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In the 1840s, the church building at 304 E Onondaga Street was a stop on the Underground Railroad. Now, Rob Zaccaria and Sarah Pelligrini, who turned the space into an upscale restaurant, are working with the Onondaga Historical Association to preserve its history.

“A big part of wanting to pursue this space… was to honor it, and let people come into this space and really experience it,” Pelligrini said. “(The building’s history) is a very delicate matter for us … we felt this overwhelming responsibility bringing awareness to the history.”

Pelligrini and Zaccaria graduated from Syracuse University several years apart, opening their restaurant, the Noble Cellar, in January 2024. It is the third restaurant in the space since the church was sold in 2000.

The building was erected in 1846 by a group of radical abolitionist Methodists – known as Wesleyan Methodists – who broke away from the church and its pro-slavery beliefs, Zaccaria said. The church was politically active and is the site where Frederick Douglass delivered several important addresses.

The building became part of the Underground Railroad. Fifty escaped enslaved people could take refuge in the building at a time.

Until roughly 25 years ago, the building was the oldest functioning church in Syracuse and continued to hold church services. In 2000, the church was sold and redeveloped into a restaurant – The Mission.

The Mission was an institution in Syracuse, Zaccaria said. The restaurant served Pan-American food and was a popular spot for Syracuse residents and SU students, Pelligrini said. Steve Morrison owned the restaurant and also spent time working downtown at Pastabilities.

After The Mission shut down, the building became Luna Loca, a restaurant that operated for a brief time before closing down after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Following its closure, Pelligrini and Zaccaria bought the building, and Noble Cellar was born.

With 18-foot ceilings, stained glass windows and original hardwood floors, the space itself is beautiful, Zaccaria said. They aimed to highlight the architecture of the space with renovation.

Pelligrini said the Syracuse community has had an “overwhelmingly wonderful” response to the restaurant’s opening. Patrons have thanked her and Zaccaria for bringing the space back to life.

“I moved back to Syracuse and wanted to be part of its revitalization,” Zaccaria said. “I got talking to people passionate about creating places that elevate what there is to experience in Syracuse, to create and foster community and bring people together.”

They decided on the location in Columbus Circle for many reasons – one being its architecture. The circle is home to the courthouse, the cathedral and the library, all with European-style architecture, but nothing for people to do there, Zaccaria said.

“The building was alive and the building wants to be used and wants to be lived in,” Zaccaria said. “To honor that space is to … create the most beautiful space that we could, while preserving all of the characteristics that we think are integral to that building’s identity.”

Zaccaria put a lot of thought into the restaurant’s name. The word “cellar” is associated with wine, which is what the restaurant focuses on, and a “noble” wine is considered to be a classic, outstanding type of wine. Along with its associations with wine enthusiasts, the name “Noble Cellar” also reflects the history of the building.

“They risked their livelihoods to fight against slavery to be a resource for human beings that were treated like property,” Zaccaria said. “That, as the noble cause that it was, I saw it was very fitting.”

Shortly after Pelligrini and Zaccaria bought the building, they reached out to history curator Bob Searing at the Onondaga Historical Association. They told him they wanted to pay homage to the space and work with him to do so.

Searing said the juxtaposition of the building’s old purpose and current purpose is very interesting. As an educator, he thinks the most important thing is awareness.

“They’ve done a really wonderful job sort of renovating the aesthetic from what it used to be when it was the Mexican restaurant there,” Searing said. “This will be a sort of a long-term partnership, working with them to do programming and other things in the church.”

Pelligrini and Zaccaria are planning a big event in October in collaboration with the Onondaga Historical Society. The weekend will include a reenactment along with other historical events.

“It being a new space where people from not just this community but from all over will come into and sit in the space, that allows for folks to learn a history that they might not have otherwise known,” Searing said.

Published on March 28, 2024 at 1:03 am