The reaction to my lunchtime walk iPhone 4 photo tour through downtown Syracuse last week convinced me that you folks like a taste of what these blocks hold.
An impressive and classic site, and sight, in downtown Syracuse.
This is the University Building, as in, built back in the early 1900s by Syracuse University.
Now its 10 floors are used by numerous companies.
Including the one for which I’m now in my second week of employment.
So this is the place that greets me and says goodbye at the start and finish of my weekday workdays.
A downtown trait: Narrow alleys parallel and crossway to wider streets.
Coincidentally, my dear wife Karen’s employer, Syracuse Media Group, is located in a building that’s pressed against the one in which I now toil.
You can enter her offices the front way, through the wide public doors on the Main Street. Or employees can also use their cards to key into another entrance through the alley, pictured above.
This one is called Bank Alley.
Karen has seen several vehicle-pedestrian collisions in the alley through the big glass windows of SMG as cars try to use the alley as a short cut.
Does your city include a mix of interesting architectural styles? What sort of styles are your favorites, and why? Have you been in favor of using alley shortcuts, and has it ever gotten you in a pickle? Please describe.
Mark Bialczak 
Thanks to you, Mr. Mark, I just spent 30 minutes perusing the web for a photo of an old restaurant in Baltimore that was located in an alley in downtown Baltimore. It was called Cy Bloom’s Brass Rail and Place in the Alley. It closed when Baltimore began construction of a subway. As for neat buildings, I’ve always loved the Bromo Seltzer Tower in Baltimore. It’s a landmark, and one I love.
Here’s a link to a photo photograph bromo seltzer tower
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Um… sorry! Let’s try that link again! http://500px.com/photo/5769944/the-bromo-seltzer-tower-by-chuck-robinson
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Wow, Kate, that was 30 minutes well spent, on my behalf. I love that shot of the Bromo Seltzer Tower. Thanks so much, by friend. What a magical aura in that scene at that moment.
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You’re welcome. I just love that old tower. It used to have a bromo seltzer bottle atop the tower, but that was way before my time. I’m not sure why it was removed, but you can find it in very early pictures of the 20th century.
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I’m so glad you came back to expand on the lovely architecture there. I love the old buildings and such they have in the Northeast. They’re so full of charm and life and history. Here, not so much. Everything’s flat. I think 3 stories is the highest building! Yes, really. We have tons of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture and it looks like Mike Brady designed so many of the houses. UGH! Excellent post! 😀
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Oh, the Mike Brady look. Lucky you, Rachel. 🙂
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LOL! It’s pretty scary. 🙂
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What cute little buildings you have there. Hehe!
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You smart alec, Kim! Haha!
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😀
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I love old buildings. I love to try and imagine the long gone people who have passed through and the life styles that have changed. We have some older buildings but I would have to research actual “styles”, of which I don’t know much. I just know what I like to look at.
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Yeah, my style vocabulary is new, really new, old, really old, ancient and holy crap. That last one is not really age specific, Colleen.
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🙂 The holy crap stuff is my favorite, well, neck and neck with ancient. 😉
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Yes, agreed, Colleen!
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Wow, so cool that your wife is really close to your work. Can you ride together? I like the way you shared this alley and the names of the buildings, too. I like the buildings in Columbus that have ornate designs, different kinds of brickwork, along with arches and turrets. I guess that my favorite part of your city is the red brick building to the right of the alley, with the cream and red arches over the doors and windows, too. You have a beautiful scene to greet you, from your lunch location to your work place.
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Yes, Robin, we work the same hours, so we commute in one car to work. I like that part of it. Funny, when we both worked at the newspaper, we took two cars, because sometimes I left early or stayed late, and her hours were more fixed. This way is great. 🙂
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So glad you can ‘carpool’ with your sweetie! I like the Terminal Tower in Cleveland and enjoyed the Avenger’s movies where they filmed in the square downtown, making one of the entrances into ‘an opera’ building! Smiles, Robin
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I miss the architecture of the east coast. That and the food. Food is just not the same out here.
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Not having the east coast food would be a drawback, G. Big one.
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Really enjoying getting to know about your neck-of-the-woods Mark.
Cheers,
Lance
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Thank you, Lance. It has some pretty points, for sure.
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You can go to lunch together!
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We can! We haven’t yet, but we will.
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Great idea sharing the architecture of Syracuse. May I suggest another series in this theme? I think it is very interesting how the University has not restricted the architects designing and building campus buildings. What do I mean by this? Each building reflects the architecture of the period in which it was built and not as copy of master plan…..say Victorian , modern, post modern. . . though all the styles are there. Sort of an history of architecture through the college buildings. You would have to decide if your readers might enjoy that. . . . but there you go!
Have a great second week of work!
Anne
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Thanks, Anne T. What I would have to decide is if I would have the time for something like that.
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Yep. . . forgot about the time restraints of a new 40 hour work week. Oh well, just file it for future reference!
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My city tears down most old buildings – which is a shame. Calgary has an alley between every avenue – I thought it was the strangest thing when I first moved here!
How awesome that you and Karen work so close to each other… you can have lunch together!
Diana xo
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We can, Diana, but so far, I have worked far past the halfway point of the day and … well, I’m reading comments at lunch now and it’s 2:06 p.m. Karen and I will plan a lunch date soon enough, and I will stick to an earlier lunch time!
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Wow, don’t kill yourself there Mark! Although I can totally appreciate the huge learning curve you’re on right now.
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Thanks, Diana. I am just your average old dog ……
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thanks for keeping the tour alive, mark, i really like seeing things rather than just reading or hearing, must be a visual learner ) that is a really beautiful building, i love old architecture, and enjoy discovering it in all kinds of places. that is so lucky that you and karen’s buildings are so close to each other. a great set up i think ) b
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It is great for commuting and otherwise, Beth. It’s comforting to know we’re right there. I’n\m glad you like the tour.
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I really enjoy seeing Syracuse up close and personal, Mark. My lovely city of Richmond is an architectural treasure trove. Second only to New Orleans in antique wrought iron detailing! I am slowly compiling photos for a post someday.
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Good plan, Barbara. I never knew that about Richmond, when I lived up I-95 in Greenbelt, Md.
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The downtown Syracuse tours are always fitting. The older the building the better. Unfortunately in a country like ours, we’re more likely to knock a building down instead of preserve it. This baffles me, because each route is going to require a lot of time, but there is a difference of effort. Knocking a building down, well, you have to start over. Keeping the shell, it’s all interior design from there.
My favorite building, aside the Hotel Syracuse, is the bank in Clinton Square with the clock atop of it.
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Next week, Chris, I will have to show the WP world that Clinton Square building. When the Hotel Syracuse reopens, that will make a great post (or five), too!
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I’m actually writing one as well. Great minds think alike. Let’s bank off each other with this 🙂 Two different takes.
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Sure enough! Penny for your thoughts. har har. Did that make cents to you? har har har
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Yes, much cents. Quite monetarily enriching, I might add.
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🙂
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I love these pics. I love urban architecture. These photos remind me of the architecture of dear old downtown Cleveland, which I will be visiting in a few weeks. Just look at that. A shoe repair shop. That’s fantastic.
Have you said much about your new gig yet? I can’t keep up with every post and don’t want you to repeat yourself so if you’ve already discussed, let me know the post date.
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My dear wife Karen and I have used that shoe repair shop. He’s a great and fair tradesman, Mark.
And, I decided going in not to blog about the new gig.
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I don’t blog about my new gig because it’s so mind-numbingly dull that I’d permanently lose what audience I do have.
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Good decision on your part, Mark.
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I enjoyed what you showed us here, Mark. Somehow, I missed the other tour. I will do my best to catch up, because it’s always great, seeing what you see. Thanks for the tasty words and photos.
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Here you go, Ann. I will try to make the downtown Syracuse tour semi regular, as you do with Boston. You have more to work with, my friend …
https://markbialczak.com/2014/07/15/3-fountains-and-a-lunch-from-home-in-60-minutes/
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