Abandoned School prior to demolition NY
Oneonta State Normal School - Old Main, Oneonta New York
The large brick and limestone State Normal School building in Oneonta, known as Old Main, played an interesting role in the history of the area. The establishment of the school in what was then the Village of Oneonta was one of the factors which contributed to growth and eventual incorporation as a city. In addition, the architectural firm of Fuller and Wheeler, which designed the building, created one of New York's finest examples of Richardsonian-inspired architecture.
By the time of the construction of the State Normal School in 1889, Oneonta was already a large and thriving village containing fine homes and dozens of business establishments. This prosperity had resulted from Oneonta's favorable location between Albany and Binghamton on the line of the Delaware and Hudson Railroad.
First completed as the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad in 1869, the road opened up a wealthy country, previously isolated, to communication with the transportation routes of the rest of the state. The establishment of extensive railroad shops in 1870 cemented Oneonta's position as a railroad center.
As a corollary to this growth was the choice of Oneonta as a suitable site for a State Normal School. The enabling act was passed by the Legislature in 1887 and the building to house the school was completed in 1889.
The architectural commission for the commodious building was given to the firm of Fuller and Wheeler of Albany. Most of the bricks, about one-half million, came from the Potter brickyard in Oneonta. The Syracuse firm of Ryan, Rafferty, O'Hara, Baker and McAllister constructed the building which was 240 feet long across the front.
After nearly four and one-half years of steady growth, disaster struck the College. In 1894, a fire destroyed the building, leaving only a few sections of the wall still standing. During that same year, however, Old Main was reconstructed in a slightly larger form. The new contractors, Barnes, Lewis and Wilson of Oneonta, produced a replica forty feet longer across the front and having somewhat longer wings at the rear.
The presence of the State Normal School in Oneonta led to the development of the present State University College at Oneonta. After the demise of the railroads as the chief method for transporting goods, the college assumed a vital role in stabilizing the economy of the area which has continued to the present day. Today the University functions are housed in two dozen buildings dating from 1933 to the present. Old Main is no longer the property of the University, having been sold at public auction in 1975 and again in 1976.
Old Main's architect, Albert W. Fuller (1864-1934), practiced architecture in Albany from 1880 to 1934 and with his partners William A. Wheeler, W.B. Pitcher and William P. Robinson, was responsible for the design of a number of important buildings, including: the Earl Crematory and Chapel, Troy; in Albany, the Masonic Temple, Albany Hospital, Harmanus Bleeker Library, University Club, YMCA, Albany Orphan Asylum, Albany High School and the Albany Institute of History and Art. Fuller and Wheeler gained a reputation for designing YMCA's and were involved in their design in Oakwood, California; Paris, France; Hartford, Connecticut; Montreal, Canada. Fuller's firm was also noted for the construction of schools, and built ten school buildings in Albany alone. In addition, Fuller authored a book, Artistic Homes, which came out in five editions starting in 1882. His obituary in the Albany Times Union of October 4th, 1934, called Fuller the "dean of Albany architects."
Throughout his long career, which spanned the period of rampant eclectiusm, Albert Fuller's buildings utilized motifs derived from the Romanesque, Renaissance, Gothic, Colonial and other prevailing styles. However, an examination of his Albany buildings as well as of Old Main, shows visual interest to depend upon the massing of simple forms and the patterns of fenestration rather than upon architectural ornamentation. His early work was undoubtedly influenced by Richardson, who was designing some major buildings in Albany at the time: the Albany City Hall (1882), the Capitol (1876-1883), and the Grange Sard House (1885). This influence is obvious in Fuller's old Albany YMCA building (1886) with its huge arch rising from floor level at the entrance recess, turret, arcades and banks of windows; a thoroughly consistent translation of what is known as "Richardsonian Romanesque."
There can be little doubt that the design of Old Main was inspired by Richardson's Sever Hall at Harvard (1879), of which Hitchcock comments "this is without question one of Richardson's greatest works of architecture." Both buildings have a long, symmetrical front elevation broken by two round towers and a hipped roof. The pattern of fenestration on Old Main is more elaborate than that of Sever Hall and the central arrangement of three arches on the ground floor, four above and a Palladian-type window in the gable may have been derived from Richardson's Albany City Hall.
The total effect of Old Main, though architecturally not as stark as that of Sever Hall, is still an undiluted statement of the functions and purposes for which it was built. It demonstrates that Fuller was not a mere copyist, but understood the principles underlying the Richardsonian mode. It shares with others of Fuller's buildings, a simplicity of treatment which makes it perfectly at home with contemporary architecture - a test of the validity of any building in any age.
Building Description
The old Oneonta Normal School, known as "Old Main", is situated in a prominent location on the brow of a hill overlooking the city of Oneonta and the Susquehanna River valley. When sold at auction to a private development firm in 1975, the building was the chief structure of the lower campus of the State University College at Oneonta. Near Old Main is located a college building constructed in the 1930s. The upper campus (1950-1970) is located on a plateau to the north.
The present Old Main was reconstructed in 1894 on the ruins of a previous, almost identical 1889 building that had been designed by Fuller and Wheeler of Albany and which had burned. At the time of the reconstruction, the building was enlarged by the addition of an extra thirty feet to the front portion and similar additions to the rear wings. The resulting structure is 270 feet across the front facade. Of the three rear wings, the central wing which houses the auditorium is the largest. The architectural style of Old Main may be described as Richardsonian Since it contains features generally associated with Richardson's personal style and in particular derives much from Sever Hall at Harvard.
For materials, the architects chose a rock-faced light limestone for the basement story and red brick for the walls. Trim, voissoirs and quoins are executed in red sandstone.
The building is symmetrical in plan. The focal point of the front elevation is a central, three and a half story hipped-roof mass with an engaged transverse gable flanked by round towers. This hipped-roofed mass is continuous and in the same plane with a gabled two-and-a-half-story mass located at either end. The terminal bays at each end are engaged and are given emphasis by heavy quoins.
Despite its large size and varied architectural treatment, the building reads as a whole. However, the key elements are to be found in the engaged central mass with its medieval towers. The entrance is located here in a shadowed recess under three massive Romanesque arches with radiating voissoirs supported by colonettes.
Above these arches is an arcade of four arches separated by pilasters and enclosing the paired windows, transoms and spandrels of the second and third stories. The gable end contains on the attic level, an arrangement of windows reminiscent of a Palladian window.
The round, conical-roofed towers have a mullioned bank of small windows on the attic level which repeat the motif of the arcade. In delicate contrast to the smooth brick masses of the walls and the rough stonework of the basement is the double row of brick dentils outlining the cornices and the Single row on arches and spandrels.
The remainder of the front elevation repeats the arcaded arrangement of the central mass. However, the arches of these flanking arcades are set into wall dormers, since these sections are lower than the central mass. Arches, dormers, dentils, etc. are continued on the rear wings. The westernmost rear wing has a gable roof while the other two wings terminate in hipped roofs.
The interior features oak flooring and wainscotting throughout. There are many interesting details such as paneling and moldings in the tower rooms and cast iron columns in the large rooms on the first floor.
(1976)
(1976)
