Jason Koski/University Photography

Hugh Wilhelm '15 works the cash register in the Temple of Zeus, a cafe in Goldwin Smith Hall that has been around since 1964.

Provided

Archie Ammons, the late Goldwin Smith Professor of Poetry emeritus, talks with students in the Temple of Zeus café.

At 7:30 a.m. each weekday morning, the Temple of Zeus in Goldwin Smith Hall starts serving simple breakfast foods; at 11 a.m. sharp, the kitchen opens to dish out sandwiches, pitas, salads and vegetarian soups. A hot commodity on campus, the "Zeup" usually runs out before 12:30 p.m.

In early 2016, a new café -- its name still unknown -- will open in the new Humanities Building's atrium to replace Zeus. The new café will have more seating and popular menu items such as espresso and lattes. Tom Walls, manager of the Temple of Zeus, hopes it also will have an expanded breakfast menu, including crepes and galettes, along with risotto, pilafs, spanakopita and other dishes for lunch.

Since 1997, Temple of Zeus has been located near the south side of Goldwin Smith's main lobby. Before that, it was housed in a storage basement in the current location of the Kaufmann Auditorium, where it was founded in 1964 through the collaborative efforts of students, faculty and staff.

"The students were demanding a place to meet with faculty that was neutral territory, so the college came up with this place," said Henry Crans, director of facilities for the College of Arts and Sciences. "It was strictly a coffee and donut operation with a few tables, which they got from our surplus from the Navy ROTC."

The old Zeus was far more subterranean than the current Kaufmann Auditorium and was accessible by a long flight of stairs where the entrance to the auditorium currently stands. Remembered for its high ceilings, creaky iron doors and Tuesday night poetry readings, Zeus was also dark, dingy and dusty.

"The air was thick with atmosphere," recalled Walls. "And also dust mites and mold."

The space was decorated with plaster statues that are replicas of those from the Temple of Zeus in Greece. The statues had been stored in the basement and soon became the café's namesake.

Crans recalled that faculty notables, such as the late Archie Ammons, an English professor and renowned poet, would meet regularly with chemistry Professor Roald Hoffmann, for example, at the old café.

"These guys would meet for breakfast every day down there and have coffee and talk about all sorts of things," said Crans. "It was also a good opportunity for the students to hang out around them. I know a student who took a job in the Zeus just so he could be near these guys when they were having the meetings."

The café was maintained by custodian Lydia Dutton, said Crans, who made a few types of soups and sandwiches back then.

When Walls took over in 1993, he transformed the café into the profitable vegetarian-friendly, soup-and-sandwich joint it is now. As the café expanded, new staff added some soup specialties to the menu, and although the statues were removed, friezes from the Sage cast collection now decorate some walls.

But echoes of Zeus' past still remain -- many of the tables and chairs are from the old Zeus, and some of them still bear Navy ROTC labels. The original terrazzo floor is preserved in the machine room underneath the Kaufmann Auditorium, and the ornate iron doors from the old Zeus now adorn the Arts and Sciences dean's office suite. And the statues that gave Temple of Zeus its name? They're on display in the Arts and Sciences admissions office.

Will any statues adorn the new café? That, says Walls, remains to be seen.

Michelle Spektor '12 is for intern at the Cornell Chronicle.