Newhouse Communications Center I
Construction Begins: Spring 1962
Dedicated: August 5, 1964
Designed By: I.M. Pei of New York in co-operation with King and King of Syracuse
Contractor: J.D. Taylor Construction Co.
Materials: Pre-cast concrete of cruciform design
Speaker at Dedication: President Lyndon B. Johnson
Location: Block bounded by University Avenue, University Place, South Crouse Avenue, and Waverly Avenue
Estimated Cost: $3.9 million
Notes:
On January 20, 1960 Samuel I. Newhouse, a member of the Syracuse University Board of Trustees, presented the University with a gift of $2 million for construction of a new communications center. The two million dollars, the first in a series of gifts for the development of the center, was to be equally divided between the construction and operation of the most complete center in the world for study and research in mass communications. In November 1962 Chancellor Tolley announced that Mr. Newhouse had pledged a total of $15 million for the development of the Newhouse Communications Center. It would consist of three buildings connected by a central terrace, coordinating the structures into an architectural unit.
Construction of the first building began in the Spring of 1962 after a number of cottages and temporary buildings, as well as Haven Hall, were torn down. The Center was dedicated on August 5, 1964, by President Lyndon B. Johnson, who received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree at the ceremonies.
The building, in the shape of a red cross under a flat roof, has three stories. The central Dedication Hall occupies the entire center of the building and is lighted by a multifaceted skylight 32 feet above.
Two stories of the building, located under the West Plaza, occupy nearly half of the building's 76,000 square feet. In these two underground floors are the darkrooms, the Frederic W. Goudy Typographic Laboratory, a two story photography studio, an advert sign design studio, two classrooms with combination front and rear projection screens, and a student lounge.
The first floor contains a suite of administrative offices for the Dean in the north wing, a public lounge in the south wing, a journalism library in the east wing, and a vestibule and entrance in the glass enclosed west wing.
The second floor contains seven large lecture and seminar rooms, and editing laboratory and a news laboratory.
The third floor contains more than 20 offices for journalism faculty members and offices for seven press associations housed at Syracuse University.
Two more buildings were planned, one to house the Television and Radio facilities, an audio-visual center and the Syracuse University Press. The other was to be the sight and sound library. Newhouse II was completed in 1974, but a third building was never constructed.
Mr. Newhouse owned the second largest publishing empire in the United States, controlling 15 daily newspapers and sharing in the ownership of four others. He also owned five Conde Nast publications, seven Street and Smith magazines and 9 radio and television stations.
