Off to Buffalo

By Steve Jordan

Looking for a place to visit over a long weekend or a busy sight-seeing tour? Want a sleeper of a location chock full of name-brand architecture, vibrant neighborhoods, and parks to die for? Try Buffalo -- that's right, Buffalo, N.Y. Believe it or not, this upstate port on the shores of Lake Erie offers much more than wings, waterfalls, snowstorms, and Bills. Architecturally speaking, Buffalo is one of the most diverse and sophisticated cities in the country. If you haven't been there, you don't know what you are missing.

Settled shortly after the Revolutionary War, Buffalo blossomed with the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825. As thousands of immigrants journeyed by canal boat from the East Coast to the Midwest in search of a new life, many remained in Buffalo to live their dream, creating one of America's first true cultural melting pots.

By 1843, the railroad brought new waves of hopeful passers-by and hangers-on. Groups of Irish, German, Polish, and Italian settlers built neighborhoods that were safe, familiar versions of the enclaves they left behind.

Buffalo architecture begins with the Federal style in the late 1700s, brought to the area by the early settlers from New England states, then interpreted by local house builders. Next, came the Greek Revival style, with its stately temple fronts and a new vocabulary of embellishments, drifting in on the Erie Canal and spreading over the region like a fever.

After 1850, successful, style-conscious Buffalonians sought renowned architects to mold the city into a metropolis worthy of their forward-looking efforts. Ultimately, these commissions created textbook examples of fine architecture and elegant neighborhoods.

Center City -- To get your bearings, begin downtown with the towering Buffalo City Hall, one of the finest public Art Deco buildings in the country. Next, look for the terra-cotta floral and geometric trim of Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler's Guaranty Building (1895-1896) at Church and Pearl Streets. Also known as the Prudential Building, this intact and now fully restored icon is one of the world's first architecturally successful skyscrapers.

If you like religious architecture, don't miss Richard Upjohn's St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral (1849 1851) -- Gothic Revival in sandstone. Among other important downtown sites are the Ellicott Square Building (1896) with its fantastic sky-lit interior court, the hallmark of architect Daniel Burnham of Chicago, and the Dennis Building (1873), a great example of early cast iron construction.

On the west side -- that's the west side of Delaware Avenue -- there's no missing the curvilinear Kleinhans Music Hall. One of the few buildings of its type built during the Depression, and acoustically one of the finest concert halls in the world, it's designed by the father and son team of Eliel and Eero Saarinen (1938 40). Traveling along Delaware Avenue (also called Millionaires' Row) look for the Wilcox Mansion, where Theodore Roosevelt took the oath of inauguration shortly after President McKinley's assassination, and the William Pratt House, designed by the prolific firm of McKim, Mead, and White.

Parks and Plots -- If you like attractive, cohesive neighborhoods, visit the Parkside, a tree-lined Historic District with a mix of turn-of-the-century homes, or the Central Park neighborhood and its post-Victorian charm. Don't miss a leisurely drive through Forest Lawn Cemetery. Established in 1850, Forest Lawn embodies (forgive me) all the stereotypical funereal architecture and statuary a person can imagine. Well-known names include sculpture by Augustus Saint Gaudens and the graves of two U.S. presidents: Millard Filmore and Grover Cleveland. Whether you think it weird, spooky, or fun, Forest Lawn is a destination you won't soon forget.

Should the brawny appeal of Romanesque architecture be your meat, then save time for H. H. Richardson's Buffalo State Hospital (1870 1896). Just off Delaware Avenue on Forest, this landmark building complex is Richardson's first work in this genre and his largest building. Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux designed the landscape.

Speaking of landscapes, Buffalo also boasts one of the most extensive Olmsted park systems in the nation. His Delaware Park was the site of the 1901 Pan American Exhibition. Though the temporary plaster-and-lath buildings are long gone, the fine neo-classic New York State pavilion, now the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society, still overlooks the park. It's a reminder of that brief exhibit and the architectural pastiche laid over Olmsted's splendidly ordered design.

Wright at Home -- In recent years, Buffalo has become a mecca for students of America's most famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. Just after 1900 Wright came east to design an office building for the Larkin Company, a soap manufacturer. Smitten with his work, various Larkin executives commissioned Wright to design their residences, making Buffalo the Eastern-most outpost of Wrightian Prairie style homes. The Larkin building is gone, but in one complex you can find the Darwin Martin House, Barton House, and Gardener's Cottage (123 Jewett Parkway).

Nearby you'll also want to see the Heath and Davidson Houses. Ten miles south of the city, but well worth a visit, is Graycliff, the Martin's summer residence. Built during Wright's so-called dark years, Graycliff perches on the cliffs of Lake Erie and was recently acquired by a non-profit organization.

Tourists with a taste for the industrial will delight in Buffalo's remaining grain elevators, the best in the country. If you're a military history buff, Old Fort Niagara, north of the city on the shore of Lake Ontario, has a fine collection of 18th century military architecture. Time permitting, visit the Roycroft campus in East Aurora where Elbert Hubbard and his followers pioneered their strain of the American Arts & Crafts movement.

For something 19th century, consider the two-hour jaunt to Chautauqua and its famous Victorian vacation cottages, now celebrating their 125th anniversary. Buffalo also boasts a thriving art scene and the avant-garde shopping and eateries of the Elmwood strip. Plus, if all this isn't enough, Niagara Falls is a short drive up the road -- just to say you've been there.


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