What nickname is given to the Niagara Mohawk Building's illuminated tower?

The illuminated tower of Syracuse’s Niagara Mohawk Building is nicknamed the “Cathedral of Light.”

Completed in 1932 as the headquarters of the Niagara Hudson Power Corporation, the building was designed to advertise the possibilities of modern electricity. Its stepped Art Deco massing, glowing panels, concealed tube lights, and stainless-steel ornament made it a dramatic nighttime presence in Syracuse, New York.

The metaphor is particularly apt because the structure resembles a vertically rising temple or ziggurat, while its lighting turns the tower into a luminous symbol of the electrical age. A 28-foot stainless-steel figure called the “Spirit of Light” crowns the composition and represents the spread of electricity.

The nickname is sometimes confused with descriptions such as “beacon of progress,” but those phrases describe the building’s symbolism rather than its established nickname. Its original lighting was switched off during World War II blackouts. A 1999 renovation restored the system, and an upgraded lighting system was formally inaugurated in December 2024.