Architecture:
Buffalo's embassasment of wealth
Often over=shadowed
by luninaries such as Wright, Sullivan, and Richardson are a long
list of other master architects, and the outstanding fruits of
their achievements. From the imposing art deco masterpiece of
city hall designed by Dietel, Wade, & Jones, to E.B. Green's
and Gordon Bunschaf's vision of the Albright Knox.. Green's neo-classical
gallery and Bunschaft's modernist addition. Framed by a
parks system designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, America's foremost
landscape architect, Buffalo's urban fabric features masterworks
that are a living textbook of American architecture.
In
fact, Buffalo is one of only two cities that can boast of buildings
designed by Wright, Sullivan and Richardson - the architects commonly
considered "America's greatest." Sullivan's Guaranty
Building is an acknowledged masterpiece of early skyscraper design.
Richardson's Buffalo State Hospital, a Romanesque monument that
towers over the city's West Side, is listed on the National Register
of Historic Places. Wright's Darwin D. Martin Estate is considered
one of his masterpieces - the culmination of the "prairie
style" he is famous for throughout the world.
Olmsted's work
in Buffalo is just as noteworthy. The Buffalo Parks System was
the first of its kind in the United States - a visionary attempt
to create islands of tranquillity amid a growing city's tumult.
Connected by a series of bucolic parkways and broad avenues lined
with gracious and elegant homes, Buffalo's parks system remains
an extraordinary urban amenity enjoyed by successive generation
of Buffalonians.
A walk along
Buffalo's streets also reveals work by such notables as McKim,
Mead and White; Finnish architects Eliel and Eero Saarinen; and
Buffalo native Gordon Bunschaft. Perhaps of even greater significance
are the grain elevators of the city's flour-milling industry.
These towering monoliths that rise along the banks of the Buffalo
River served as a significant inspiration for Walter Gropius and
Le Corbusier - the men credited with creating the modernist style
that transformed 20th century architecture.
Frank
Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright, the man most scholars consider to be the preeminent
architect of the 20th century, is represented in Buffalo by five
distinguished residences - one of the largest concentrations of
Wright homes outside of Chicago.
o Foremost among these homes is the Darwin D. Martin Estate, Wright's
most extensive Prairie House ever. The estate consists of the
Darwin D. Martin House, the George Barton House and a modest two-story
cottage on known as the Gardener's Cottage. The estate is considered
to be of extraordinary historical significance because it was
designed not as a single residence but as a group of interrelated
and connected buildings. Only once in his 72-year career did Wright
have the opportunity to design a multi-structure residential complex
and when Darwin and Isabelle Martin gave him the chance nearly
100 years ago, he seized the moment and created a work of extraordinary
significance and unparalleled refinement.
The Martin House
Restoration Corporation is overseeing an ambitious fundraising
campaign designed to ensure the complete restoration of the entire
Martin House complex to its original grandeur. While the renovation
work is underway, tours of the house are available on a limited
basis during the summer months or by appointment. Visit www.darwinmartinhouse.org
for additional information.
Wright's Buffalo
portfolio also consists of two sizable and charming residences:
The Walter V. Davidson House at 57 Tillinghast Place and the William
R. Heath House on Bird Avenue at Soldier's Circle in the city's
Delaware District.
"Buffalo's kind of an outpost of Wright's prairie work,"
said Jack Quinan, professor of Art History at the State University
of New York at Buffalo. "And it's an especially good one
because there are five standing structures here and they range
from one of the most elaborate homes Wright ever did to one of
the simplest. And there are several in between, so it's kind of
a textbook situation when you talk about all that variety."
A sixth Wright
design - Graycliff - can be found in nearby Derby, a short drive
south of Buffalo. Situated on a 70-foot cliff overlooking Lake
Erie, Graycliff was the summer residence of Darwin and Isabelle
Martin. Built between 1926 and 1927, the two-story, 6,500 square
foot house represents a transitional point from Wright's Prairie
Style to his later concrete designs that found their ultimate
expression at the justly-famous Fallingwater. Elements from both
periods are evident in the design of the house.
Tours of Graycliff
are conducted by the Graycliff Conservancy, a non-profit organization
established to acquire, restore and preserve the property. More
information can be found at graycliff.bfn.org.
Joint tour tickets
which allow visitors to see both the Darwin D. Martin House and
Graycliff at a discount can be purchased at either house.
Louis
Sullivan
Another acknowledged giant of American architecture is represented
in Buffalo's design pantheon. Regarded as Wright's mentor and
principal influence, Louis Sullivan is also known as the father
of the most American of buildings - the skyscraper. In Buffalo,
at 28 Church Street near Pearl, you can find one of the finest
examples of early skyscraper design - Sullivan's Guaranty Building.
Characterized by sleek lines and a soaring verticality that was
unheard of before 1890, the Guaranty Building (which dates from
1895-96) has been painstakingly restored in recent years. With
its gilded interiors (the elevators alone are worth a visit) and
ornamental terra cotta facade, the Guaranty remains one of those
truly rare creations of modern architecture - a building in which
form logically follows function and which also un-apologetically
bestows a pure sensation of aesthetic delight on passersby.
H.H.
Richardson
Buffalo is graced by two Richardson buildings. The William Dorsheimer
House on Delaware Avenue is a lovely residential design; the other,
the Buffalo Psychiatric Center on Forest Avenue, is a monumental
civic installation with a place of prominence in Richardson's
portfolio.
Built of red
Medina sandstone between 1870 and 1896, Buffalo State Hospital,
as it was originally known, is a striking example of the Romanesque
revival that Richardson championed in the latter half of the 19th
century.
Distinguished
by imposing twin towers presiding over grounds designed by Frederick
Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the Buffalo Psychiatric Center is
listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a monument
to a bygone era that esteemed craftsmanship, solidity and beauty.
Gilded
Age Grandeur
Gilded Age grandeur can also be found along the length of Delaware
Avenue, Buffalo's "Millionaire's Row." The street is
lined with elegant 19th century mansions once home to the city's
rich and now used as offices by corporations, law firms and medical
groups. While many of these residences were built by respected
local architects such as E.B. Green - his Clement House is now
the headquarters of the American National Red Cross - two of the
more outstanding examples of 19th century splendor were designed
by the legendary New York architectural firm of McKim, Mead and
White. The more palatial of the two is the Williams-Butler Mansion
located at the corner of Delaware Avenue and North Street. Built
from 1895 to 1898, it is a stunning example of turn-of-the-century
extravagance. Though more modest in size than the Williams-Butler
Mansion, the Williams-Pratt House located at 690 Delaware Avenue
is no less elegant.
Also of interest
to visitors to Buffalo:
- Kleinhan's Music Hall on
Symphony Circle at the intersection of Richmond Avenue and North
Street was designed by the highly-regarded Finnish architect
Eliel Saarinen and his son Eero between 1938 and 1940. Kleinhan's
is a modernist masterpiece famous for both the graceful curving
lines of its exterior and the acoustical excellence of its interior.
- Buffalo City Hall is an
imposing Art Deco monument dating from 1931 located at 65 Niagara
Square.
- The Ellicott Square Building
at 295 Main Street in downtown Buffalo was the world's largest
office building when it was completed in 1896. Notable for its
immense skylight and marble mosaic floor.
- The Allentown Historic
District located just north of the city's downtown is a remarkable
collection of lovingly-restored residences dating from the mid-19th
century.
- Shea's Performing Arts
Center (646 Main Street, Buffalo) is an opulent former movie
palace which has been restored to its former grandeur and given
new life as a performing arts center featuring touring productions
of Broadway shows.
- The Albright-Knox Art Gallery
on Elmwood Avenue weds the work of two of Buffalo's greatest
architects: E.B. Green and Gordon Bunschaft. Green's neo-classical
gallery and Bunschaft's modernist addition create a surprisingly
unified whole - home to one of the great collections of modern
art in the world.
- Our Lady of Victory Basilica
and National Shrine is an exquisite hybrid of Italian Renaissance
and French Baroque styles. It's located at the intersection
of Ridge Road and South Park Avenue in the city of Lackawanna,
just south of the Buffalo city line.
|
NAME
OF BUILDING
|
ARCHITECT
|
DATE
|
|
|
|
1900-05
|
|
|
|
1921
|
|
|
|
1903-04
|
|
|
Cannon
Design
|
1986
|
|
|
Dietel,
Wade, Jones
|
1929-30
|
|
|
|
1900
- 1901
|
|
|
|
1906
|
|
|
Lansing
and Beierl
|
1898-1900
|
|
|
Andrew
J. Warner
|
1871-76
|
|
|
Monks,
Johnson
|
1930
|
|
|
|
1894-95
|
|
|
|
1895-96
|
|
|
Harrison
and Abramovitz
|
1965-69
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I.M.Pei
|
1972
|
|
|
|
1904-05
|
|
|
|
1901
|
|
|
|
1923
|
|
|
H. Osgood
Holland
|
1913
|
|
|
Eliel
and Eero Saarinen
|
1938-40
|
|
|
|
1901
|
|
|
Alfred
C. Bossom
|
1929
|
|
|
Minoru
Yamasaki
|
1964-66
|
|
|
|
1931
|
|
|
|
1892
|
|
|
|
1904-06
|
|
|
|
1903
- 04
|
|
|
|
1928
|
|
|
Fellheimer
and Wagner
|
1929
|
|
|
|
1912
|
|
|
O'Rourke,
Aiken, Taylor
|
1894-1901
|
|
|
Emile
Uhlrich
|
1922-26
|
|
|
|
1895-96
|
|
|
Franklyn
and William Kidd
|
1929
|
|
|
|
1870-96
|
|
|
Friedl
Bohm, NBBJ Group
|
1998
|
|
|
Cornelius
& George Rapp
|
1926
|
|
|
McCreary,
Wood, Bradney
|
1907
|
|
|
Schikel
and Ditmars
|
1886-89
|
|
|
Haines,
Junsberg and Waehler
|
1911
|
|
|
|
1902
|
|
|
|
1896
|
|
|
Builder
William Tifft
|
1870-78
|
|
|
Bley
and Lyman
|
1929
|
http://bfn.org/preservationworks/index.html
TOURS
A number of community groups and businesses sponsor tours of the
city's built environment. For additional information, please contact:
- Darwin D. Martin House
Jewett Parkway (between Summitt and Woodward), Buffalo, New
York
(716) 856-3858
www.darwinmartinhouse.org
- Graycliff
6472 Old Lake Shore Rd., Derby, New York
(716) 614-6195
graycliff.bfn.org
o Roam Buffalo
617 Main St., Buffalo
(716) 854-5907
www.roambuffalo.com
- The Preservation Coalition
of Erie County
(716) 885-3897
bfn.org/preservationworks/
- Burchfield-Penney Art
Center
(716) 878-3510
www.burchfield-penney.org
- Destinations Plus
299 Oak St., Silver Creek, NY
(800) 364-6165
- Buffalo Niagara Guest
Tours
265 Chandler St., Buffalo, NY
(716) 879-0777
- The Buffalo Olmsted Parks
Conservancy
(716) 838-1249
www.buffaloolmstedparks.org
