Few Rochester buildings hold as many stories as Sibley Square.
For generations, the building at East Main Street and North Clinton Avenue has been a place to shop, work, learn, gather and celebrate. Today, its distinctive clock tower remains one of downtown Rochester’s most recognizable sights—but behind the familiar exterior are countless details and hidden spaces that many visitors have never seen.
News 8 recently explored those stories during a special two-part edition of Walk With Me. Host Theresa Marsenburg joined Ken for a floor-by-floor tour of Sibley Square, offering viewers a rare look inside this Rochester landmark.
Watch “Walk With Me” at Sibley Square: Part One
Part one begins the journey through the building, introducing viewers to its remarkable scale, architectural character and enduring connection to downtown Rochester.
A Rochester Landmark Since 1906
The story of the present-day Sibley building begins with a devastating fire that destroyed the original downtown location of Sibley, Lindsay & Curr in 1904. The company relocated to the corner of East Main Street and Clinton Avenue, where its new building opened in 1906.
Designed by prominent Rochester architect J. Foster Warner, the original structure featured brown Roman brick, deeply set windows and the copper-topped clock tower that remains a local landmark today.
The building grew alongside Rochester. A major addition completed in 1911 extended the store toward Franklin and North streets. Six more floors were added to the Mercantile Building in 1924, creating what became known as Sibley Tower.
By 1940, Sibley’s was the largest department store between New York City and Chicago. For many Rochester families, it became inseparable from memories of downtown shopping, holiday window displays and meeting friends and family beneath the clock.
Watch “Walk With Me” at Sibley Square: Part Two
In part two, the tour continues into more of the building’s hidden corners, revealing how layers of Rochester history can still be found throughout the property.
Preserving the Past While Building the Future
Although its role has changed over the decades, Sibley Square has remained an important part of Rochester’s story. WinnCompanies acquired the building in 2012 and began an extensive revitalization of the approximately 1.1-million-square-foot property.
The restored building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014. Its transformation has preserved defining architectural elements while creating a new mixed-use community with residences, offices, technology and business incubators, services, restaurants and event spaces.
Historic details—including the clock tower, original architectural features and reminders of the building’s department-store past—now exist alongside contemporary spaces designed for how Rochester lives, works and gathers today.
A New Chapter at Sibley Square
The Mercantile on Main is part of that continuing story. Located at the heart of Sibley Square, it brings local food, drinks, events and community gatherings into a building that has welcomed Rochesterians for more than a century.
Elsewhere throughout Sibley Square, former retail floors have been reimagined as homes, workplaces, creative spaces and destinations such as The Duke and Focus Theater. Each new use adds another chapter without erasing the history that came before it.
The News 8 tour offers a fascinating opportunity to see that evolution up close. Whether you remember shopping at Sibley’s, attended classes when Monroe Community College called the building home or are discovering Sibley Square for the first time, these two segments reveal just how much history is held within its walls.
Experience Sibley Square for Yourself
The next time you visit The Mercantile on Main, take a moment to look around. From the clock that has served as a meeting place for generations to the architectural details preserved throughout the building, reminders of Rochester’s past are never far away.
