SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – The Whedon-Schumacher House in Western Syracuse is one of 17 buildings that were recommended for the State and National Register of Historic Places by the New York State Board for Historic Preservation, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Monday.
The building was designed in 1892 by prominent Syracuse architect Archimedes Russell, but has since fallen into disrepair.
“This is important, particularly as we start to rethink the city, in a kind of post I-81 world, and trying to stitch things back together,” said Joseph Godlewski, an assistant professor at Syracuse University’s School of Architecture.
The construction of I-81 left the area around the house a relic of Syracuse’s heyday, but Godlewski believes the potential preservation of the site can help restore a historic part of the city.
“I think really what you have there is a building that was blossoming before I-81,” Godlewski said, “and then a whole region that kind of went into decline as a result of urban renewal.”
As Syracuse prepares to drastically change the landscape of the city, the Whedon-Schumacher House serves as a reminder of what infrastructure can do to a city, and the preservation of the house as a historical site will highlight Syracuse’s past as it looks towards the future.
