University Block
Constructed: 1897
Location: 120 East Washington Street at the intersection with South Warren Street
General Contractors: A. Friederick and Sons, Rochester
Height: 11 Stories; 142 Feet
Style: Renaissance
Materials: Brick and Granite
Architects: Greene and Wicks, Buffalo
Cost: $500,000
Notes:
The building was constructed on a parcel of land donated to Syracuse University by Eliphalet Remingon of Ilion, NY in 1871. The Syracuse University College of Law, which had opened in September, 1895, moved into the University Block's second floor in 1898 and remained there until 1904 when it left the building.
In 1964 Syracuse University spent $500,000 to clean and modernize the structure by sandblasting the masonry, repainting and resealing the exterior, and installing new gas-fired boilers. Longley-Jones Associates, a leading Syracuse real estate firm, was made managing agent of the building by S.U. in 1967. In 1973 S.U. sold the building to Henry Hart Rice of Katonah, NY, and Sherlyle Properties of Syracuse, whose principals were Sherwood Finn and E. Carlyle Smith, also principals in Longley-Jones Associates. The selling price was said to be "in excess of $1 million," according to then Syracuse University Vice President Francis A. Wingate. In 1985 the structure was sold for $2.5 million to 120 East Washington St. Associates, headed by Arnold Penner of New York City.
