{"nrhp_refnum":"78001890","name":"Amos Block","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"210--216 W. Water St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Syracuse","county":"Onondaga County","state":"NY","lat":43.05061505200007,"lon":-76.15430251399994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-11-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Transportation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story commercial building with a full basement at 210-216 West Water Street in Syracuse, New York, beside Clinton Square and the old Erie Canal path. It was built in 1878 to a design by Joseph Lyman Silsbee.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as a building associated with the Erie Canal and the growth of Syracuse's downtown business district in the late nineteenth century. It is one of several canal-related buildings still standing in the city. It is also the only known Romanesque design in Syracuse by the architect Joseph Lyman Silsbee.","narrative":"Facing West Water Street beside Clinton Square and the former Erie Canal route in Syracuse, the Amos Block is a four-story commercial building with a full basement, completed in 1878. Jacob Amos, who later served as mayor from 1892 to 1896, built it from a design by architect Joseph Lyman Silsbee, incorporating an earlier, smaller structure. Its street front shows Romanesque-style window groupings, brick corbeling, a central parapet gable and smaller parapets bearing the Amos name. Wholesale grocers occupied the street level, with storage above, while steam packets unloaded freight on the canal side. Silsbee also designed the Syracuse Savings Bank and the White Memorial Building in a Victorian Gothic manner, but the Amos Block is his only known Romanesque work in the city. The building is valued as one of the few surviving structures tied to the canal and to downtown Syracuse's late nineteenth-century commercial growth. A 1977 report noted roof and masonry problems but a sound structure overall.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Joseph Lyman Silsbee (architect); built by Jacob Amos","architectural_style":"Romanesque","criteria":[],"status_note":"Form marks the property as unoccupied and in fair condition. A 1977 structural report found water damage to the roof and wood structure but called the building basically sound.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:39.260776-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/78001890.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78001890/6a08130b07-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78001890/6a08130b07-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 4.0","author":"Kenneth C. Zirkel","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Amos_Apartments_at_Clinton_Square,_Syracuse_NY.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Kenneth C. Zirkel</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Amos_Apartments_at_Clinton_Square,_Syracuse_NY.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75320293","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amos_Block","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4747831"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/onondaga-county/amos-block-78001890/"}