University Block Special Collections Research Center

University Block, Image 12-1248

Constructed: 1897

Building Occupied: April 1898

Cost: $500,000

Funding: $335,000 mortgage from Syracuse Savings Bank

Architects: Greene and Wicks, Buffalo

Contractor: A. Friederick and Sons, Rochester

Materials: Brick and Granite

Style: Renaissance

Location: 120 East Washington Street at the intersection with South Warren Street

Space: 11 Stories; 142 Feet

1964 Renovation: $500,000 spent sandblasting masonry, repainting and resealing exterior, installing new gas-fired boilers

Sold: 1973

Notes: The University Block was constructed on a parcel of land half of which was donated in 1871 by Eliphalet Remington of Ilion, NY, a trustee of the University. The other half of the property was acquired by SU in 1877 upon the dissolution of the College of Missionaries. The College of Missionaries, chartered in 1871, had no legal connection to SU but did share several trustees, notably Remington; the college never held any classes. The Syracuse University College of Law moved to the University Block's second floor from the Bastable Block in 1898 and remained there until 1904 when it moved to the Crouse Mansion.

In 1973 the building was sold to Henry Hart Rice of Katonah, NY, and Sherlyle Properties of Syracuse, whose principals were Sherwood Finn and E. Carlyle Smith. Finn and Smith were also principals in Longley-Jones Associates, a Syracuse real estate firm that had managed the building since 1967. The selling price was said to be "in excess of $1 million," according to then-Syracuse University Vice President Francis A. Wingate.