SUNY Global Center

 university, office building, conference hall, interesting place

4-story Neo-Georgian office building completed in 1927 as a townhouse. Designed by William L. Bottomley for William and Helen Ziegler, it is currently used by the State University of New York, as the SUNY Global Center, which houses the Levin Graduate Institute of International Relations and Commerce. Ziegler, who was a businessman, sportsman, and philanthropist – he was the head of several foundations for the blind – lived in the house until 1958, after which it was converted into offices.

It has a symmetrical 3-bay facade. The three lower floors are clad in brownish brick laid in Flemish bond with burnt headers. There are brick quoins at both ends. All windows have splayed brick lintels with ornamental keystones (including Tudor rose, fleur-de-lis, thistle, and horse head designs) and multi-pane wood sash. Each dark-grey, paneled kalamein shutter has a perforated star motif and an S-shaped metal clasp.

The house is set back from the lot line. Along the sidewalk is a wrought-iron fence, set on a molded brick base, with gates and six brick piers, capped by eagles on globes on the central ones and by globes on the outer four. The areaway has flagstone paving, stone entrance threshold, and two metal grilles at the east end. The central ground-story entrance, originally with a paneled wooden door and currently with a wrought-iron and glass door, has a wooden surround with a bowed-arched pediment supported by a keystone and by brackets above fluted pilasters. The entrance is flanked by metal light fixtures set on curved iron brackets. The three ground-story windows have wrought-iron grilles. There is a western service entrance with a door that has wood panels on the lower half and a glass panel with decorative wrought iron on the upper half; the transom is currently filled with a louver. The ground and 2nd floors are capped capped by brick band courses. Two iron flagpoles flank the central window on the second story. The 3rd floor is surmounted by a modillioned cornice.

The one-and-a-half-story, steeply-pitched, grey slate-covered roof has three dormers with double-hung wood sash windows (the round-arched upper sash has Gothic muntins above six panes; the lower sash has nine panes) and three small semi-circular windows with Gothic muntins. The brick end chimneys are paneled and corbeled; the eastern one has ventilating pipes.

The SUNY Global Center is well situated to serve as a convener of conferences, symposia and other events that address the new agendas of the 21st century. With advanced information and video technology, the Global Classroom provides direct, face-to-face interaction between students, and faculty and participants around the world. It also links to campuses in the State University system. Aside from the lobby and boardroom, the interior has otherwise sadly been gutted.

www.suny.edu/global/building/
archive.org/details/architecturalfo1928unse_0/page/177/...