A Wish List

Warning: there won't be a lot of pretty pictures in this one because I haven't found any yet. Hopefully that won't dissuade you from reading on.

Through this blog, I've had the great fortune of people reaching out to me with historical facts, insights, and on the rare occasions, some great photographs of buildings I am writing about. For people that don't do this sort of research, it is hard to explain the excitement you can get when you receive a photo of a building that you have never seen before. It is like an unexpected gift but even greater. Most of these buildings are long gone and what I've learned is that for every great building that is still around, there are about a dozen others that were even better that have been demolished. Finding clear photos of those "others" is a real treat.

A photo of the Syracuse University Medical College. Silsbee oversaw conversion of a small carriage factory into this building for the school in 1876-77. This is the sort of photo, with a clear depiction of the building, that is so scarce for many demolished structures designed by J. L. Silsbee. It seems particularly difficult to find such photos for buildings that used to stand in Syracuse. 

It is impossible to do a post like this without recognizing my "partners in crime" for uncovering photos: the countless librarians and archivists at places like the Onondaga Historical Association who have turned up some wonderful finds.   

I am lucky that I have photos of many of the lost buildings but there are still over a hundred structures and designs that I have little evidence about. At the risk of sounding like Veruca Salt, here is a top 10 list, in no particular order, of building images that I really want to see. These weren't completely obscure structures in their day so I believe there have to be images out there somewhere. I would love to hear from anyone that might have a clue.   

I'd love to find photos of:

1. The Frank Comstock House, Syracuse, NY.

I'd love to find any images of Silsbee's design for Frank Comstock's house. It was located at the northwest corner of Plum and West Genesee Streets in Syracuse (in yellow above). There are a few things about this home that are interesting. It was clearly a fine home when it was constructed as it received a lot of local press. It is also an example of a project where Silsbee not only designed the home but designed furnishings for the interior. Part of the description of the home by a local art critic gives you some idea about how great the place was:

"On entering, you pass through first a large single door, which leads to the hall. This is of grand proportions, being in length the whole width of the main building. It is also very wide. At one end is a huge mantel with fireplace, while beyond is a fine settee in uncolored horsehide. This settee forms one end of the hall. At the opposite end is the library, which is furnished with a fireplace and a beautiful grate. It is lighted on all sides by large plate glass window, and fitted with elegant, richly carved bookcases. The staircase hall is a beautiful bit of cherry construction and consists of two parts with a landing between. The landing extends the full width of the hall and forms the base of the hall window, which is in clear glass but so divided into shapes, that is is fully equal to, and more novel than a colored treatment.   

Underneath this window, and extending around the landing, is an upholstered seat in rich red horse hide, in fringe trimming. The newel post is a novel feature in the stairway and extends to the ceiling. The main shaft of the column is richly carved with an oak leaf pattern, and the cap is a conventionally treated Corinthian cap." - from the Syracuse Evening Herald 1882 

2. The Delaware & Hudson Railroad, Maiden Lane Depot, Albany, NY.

It is hard to lament the loss of this modest brick rail depot that Silsbee designed in 1880 because one of New York's finest buildings took its place but it is surprising that no decent photos seem to survive of it. The only one I've been able to find is this one with a train parked in front of it, concealing most of the structure. What you do see, is what I would call Silsbee's typical take on brick Queen Anne architecture. He designed many homes in this style and was very well known for it but this is the only non-residential structure that I can think of where he used this style. 

3. Frank Hiscock Dining Room, Syracuse, NY.

Frank Hiscock, an eventual U.S. senator, was the uncle of another Silsbee client, Frank H. Hiscock. The elder Hiscock's home was located on fashionable West Onondaga Street. In 1882, Silsbee completed a dining room renovation for him. Silsbee made a name for himself designing these "artistic rooms" for wealthy clientele in many parts of the country. He completed several in Syracuse and upon completion of this room, he started work on renovations of the only room of this type that still exists, at the Barnes-Hiscock Mansion.  George Barnes' daughter married Frank H. Hiscock and inherited that home after George's death many years later. These artistic rooms comprise a good part of my "wish list" because they are so remarkable and so few images exist of any of them.

   To get a better understanding of the kind of craftsmanship that was in the room, here is an excerpt from an article about Mr. Hiscock's dining room:
"The balance of the work will consist of a corner buffet, a mantle and a sideboard. All of these will be carved in high relief, some of the panels in the mantel being an intricate pattern of interlaced ivy leaves and vine evincing an ability in artistic wood-carving seldom seen outside New York or Boston. At all points in this room where carving heightens effect, it is lavishly displayed." - The Sunday Herald 1882   

4. Drawings for Pittsburgh Parks, Pittsburgh, PA.

Silsbee's career in the 1890's takes an interesting turn from predominantly residential projects to ones of a more public nature. He becomes very adept at park structure planning and designed several structures that still stand in Chicago. To me, his more remarkable work was for Public Works Superintendent Edward Bigelow. No photos exist of these but I have to believe that the drawings are out there. Actually, I believe that a website about Pittsburgh bridges even mentions one of Silsbee's drawings he did for the Junction Hollow Bridge. Silsbee's Zoo building was also built and it seems that his drawings of Bigelow's vision was used for other structures as well. 

In the colored renderings that Silsbee submitted to Bigelow in 1895, designs were included for Schenley Park and Highland Park for a bandstand, a clock tower with observation tower, park entrances, boathouse, rest houses, refectory, and several bridges. His designs were described as "handsome", "wonderfully pretty", and "picturesque". It would be great to find that these drawings survived somewhere and to see them.  

5. Professor John Durston's Home, Syracuse, NY.

Three of Silsbee's earliest home designs were for fellow professors at Syracuse University. Photos exist of one of these homes but I would love to find photos of the other two, particularly the home of journalist, John Durston. I have a drawing of the hall tree that Silsbee designed for the entrance of the home but otherwise can't find any other images of it. This is a little surprising as I believe it was the home of SU's chancellor before the University acquired the Nottingham Residence as it's current Chancellor's Home in 1915. The home seemed to survive for several more decades but the site currently houses a massive parking structure.  

Durston's home was the largest of the three professor's homes and Durston lived there for about 8 years before moving to Anaconda, Minnesota after purchasing the local newspaper there. 

6. Home for Charlotte Silsbee and Francis Drexel Smith, Colorado Springs, CO.

This is a home that Silsbee designed in 1905 for his daughter Charlotte after she married artist, Francis Drexel Smith. I guess I should be happy to have any image of the home but I'd really like one that is a better depiction than this. Charlotte and Francis were divorced in a scandal that made newspapers across the country. After their divorce, Francis continued to live in the home at the corner of North Cascade and Willamette Avenues. Smith was instrumental in helping to establish the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. In 1959, it his home was converted into the El Paso County Welfare Department. Years later it was demolished for a new structure for the same purpose. 

I find the home interesting because I believe it is one of Silsbee's earliest attempts at designing a Craftsman Style home. The lower story was brick and the upper story was clad in stucco and the interiors supposedly had elaborate woodwork and built-ins. Other homes that are similar were designed for Charlotte's cousins, the Burlingames, in Syracuse several years later.     

7. Sitting Room and Bedroom for Bronson Rumsey, Buffalo, NY.

In 1884, Banker and Railroad man Bronson Rumsey hired Silsbee to design an addition to his already palatial home. I can't be certain but I am guessing that except for Potter Palmer's mansion, this may have been the most elaborate of Silsbee's artistic rooms. The large addition to Rumsey's home, on beautiful Delaware Avenue, was 18' by 28' and was two stories. 

No photographs show the home after the addition was completed but you can make it out on fire insurance maps. The first story was a sitting room and that was the more elaborate space. With a huge open fireplace, ornate heavily carved mahogany woodwork and three bays of windows with art glass by Donald MacDonald of Boston, who did the windows in Silsbee's Barnes dining room, mentioned above.    

8. The Bartlett Block, Syracuse, NY. 

Early in his career, Silsbee designed several lesser known structures in downtown Syracuse. there are not particularly good photos of any of them but this one intrigues me. It was a block of four brick structures that stood a building west of his Amos Building. 

It is not a "showstopper" the way some of the other structures on my wish list are but it is a unique example of early architect-designed buildings along the canal in Syracuse. It is also likely a stylistic departure from the Gothic and exotic styled structures that he designed elsewhere at the time. There are photos with the structure in it but the views don't give a good idea of what the building looked like. 

 

9. Dearborn Street Baptist Church, Buffalo, NY.

The notion that a church could exist in a place for over half a century, and no images exist of it surprises me. Silsbee designed several churches, in Syracuse, Albany, Chicago, and Rockford, and Buffalo, and unfortunately, no good photos of the interiors exist for any of them. The shame about Dearborn Street Baptist is that we don't even know what it looked like on the outside.

Construction on the church was completed in 1886 and was described as being Gothic in style. It had a brick first floor and gable with open trusses and wood construction. The interior trusses and ceiling were all polished oak and the interior walls were frescoed and the alcove behind the minister's platform was painted with a woodland river scene.    

10. The Charles Amos House, Syracuse, NY.

Joseph Silsbee did a considerable amount of work for the Amos family and I believe that it was mostly due to his relationship with Charles. Charles would have been the one running the Syracuse mills when Silsbee did work there so it makes the most sense that Charles would have been the one to hire the architect.

I've already written about Charles' home in this blog. It was on the same street as Frank Comstock's home, mentioned above. It is a little hard to imagine West Genesee Street being lined by so many remarkable homes as it later became Syracuse's "motor row" and homes came down to make way for automobile dealerships. I have one rough sketch showing the Amos home but it sure would be great to find an actual photograph that shows a bit more detail. I love that in the description of the home in local papers, they mention that Amos was following the new "American Idea", to build solid and strong for his substantial brick home. Unfortunately, even solid and strong had a limited lifetime. 

I am always looking for new images of buildings that I am studying. It helps in the research but more so it makes for a lot more interesting reading when you have images to look at for when I eventually publish a book about Silsbee. If you come across any, I'd love to hear from you. Just add a comment to any of the relevant posts. I rarely publish those comments or I delete them afterward for privacy purposes.