Inside the Pace Study

On the 16th floor of Pace's 41 Park Row building, a moment in time is juxtaposed with the contemporary office suite of the University's administration. Here, within the anteroom of the Pace Study, we can see an oil portrait of Robert S. Pace above a 17th-century English Inglenook bench. The bench is made of oak and features a carved high back and end panels with scrolls and arched lunettes and lift seat on block base.

Robert S. Pace and his wife, Elizabeth Neville Pace, were avid amateur genealogists who were able to trace the family heritage back to a Richard Pace, who served in the court of Queen Elizabeth I. A certificate attesting to this fact is framed and hangs proudly among other Pace ephemera in the Pace Study anteroom.

Homer Pace’s love of travel is reflected in his choice of books. The Study collection contains a number of geographies and books of travel and exploration. Among the geographies are 1681 German-language geography of Asia, a 17th-century Dutch-language geography, Allain Manesson Mallet’s Histoire de l’Univers, dating from 1686, and a universal geography in Latin dating from 1697.

If an individual collection reflects its collector’s personality, then the objects in the Pace Study tell us a great deal about the character of the University’s founder. Although he never occupied the space as President, the Pace Study is imbued with the spirit of Homer Pace.

Originally imported from England, the plaster ceiling panels of the anteroom and the study have been painstakingly restored to their original glory. Note the peacocks, dogs, and floral lattice work, all symbols used in heraldry.

Set against the oak linenfold paneling of the fireplace is a pair of brass wall sconces. The one shown here depicts the she-wolf—representative of Rome—and sits opposite a winged lion sconce, an attribute of St. Mark the Evangelist and a symbol of the city of Venice.

Within the cabinets and cupboards of the Pace Study one can find even smaller testaments to the history of the University. Though Pace was originally founded in 1906 as the Pace Institute of Accountancy, by 1948 it had become a college. These bespoke pieces of Syracuse China are emblazoned with the words Pace College and feature both the University’s modern motto of Opportunitas, but also the Lubin School of Business’s motto: Ars Commercium Civitas, which translates to Skill, Business, Citizenship.

Homer Pace’s collection of rare books reflects another of his life-long interests: words. In fact, Homer Pace began his professional career as a journalist in Michigan. Between 1927 and 1933, Homer Pace edited and published The American Accountant journal, and in 1928, he became the owner of Plandome Press, Inc. His collection of dictionaries reflects this lifelong fascination. Included in the collection are several historic examples of lexicography: John Higgins’s Huleots Dictionarie dating from 1572, a second edition copy of John Harris’s Lexicon Tenicum from 1708, and The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia, considered by many lexicographers to be America’s greatest contribution to the field of dictionaries.

Tucked away in a corner of the study, surrounded by shelves of books and over-sized cartographies, sits an 18th-century oak-framed English Windsor armchair boasting a distinctive six spindle back.

In front of the tall arched windows that overlook City Hall are an exceptional pair of 17th-century English oak wainscot armchairs featuring carvings of grape clusters and vines. Engravings on the wall between the windows were also collected by Robert Pace.

Much of the Pace Study furniture reflects the mixed French and English heritage of the Pace family. Surrounding the fireplace is linenfold oak paneling, Norman in origin and said to date from 1400. The Portland stone mantle is of English origin and is said to date from 1450. The Pace family’s travels to the Near East are represented by a number of delicately carved tinned copper items positioned near the hearth, including a large circular tray and two urns originally from Persia.

The Pace family interest in travel was not limited solely to the native lands of the Pace ancestors. Both Homer and Robert Pace traveled extensively throughout Asia, which is represented by the large number of Chinese and Japanese artifacts housed in the Study. The objets pictured here include that of a Chinese late Qing Dynasty carved and gilt wooden figure of a scholar standing and a Japanese Meiji period cast bronze and parcel gilt figure of a couchant dragon with fiery tail and mane.

Set opposite the fireplace is a large English oak court cupboard, on which are displayed a number of antique serving plates. The date, 1693, and the initials GM are easily visible on the ornamental carving above the small center door. The cupboard also features elaborate guilloché and scroll designs, spiral turned posts, and wrought iron pulls. This piece, along with several others in the study, were, for many years, part of the décor of the great hall in Homer Pace’s home on Monroe Place in Brooklyn, New York, which attempted to recapture the Tudor style that his Pace forebears would have called modern.