriarch Asa White (b.1774). Andrew in particular had a keen interest in architecture and worked closely with Silsbee on the building, modeling it after buildings in Manchester, England.

Gallery

Image:WhiteBuildingDoor.jpg, Entrance Image:WhiteBuildingdetail.jpg, Sculpture and tile details Image:WhiteBuildingUp.jpg, View from the street up above the entrance

References

External links

* School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Historic American Buildings Survey in New York (state) Buildings and structures in Syracuse, New York Onondaga limestone National Register of Historic Places in Syracuse, New York 1876 establishments in New York (state) Buildings and structures completed in 1876 {{OnondagaCountyNY-NRHP-stub