Dear Orange Friends:
Earlier this summer, on a beautiful Central New York day, Vice President and Chief Facilities Officer Pete Sala guided me on a tour of Syracuse University’s historic “Old Row” Towers. Our tour took us to the towers of the Hall of Languages, constructed in 1873, Crouse College (1889), Smith Hall (1902) and Lyman Hall (1907).
We began the tour at Crouse College. We climbed into the attic and the bell tower to reach where our Crouse Chimemasters make beautiful music. Next was the Hall of Languages, where we climbed the roof and also saw up close the mechanism that powers the iconic clock on the front of the building. When we climbed the east tower in Smith Hall, I was stunned by the panoramic views of our beautiful campus.
While working our way up Lyman Hall tower, we ran into Professor of Biology Robert Silver. On an otherwise quiet day at Lyman, he was meeting with two of his students—Patrick Castle ’18, a biotechnology major, and Tatiana Inkeles ’19, a biology and neuroscience major. Both had recently presented their research findings at a STEM poster session hosted by the Department of Chemistry. After some convincing, Patrick and Tatiana agreed to join us on the trek up to the building’s small observation deck.
The towers in each building are rich with history, including graffiti going back more than 100 years. The Campus Facilities team has done a tremendous job making improvements to these buildings in recent years. They have modernized our learning spaces while honoring our campus’ history and architecture.
Because we all can’t climb the towers, I’ve asked the Office of News Services to create a video that captures the rich history and beauty of these spaces. That video project will be posted to the news site by October 1.
Sincerely,
Chancellor Kent Syverud