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For many, the City of Buffalo evokes memories not of the city itself, but of passing through it on the way to Niagara Falls or New York City and little else. The empty storefronts and forlorn downtown streets of the Rust Belt capital of Western New York were forgotten for decades. Following a slow reversal of fortunes for downtown Buffalo however, the city has been on a steady path to recovery for the better part of the last three decades. The last several years have witnessed a profound amount of urban revitalization followed by a groundswell of civic boosterism and local pride on a level not seen for more than a century. Pointing to recent developments surrounding the rebirth of what is now known as the Canalside District and a revitalized Main Street, Buffalonians have begun to rediscover their city in new and exciting ways. Among those familiar with the city's past, however, the architectural legacy of the once grand terminus of the Erie Canal remains the city's main attraction. The decades of decline that ravaged the city have proved an unlikely saviour, as much of the built heritage of downtown Buffalo was spared the wrecking ball, and the structures that remain today give the city its distinct character and urban grit. This edition of Cityscape explores the built heritage of downtown Buffalo, a city forever indebted to its fascinating colourful past.
Completed in 1821, the Erie Canal formed a continuous 584-kilometre shipping route from Albany to Buffalo that allowed for the passage of goods and raw materials from New York City to the Great Lakes. The creation of a direct link from the American Midwest to the Atlantic Coast ushered in more than a century of prosperity. Predating the Golden Age of Rail by several decades, the Erie Canal hit its peak in 1855. Records for that year show no less than 33,000 commercial shipments, all of which were carried out at a cost of approximately 95 percent less than could be achieved by ox-cart. The resultant drop in consumer prices fostered an age of relative good fortune for working- and middle-class Americans nationwide.
Buffalo's prime position at the western terminus of the Erie Canal offered direct steamship and rail connections to Toronto, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, and Milwaukee, to name but a few. The "Queen City of the Great Lakes," as it was once known, grew throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries to become a bustling metropolis, its streets and avenues lined with some of the finest examples of American architecture of the day. Attracting the likes of H. H. Richardson, Louis Sullivan, and Frank Lloyd Wright, Buffalo's downtown was once the pinnacle of style. Its grand civic buildings, rail stations, libraries, office blocks, and private mansions, were among the highest quality found anywhere in the country.
While it may seem like an odd place to start, one of the most important pieces of Buffalo's architectural history was the Richardson Olmsted Complex completed between 1872 and 1880, which was built as the permanent home of the Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane. Designed with a distinctive Romanesque Revival style that blended several architectural elements and materials, and featuring heavy-cut stone archways and columns, the style would go on to become one of the most popular architectural styles of the period. The Richardsonian Romanesque spread across North America, and set the groundwork for both the Beaux Arts and Arts and Crafts eras that would follow. Add to this the sprawling park-like setting that once surrounded the Asylum, landscaped by none other than Frederick Law Olmsted of Central Park, Mount Royal, and Golden Gate Park fame, and the Richardson Olmsted Complex can be seen as a base from which two of the greatest minds in late 19th-century American architecture and city-building took root.
Moving towards the end of the century, a series of steel-frame skyscrapers began to appear downtown, owing in part to the city's access to multiple steel mills and to the changing tastes of the day. One such notable structure was the Prudential Building, also known as the Guaranty Building, which was completed in 1896 by renowned architects Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler. Clad in a richly decorated red-brown terracotta finish, the heavily ornamented facade of the Prudential Building features many traits common to the Chicago School of Architecture, including the arrangement of podium, monolithic mid-section, and capital.
At the start of the 20th century, Buffalo had the honour of hosting the 1901 Pan-American Exposition, which attracted more than 8 million visitors to a city of no more than 350,000. The event was marked by the construction of several palaces of art and culture, both temporary and permanent, including the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and the former Buffalo Fine Arts Academy Museum and Gallery (although delays in its planning and construction meant that it never achieved its original purpose). Today one of Buffalo's premier cultural spaces, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery is home to a considerable collection of fine art and historic artefacts from the city's past. The building itself, completed in the Beaux Arts style in 1905 by Augustus Saint Gaudens and Edward Brodhead Green, is a standout structure composed of finely cut limestone and white marble columns.
Located towards the north end of Elmwood Village, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery brings the story of Buffalo's architectural history back to H.H. Richardson and Frederick Law Olmsted. The neighbourhood is also home to the Richardson Olmsted Complex, along with the Bidwell Parkway which bisects the area. The Parkway is part of the original City of Buffalo parks system designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux during the mid to late 1800s.
Further out in the City Beautiful-inspired Central Park neighbourhood, located along the north side of Delaware Park, is an Olmsted-planned streetcar suburb featuring a number of stately homes dating to the start of the 20th century. The Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Darwin D. Martin House remains the sole standout of the bunch, and rightly so. The sprawling 1905-built private estate is a true architectural marvel and priceless cultural asset for the City of Buffalo.
Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for local business magnate Darwin D. Martin, the Prairie Style house of the same name consists of several different architectural modules. The home is arranged as a complex of interconnected pieces, which together form the entirety of the house. Connected via a large, completely reconstructed, covered brick Pergola, the Main House and Conservatory form the bulk of the complex along with the Carriage House, Barton House, and Gardener's Cottage, all on site. Sold to the University at Buffalo in 1967, the entire complex suffered years of neglect, having been previously subdivided and rented out. The years immediately following the sale witnessed further tragedies, such as the partial demolition of the house, especially the Pergola, which was rebuilt during the home's complete restoration in the late 2000s.
Meanwhile back downtown, the city's fortunes continued to rise well into the Art Deco era of the 1920s. The distinctive early modernist style shaped many structures built in Buffalo at the time, most notably the 1931-built Buffalo City Hall designed by the firm of Dietel, Wade, & Jones. Built to replace the 1875 Buffalo County and City Hall (still standing), the new Buffalo City Hall was conceived in 1920 to reflect the fact that the city's population had quadrupled since the 1870s. The massive opulent Art Deco masterpiece was designed to represent the Queen City's prominent stature and prosperity. The 32-storey building remains the second-tallest structure in Buffalo after the 1972-built 40-storey One Seneca Center.
Not every vestige of Buffalo's Golden Age remains intact, as the city has experienced the same destructive tendencies faced by most North American cities during the decades following WWII. But the city's drastically dampened fortunes, especially acute after the opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway in 1959 which effectively bypassed the Erie Canal, worked to save many structures from the wrecking ball. Perhaps the best example of the devastation wrought by the demise of the Erie Canal and the suburban white flight and deindustrialization that followed, is the similarly grand Buffalo Central Terminal. The 1929-built, Fellheimer & Wagner-designed Art Deco edifice was abandoned in 1979 and left to the elements.
Currently undergoing a major restoration effort, Buffalo Central Terminal may once again be used for its original purpose. The downtown renaissance now underway in Buffalo, along with a renewed national interest in rail, could potentially culminate in a full-scale rejuvenation of the station.
Coming full circle once again, the ongoing redevelopment of what is now known as the Canalside District, brings us back to the origins of the city. The long-defunct remnants of the Erie Canal, located to the immediate south of the city centre, are today home to the one of the most exciting projects in Buffalo. Along with the concurrent developments taking place along Buffalo's downtown Main Street, and the future expansion projects in store for the Metro Rail LRT, the recent evolution of the Canalside District has been a major piece of the current urban transformation that has taken hold in the Queen City over the last few years. Consisting of a mix of new residential and hotel towers, joined by various dining and entertainment options, including the KeyBank Center (home of the Buffalo Sabres), the Canalside District has worked wonders to return the focus once more to one of Buffalo's strongest assets.
Cityscape will return soon with a new installment, and in the meantime, SkyriseCities welcomes new suggestions for additional cities and styles to cover in the weeks to come. Got an idea for the next issue? Let us know!
