Huntington Beard Crouse Hall (HBC) Special Collections Research Center

Huntington Beard Crouse Hall (HBC), SU Photo & Imaging RS 10378

Construction Began: September 1960

Building Occupied: November 13, 1961

Dedicated: October 22, 1962

Dedication Speaker: Chancellor William P. Tolley

Named for: Syracuse Industrialist Huntington B. Crouse, former president of the Crouse Hinds Company

Cost: $1,622,000

Funding: Rosamond Gifford Charitable Corporation ($100,000), SS. Kresge Foundation of Detroit ($100,000) Crouse-Hinds Foundation, Mrs. Thomas J. Watson, and Mrs. Huntington B. Crouse

Architects: King and King Architects

Materials: Red brick with limestone trim

Location: East of Hinds Hall, south of Hall of Languages, on Main Campus

Space: At the time of its dedication, the building contained faculty offices, electronic classrooms, the 442-seat Gifford auditorium, the 218-seat Kittridge lecture hall, and state-of-the-art foreign language laboratories.

Notes: The first entirely air-conditioned building on campus. Mrs. Huntington B. Crouse was on hand for the dedication and was presented with a gold key to the building by Chancellor William P. Tolley. A weeklong dedication celebration with the theme, "Humanities and a Technological World" was held, including lectures by August Heckscher, special White House consultant on the Arts; novelist Bernard Malamud; and Sir Edouard Morot, cultural counselor to the French Embassy. Morot was given an honorary degree.

In October 1967 a 60' x 20' mosaic mural representing the famous Sacco-Vanzetti case designed by artist Ben Shahn and executed by Gabriel Loire was added.