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Overview

This was one of Gaggin and Gaggin's first commissions as an architectural partnership. The building was erected following a $75,000 donation by Lyman Cornelius Smith (1850-1910), President of the L.C. Smith and Brothers Typewriter Company (later known as the Smith-Corona Typewriter Company) of Syracuse, NY. Smith first made a fortune manufacturing shotguns, both for W.H. Baker & Co, and later for the L.C. Smith Shotgun Company. Architects Edwin Hall Gaggin (1866-1959) and Thomas Walter Gaggin (1871-1945) were both Syracuse University alumnae, and developed long-standing ties with Smith and his family. In the early 1910s, they designed an early skyscraper in Seattle, WA, for Smith and his son, the 462-foot Smith Tower, that became the tallest building west of the Mississippi River from 1914 until the completion of the 476-foot Kansas City Power and Light Building in 1931. Smith Hall housed the Lyman C. Smith College of Applied Science at Syracuse that opened on 11/01/1900.

Building Notes

Sheathed in Ohio sandstone, Smith Hall had a base dimension of 132' x 56' and cost approximately $75,000 to erect.

Alteration

The building underwent a building shell restoration in 1981, at a cost of $250,000.

According to Syracuse University, another renovation occurred in 1992-1997. This renovation consisted of the installation of metal, wood, and plastic shops and a large model room in basement, addition of a third-floor studio, the painting of exterior trim, and repair of clerestory windows. (See Syracuse University Archives, "Lyman C. Smith Hall," accessed 10/12/2017.)

PCAD id: 21516