Architecture was created in 1873, as one of two new departments within the College of Fine Arts by George Comfort Fisk The department initially offered a four-year program leading to a bachelor of architecture degree, the first program of its kind in the country.

• In 1934, a fifth year was added to the curriculum in the form of a thesis, which included construction drawings and specifications, with 184 credits required for graduation. In 1937 a graduate program in urban planning and research was established.
• The school became a separate entity from the College of Fine Arts in 1957.
• In 1980 the Florence program was established. This program continues to play a strategic role between the third and fifth years of ndergraduate study.
• In 2007, the Syracuse Architecture London program was launched at the University’s Farraday Center and, in 2009, the Syracuse Architecture program in New York City was introduced at a new studio space in mid-town Manhattan.
• In 2005, UPSTATE: A Center for Design, Research and Real Estate was created within the School as a resource for the city, campus and region, providing a means by which architects, faculty, and students worked actual projects in Syracuse.