Walking from one Syracuse University building to another is like walking between generations.

Crouse College is a towering Richardsonian Romanesque, built in 1889 and still an iconic piece of SU’s skyline today. Just a few steps away is the hulking Brutalist facade of Bird Library, which didn’t open until nearly a century later in 1972.

The now-demolished Hoople Building, South Campus’ Manley Field House, several residence halls and a handful of academic buildings all came in between. Yet as diverse as these buildings are, they all stem from the same place: King + King Architects.

The firm is New York state’s oldest — the third oldest in the United States — and has taken on more than 40 projects for SU. It celebrated its 150th year in business at SU on Thursday, cutting the ribbon on the redesigned and renamed King + King Architecture Library in Slocum Hall.

That long history means it’s hard to define what a King + King building looks like, said Kirk Narburgh, CEO and managing partner of the firm. Crouse doesn’t exactly look like DellPlain Hall or the Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center, but those differences aren’t obvious within the firm.

“One of the great things about a firm being able to last 150 years is that you’ll have different partners and owners during that period of time,” said Narburgh, who’s an SU alumnus and adjunct professor. “But if they have the same cultural values, the firm itself won’t really change.”

Narburgh credits SU Class of 1952 alumnus Russell King — the “patriarch of the business” — with maintaining that legacy.

“Russ … has over the years sort of kept the historical context of the firm running from generation to generation,” Narburgh said. “He’s this wealth of knowledge, and he decided a few years ago that he really wanted to have an investment into Slocum Hall that would be a remembrance of King + King Architects and its connectivity to the campus for years to come.”

Renovating and renaming the Architecture Reading Room was a perfect fit, Narburgh said. King graduated from the School of Architecture in 1952 and designed Bird Library 20 years later.

Since then, King has spent many years on SU Libraries’ board and stayed involved with renovations, Narburgh said. David Seaman, the dean of libraries at SU, recalled students surrounding King once they discovered he was the architect of Bird, listening as he happily told the King + King story.

That story began with Archimedes Russell, who began his career apprenticing with Horatio Nelson White, the architect of the Hall of Languages. At age 28, Russell opened his own firm and designed Holden Observatory in 1887 and Crouse College the following year. Russell’s apprentice, Melvin King, took over the firm in 1915.

“But we at the School of Architecture have a closer connection to King + King than to buildings, mathematics, astronomy or philosophy,” School of Architecture Dean Michael Speaks said.

Melvin King’s son, Russ, and two generations of Kings after him studied at the School of Architecture, carrying the firm through its 150 years.

“Archimedes Russell, at age 28 when he opened his own office … he could’ve never imagined that we’d be celebrating the 150th anniversary of this firm,” King said.

Russ King didn’t know Russell, but he knew his grandfather Melvin, and he knew his father and uncle who once headed the firm. And he’s thought about what they all have in common that’s allowed the firm to thrive for so long.

To King, it’s three words: integrity, commitment and community. Russell contributed more long-lasting buildings to the Syracuse area than many other architects combined, he said, and King + King’s headquarters remain in Syracuse to this day. Its employees volunteer in the area, and the firm has set up a professional competition for architecture students at SU.

The architecture library is the next step in the firm’s commitment to Syracuse, and funding it was an easy choice for King. It was another way to help the university that educated his grandfather and grandson. The university where he met his wife, Joan “Jiggy” King, who died in 2012. He considers the library a gift from them both.

“I’ve had a great life. I’ll be 89 in three weeks,” King said. “I’m very happy to be able to provide the wherewithal, Jiggy and I, to develop this new architecture library in Slocum Hall.”

Inside the modern library — the third at SU King + King has been responsible for — there are original Carnegie Library tables that have been restored after years of spilt coffee. And on a freshly painted wall, King’s yellowing sketches from a 1949 architecture class hang in a frame.

Published on April 3, 2018 at 11:04 pm

Contact Kathryn: kjkrawcz@syr.edu | @kathrynkrawczyk