RochesterSubway.com : From the Ashes of Carnegie Place

From the Ashes of Carnegie Place

February 2nd, 2015

The following is a guest post submitted by Puddlejumper Photography.
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Last week, Carnegie Place was largely destroyed by fire. Its life spanned some of the most crucial and drastically changing times in Rochester’s history. I had a chance to stop by after the fire and take some photographs of a building I have always enjoyed; in a part of town that was vibrant and still is the heart of the arts movement in Rochester…

[Photos of the fire damage were taken by PuddleJumper Photography . Historical photos are from the Albert R. Stone collection.]

I had heard of the fire a day before and was more than upset about what had happened. Large-scale fires like this don’t happen anymore, I thought.

A large building being destroyed like that is more than a damn shame. I felt as though a relative had passed away.

Although I had never been inside of the building, it was one of the structures I had always admired for its history and style.

It provided me a glimpse into the past when University Avenue actually had a university on it.

Its grounds, lavish and open, were filled with some of the bright young minds of the time; a buzz of excitement and nervousness about the future filling the air.

In the first decade of the 20th century, the University of Rochester was continuing to expand. Its population was growing and the need for new campus classrooms and housing rose accordingly. Endowments from famous locals like George Eastman allowed the university to keep up with the increased demands and continue to make its name in the field of higher education.

Andrew Carnegie was another philanthropist to make a donation to the University of Rochester. The steel magnate awarded $100,000 to the university during this time. In 1909, plans were drawn up for Carnegie Hall, an applied sciences and mechanical engineering building consisting of two floors of classrooms and one of laboratories. The building was open for classes in January of 1911, although finishing touches were being applied. Not soon after, an opening ceremony was held. Andrew Carnegie did not attend.

University of Rochester had an agreement with what was the predecessor to Rochester Institute of Technology where students could study engineering at Carnegie Hall for a nominal fee. Although engineering at the time wasn’t a major focus of U of R’s coursework, it awarded its first engineering degrees in the spring of 1913.

Within time, the geology and psychology departments relocated to Carnegie Hall and a remodeling was carried out to fit their needs. Additionally, the former power and heating plant directly next door was enlarged to accommodate new dormitories and additions to the Memorial Art Gallery.

Popularity of the University of Rochester continued to rise at the Prince Street Campus. In 1930s the university expanded to its current location of Elmwood Avenue. The Prince Street Campus began to change, as it became the women’s college.

By 1944, nine times the amount of undergraduates lived in college-owned buildings on the campus, as compared to the 1930’s. In order to keep up with this demand, multiple buildings were subject to makeshift adjustments to house new young women. With the university pulling more students from out of town, Carnegie Hall was remodeled to serve as a dormitory. 60 students could live within its walls, with laboratories turned into modern sleeping quarters, two study halls and a lounge on the first floor, and the basement to a recreational space. From here on out, it was often chanted “the best girls of all live in Carnegie Hall.”

Changing landscapes of Rochester led to the University selling off many of it’s old Prince Street Campus properties, including Carnegie hall in the 1950s. Converted and remodeled again, the historic building began another life as office space.

Champion Products Inc., the athletic clothing company, held offices there through the 1970s.

Champion is reportedly the pioneer of the hooded sweatshirt, and was the leader of the college gear look for students in universities beginning in the 1960s and 70s. All of that came from the Carnegie Building and the surrounding neighborhood.

If you have memories of the Carnegie Building or the Prince Street Campus please share!

Tags: Andrew Carnegie, Carnegie building, Carnegie Place, Champion clothing, Champion Products Inc., demolition, fire, George Eastman, Goodman Street, history of Rochester, Memorial Art Gallery, Neighborhood of the Arts, NotA, Prince Street, Rochester, Rochester history, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), Rochester NY, rochester photos, University Avenue, University of Rochester, University of Rochester women's college, UofR

This entry was posted on Monday, February 2nd, 2015 at 11:24 pm and is filed under Architecture, Reader Submitted Stories, Rochester History, Rochester Images, Rochester News, Urban Exploration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

16 Responses to “From the Ashes of Carnegie Place”

Don says:

February 3, 2015 at 7:05 am

The Carnegie Building was the home of MXR Innovations for a time in the early 80’s. I worked there as a technician in the basement. The company then moved to Driving Park Avenue.
Charles says:

February 3, 2015 at 7:54 am

Thanks for sharing. This old building had a lot of history. I was disappointed by the local news as they just mentioned the destruction of the fire and not the past life it had lived.
Renee says:

February 3, 2015 at 9:29 am

Thanks so much for featuring the history of this building! We drove by it hours after the fire had been put out to have a look and wondered about the history (like Charles said, not mentioned in all the coverage).
Mark says:

February 3, 2015 at 2:27 pm

Mom tells me she used to work in the Carnegie building in the late 1950’s. O’Hanlon was a company doing insurance investigations. They held office space in the building.
John says:

February 3, 2015 at 11:24 pm

Have you been in contact with the owner? The D&C ran an article that the owner might not demo the building.
Roni says:

February 4, 2015 at 4:59 pm

John, Gary Stern intends to tear down the building and erect a new 7 story one in it’s place. He’s just waiting for the city to grant him approval.

The building is in very poor structural condition as a result of the fire. Also, consider that the basement was flooded with water following the firefight… that can’t be good in this weather.
Jeff Freeland says:

February 6, 2015 at 6:21 am

Is it possible that it was arson?
Robin says:

February 8, 2015 at 3:15 pm

I worked for Val Morgan Cinema Advertising/Screenvision in that building from about ’99 to ’06. Great location! We loved the space but ultimately moved due to business needs. I have many fond memories of Carnegie Hall, including eating lunch on the front steps, loading our UPS packages onto the freight elevator, and the friendly fellow, “Les,” who used to collect our cans each week.
Stephen Scherer says:

February 11, 2015 at 10:52 am

I used to work across the street in the 80’s and there was a typesetting business in the basement and Bob Wright Studios was on the top floor.
Kyle says:

February 12, 2015 at 1:21 pm

here is a (very) poor quality time lapse video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ7NYE9ZbL8

near the end you see the ball of fire being pulled from the building.

fire must have been between the walls (electrical)?
Douglas Fisher says:

February 25, 2015 at 9:05 pm

Latest news on this wonderful building may be read at:
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2015/02/25/rochester-carnegie-building-fire-north-goodman-demolition-hearing/24014713/
Evan Lowenstein says:

March 10, 2015 at 4:52 pm

I am trying to get Gary Stern, owner of the Carnegie, connected to Experienced Bricks, a WNY company that salvages and re-sells/reuses historic building materials. Would be a shame for those bricks to be landfilled.
Douglas Fisher says:

March 10, 2015 at 10:00 pm

“The decision is in: The fire-damaged Carnegie building on North Goodman Street will be demolished, perhaps as soon as next week.”

Had to try to save this wonderful building, and certainly worth doing so, despite the obstacles. Rehabilitation was certainly a viable option, but was not as simple for everyone as was demolition. The easier method was selected, with none of the persons involved in the process seriously examining HOW to rehabilitate the building, instead simply brushing aside that alternative.

Most of the original post-and-beam construction of this century-old building survives in good condition, as I witnessed inside the building. The undamaged vertical timbers inside the building bore the weight of all transverse horizontal beams. The exterior walls were designed to bear their own weight on a free-standing basis.

These exterior walls supported only the extremities of the horizontal beams, which were already being cantilevered from interior vertical posts.

The only wall removal that has happened thus far was the middle section between two corners on the North Goodman Street side, where the surviving parts of the walls constituted right-angle bracing to the longer front and back walls. The structural situation parallels the similar configuration on West Main Street in the Nothnagle Building, whose design a Carnegie Building rehabilitation may well have emulated.

The hearing officer could just as easily have found that any danger to the public was in abeyance while the chain link fence around the building stayed in place during rehabilitation work.

As the Democrat & Chronicle reported:

“The decision is in: The fire-damaged Carnegie building on North Goodman Street will be demolished, perhaps as soon as next week.
“After a hearing last week on its fate, a hearing officer has determined that the building is an imminent danger to the public and should be demolished, according to James Smith, the city’s communications director.

“The three-story brick building, part of the original University of Rochester campus, was damaged in a Jan. 27 fire. Engineers hired by both the city and owner Stern Properties said the blaze structurally compromised the building and that it should be torn down.

“Only Douglas Fisher, an attorney who is interested in historic preservation, argued in favor of trying to save the building at last week’s hearing.

“Gary Stern of Stern Properties said Thursday he expects to have the building taken down next week.

“Stern previously said he plans to rebuild on the same site.”

[email protected]

Per: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2015/03/05/rochester-university-stern-properties-carnegie-building-fire-demolition/24438561/
Liz Knudsen says:

April 2, 2015 at 1:23 pm

I worked at Bob Wright Creative, which for a long time occupied the entire 3rd floor of Carnegie Place, for 7 years in the 1980s and ’90s. Great memories of wonderful people and a beautiful old building. Sitting on those front steps eating lunch with my friends, under that lovely ancient tree, are cherished memories. The fire is a tragedy–like the loss of a friend.
John Gormley says:

April 3, 2020 at 12:43 am

From 1930-35,I lived on E.Main St.,almost at Prince St. We kids had great times on that old campus,roller skating and sledding on the few slopes. We became friends with the Engineer in the power house, who would allow us to come in to get warm,in Winter. He allowed us to scrounge the ash pile for unburned pieces of coal, and it was common to scavenge a bushel of coal on a good night The wonderful architecture of those buildings, including the new cathedral and Memorial Art Gallery, prompted my appreciation of Historic bldgs., all my life.
Never dreamed then that as an adult, I would visit London ,Paris, Athens,Istanbul,etc.
John Gormley says:

April 3, 2020 at 12:57 am

Nearby, on E.Main st., we had more great architecture: Huge Masonic Temple,Corpus Christie Church and school, St. Annes Convent , and New York State Armory.
Also, The Rochester Dental School and Dispensary, and Eastman Theater, about a half mile West.

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From the Ashes of Carnegie Place

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