Architecture Around the World

Amos Block/The Amos

210-216 Water Street, Syracuse, NY 13204

Listing on the National Register of Historic Places:  Nomination  . Accompanying 18 photos

The Amos at Clinton Square is a newly renovated mixed-use building located in Clinton Square in downtown Syracuse. Originally constructed in 1878 as a dry goods mercantile establishment along the Erie Canal, the building sat vacant since the 1990's.

The Amos is now a dynamic, urban mixed-used building consisting of retail on the first floor and 19 residential apartments on the upper floors, with sufficient on-site parking for both retail customers and residents of the building.

"Jacob Amos, whose surname appears on the parapets of the building, served as mayor of Syracuse for two terms (1892-1896). The Amos Block was designed by J. Lyman Silsbee, a prominent Syracuse architect who also designed the Syracuse Savings Bank and the White Memorial building. In the Amos Building, Silsbee abandoned the Gothic [Revival] for the [Richardsonian] Romanesque. The Amos Block is the only known Romanesque structure in Syracuse designed by Silsbee." - Syracuse Then and Now (June 2011)

The Amos at Clinton Square is a newly renovated mixed-use building located in Clinton Square in downtown Syracuse. Originally constructed in 1878 as a dry goods mercantile establishment along the Erie Canal, the building sat vacant since the 1990's.

The Amos is now a dynamic, urban mixed-used building consisting of retail on the first floor and 19 residential apartments on the upper floors, with sufficient on-site parking for both retail customers and residents of the building.

- Downtown Syracuse Development Showcase (June 2011)

Jacob Amos, whose surname appears on the parapets of the building, served as mayor of Syracuse for two terms (1892-1896). The Amos Block was designed by J. Lyman Silsbee, a prominent Syracuse architect who also designed the Syracuse Savings Bank and the White Memorial building. In the Amos Building, Silsbee abandoned the Gothic [Revival] for the [Richardsonian] Romanesque. The Amos Block is the only known Romanesque structure in Syracuse designed by Silsbee.

- Syracuse Then and Now (June 2011)
Practically in the shadow of his Syracuse Savings Bank Building, sits Joseph Silsbee's Amos Block.  It was part of the massive complex of buildings that stretched another three blocks west, forming the Jacob Amos & Sons mills.  It was designed in 1877 and constructed the following year.  The 1878 structure incorporates an older structure with an addition and a new facade to create a series of stores and warehouse for the milling company.  It was constructed for the Amos family and was likely overseen by Charles Amos, a son of Jacob Amos Sr. who oversaw operations of the Syracuse mill. 
- Christopher Payne, Searching for Silsbee

Silsbee's Syracuse Savings Bank is the building at the far right.  In between the two buildings is Clinton Square.












Roman brick  voussoirs ..... Basket weave pattern in tympanum ..... Limestone lintel







Jacob Amos, whose surname appears on the parapets of the building, served as mayor of Syracuse for two terms (1892-1896).


Photos and their arrangement © 2011 Chuck LaChiusa
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