Anonymous gift brings back chimes
Reporter Laura Hand climbing to the top of Syracuse City Hall's belltower, where a new carillon will be installed
The sound of downtown Syracuse will change this holiday season---and beyond, with a carillon coming back to the City Hall belltower.
We climbed up to the platform this morning---up to the 5th floor attic, accessible only with a special key, then over a steel beam and through the building's climate control system to four storey and a half tall ladders, surrounded by bare walls with graffitti dating back to at least the 1920s, up to a hatch that opens onto the 14 by 14 foot room behind the pinkish columns just below the roof.
John Savo, with city hall maintenance, was our guide--he even unzipped the mesh between the columns--set up to keep pigeons out--so photographer Brian Erb could get some spectacular shots looking down on the City Hall roof, and all around the Syracuse area. Savo says it's a nice view, and that's an understatement. He says the new sound equipment, including speakers, will be installed here, alongside the non-working bronze-plated aluminum bell, donated with the original carillon, by the Rotary Club back in 1987.
City Director of Administration Ken Mokrzycki says the new 'carillon' will be programmable with seasonal, patriotic, and general music, as well as chimes to tell the time. The controller will be in the mayor's office, though a chime master has not been designated yet.
The check is already in the mail to the company, with expectations that there will be music here, by the Christmas holidays.
