Robert Shaw Living/Learning Center
Construction Began: Summer 1951
Opened: September 1952
Dedicated: November 16, 1952
Estimated Cost: $1,950,000
Materials: Red brick facing; limestone trim
Architect: Lorimer Rich and Robbin Conn, King and King, Associate Architects
Location: Euclid Avenue, corner Comstock
Contractor: Edmund Rappoli Construction Co., Cambridge, Mass.
Notes:
The Robert Shaw Living/Learning Center (originally named the Robert Shaw Women's Dormitory) was built from the $1.5 million estate of May Marguerite Shaw. Mrs. Shaw died in August 1944 and left Union Carbide stock shares to the University for the erection of a dormitory or some other building acceptable to the executor of her will. The building was to serve as a memorial to her husband Robert Shaw, who died in 1942. Mr. Shaw started out in Chicago in the bakery business and eventually sold out to the National Biscuit Company. He then became an official in the Union Carbide Corporation.
Shaw underwent a $43,000 facelift in 1975. In 1988 the University added a 106 bed, $2 million, six floor wing to the building. The new wing had appeared in the original architectural plans but was never built because a neighboring property owner refused to sell the necessary land to Syracuse University. At the same time the new wing was constructed, Shaw underwent a renovation as part of a $1 million refurbishment campaign that also included work on Marion Hall. Improvements to Shaw included renovated lounges and student rooms, new lighting and furniture, and new paint and carpets.
A total of 435 students live in Shaw, which is designated as the Living/LearningCenter due to special floors set aside for students from the same school or college in the University. The building contains both single and double rooms, with two large lounges on the main floor.
