VIP Structures, Inc. and Pathfinder Bank
Syracuse, NY
The George C. Hanford House, located at 506 West Onondaga Street, is a ca. 1910, two-story Italian Renaissance Revival-style residence. It was designed by the architectural firm Russell and King in what was a fashionable neighborhood home to many of Syracuse’s leading businesspeople and politicians in the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The house is historically significant for its association with George C. Hanford, a third-generation producer of proprietary medicines. Hanford expanded his father’s and grandfather’s patent medicine business into the George C. Hanford Manufacturing Company, which is still in operation in Syracuse as Hanford Pharmaceuticals.
EDR prepared Part One of the Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit (HRTC) Application for the project, which includes the nomination form for individual listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The Part One HRTC application was completed in May 2020 and approved by the National Park Service in July 2020. This sets the stage for subsequent preparation of a Part Two HRTC application by the project architect, which will detail the planned renovation of this local landmark for use as a bank branch. Restoring this important historic building will contribute to revitalizing the West Onondaga Street corridor, which was once a “Grand Avenue” for the wealthy industrialist class in Syracuse.