Brewster/Boland/Brockway
Design Board Approved: February 5, 1965
Cornerstone Laid: September 12, 1966
Occupied: September 1968
Architects: Sargent, Webster, Crenshaw & Folley of Syracuse
Contractor: Vincent J. Smith, Binghamton, NY
Dedicated: May 8, 1969
Location: Block west of main campus behind VA hospital. The site borders Irving Avenue on the east and Renwick Avenue on the west
Notes:
These buildings are located on the site of the former St. Mary's Cemetary. This complex includes: a 13-story dormitory named for Neal Brewster, a 1902 College of Law alumnus and his wife Mabel Brewster Pierce, a 9-story dorm named for John C. and May L. Boland, a 3-story dining hall, lounge and multi-purpose building named for Dr. Perle Brown Brockway, a 1908 College of Medicine graduate, and an unnamed, 250 car underground parking garage. At the same time, and as part of the same general plan under which the S.U. dorms were constructed, the Syracuse Housing Authority built for the elderly a 23-story specialized housing facility (also designed by Sargent, Webster, Crenshaw & Folley) adjacent to Brewster/Boland/Brockway. This building was named Toomey-Abbott Tower for Msgr. Joseph B. Toomey and Welfare Commissioner Leon H. Abbott.
With the S.U. complex next door to Toomey Abbott, the young and old live apart but in the same general area. Although Brewster housed only men and Boland only women during their first several years of existence, both buildings are now coed.
From January through September 1995 the University renovated Brewster/Boland/Brockway by adding a small food court, a study area and additional computing equipment. Brockway Hall received first-year student classes, the offices of professors and teaching assistants and a branch of the S.U. bookstore. The summer of 1996 saw even more improvements. Renovations to the Brockway dining area made it look more like a restaurant than an institutional food service setting.
