Archimedes Russell was born in Andover, Massachusetts, and educated in Boston. He established an architectural practice in Syracuse in 1862. His architectural work is well known throughout central New York, where he designed a number of civic and institutional buildings.
Archimedes Russell I shows you some of Russell's designs at Syracuse University. Archimedes Russell II and III show you Russell designed buildings in downtown Syracuse that were built between 1871 and 1906. In all cases, the first two stages require you to study the architecture of the buildings to obtain the coordinates for the third and final stage, which is a physical cache.
As these are downtown caches, you are not likely to find free parking during normal business hours. It's a 0.3 mile walk on good sidewalks over level ground between Stage One and Stage Two and another 0.3 miles between Stage Two and the Final on good sidewalks over level ground, for a total one way walk of 0.6 miles. We recommend you park on the street (be sure to pay the meter if it's during metered hours) near Stage One and enjoy a pleasant walk through downtown Syracuse.
Stage One (posted coordinates): This Gothic Revival building was constructed in 1875 with red brick and sandstone trim. The main facade is embellished by a rose window. The building was constructed by a more conservative group that favored compromise on the issue of abolition at a time when many in Syracuse were strong supporters of abolition and had supported the underground railroad. The building continues to serve its original function today.
The coordinates posted above will take you to a specific view of the building. Collect the following information to find the coordinates to Stage 2: There are a number of narrow windows on the front of the building (i.e. facing the street) on either side of the front door. The number of windows to the left of the door is L. The number of windows to the right of the door is R.
A=(L x 2) + R
B=0
C=L x 2
D=L x 3
E=L
The Stage 2 Coordinates are: N43 02.ABC W76 08.DEE
Stage Two: Four residences were razed in 1904 to make room for this imposing Beaux-Arts building that was the fourth in a series of structures built for this purpose, completed in 1906. Because of the swampy ground in the area, the structure floats on a concrete raft. The exterior of the building is faced with Indiana limestone and the building recently underwent several years of cleaning, restoration and relighting in honor of its 100th anniversary. If you're there during business hours (M-F 9 am to 4 pm), it's worth going in to see the main lobby (on the second floor), with its wide stairway and ornate ceilings and walls (it is a public building, but you will have to go through a metal detector to enter).
The coordinates from Stage One will take you to a specific view of the building. Collect the following information to find the coordinates to the Final Stage:
A=The number of letters on the cornerstone of the building (the left end from where you'll be standing).
B=The number of columns above the main staircase on the exterior of the building, minus 7 (count carefully - depending on the angle of view, some may be hidden behind others).
C=0
D=A + 1
E=1
F=A - 1
The Final coordinates are: N43° 02.ADE W76° 09.CFB
Final: This Beaux-Arts building was constructed in 1903 and replaced an older building on West Genesee Street used for the same purpose that had become a health hazard. The building was originally U-shaped, insuring the rooms had plenty of natural light. The other rooms in the building are arranged around a large assembly hall on the first floor. The architectural features of the building and the rich exterior ornamentation have led some to refer to it as a smaller version of the second stage of this cache (note the similarities). This building could accommodate 1500 people and functioned for its original purpose until 1975, when it was supposed to be adaptively reused. Unfortunately, those plans failed and the building has sat empty for over 35 years.
The final coordinates will take you to a micro cache that contains a log only. No room for trades, BYOP.