The city’s oldest extant firehouse gained landmark status through efforts of the Kleinhans and Fargo Estate neighborhood associations, who teamed up with the Preservation Coalition to get the building landmarked. The Fire Department abandoned the structure in 1997 when it constructed a new house with additional facilities on Virginia and Elmwood.

The firehouse got its start in 1874, when Joseph R. Williams, the Superintendent of the Fire Department, took notice of the increasing development in the area, and on Dec. 14, 1874, informed Buffalo’s Common Council of the “immediate necessity” for a steam fire engine and hose cart near the Circle.

By early 1975 the Council decided to build a fire engine house in the vicinity, eventually fixing on a 60- by 126- foot lot on Jersey Street on the northwest corner of Plymouth Avenue. The site was formerly the home of the Jersey Street Methodist Church which was erected in 1867 and burned on January 23, 1873. The Church sold the lot to the city for a sum of $3,000 and built a new church across Plymouth Avenue, which still stands (the Plymouth Ave. Methodist Church, designated a local landmark in 1989 through efforts of the Preservation Coalition and saved from demolition). Today the building is occupied by the Karpeles Museum.

The firm Porter & Watkins was hired to design the building. Cyrus Porter was a prominent architect who worked in Buffalo from 1865 until his death in 1910. His best known surviving work is the Trinity Episcopal Church at 371 Delaware Avenue. Carpenter Julius Schramm, who had bid the job at $10,020, was designated as the builder.

The architects and Schramm must have been good managers, for the building had its grand opening on Dec. 14, 1875. Besides the fire engine, the house came with four horses, a sleigh, a wagon, and furnishings, which included five chandeliers and 17 spittoons.

The fire house boasted several advanced mechanical features. It was heated by a Peter Martin Patent Moist Air Furnace manufactured by Hauck & Garono Hardware Dealers at 505 Main Street. The furnace also provided hot water for a bathroom on the second floor, which impressed a reporter as “one of the noticeably excellent features of the building.” An electric stall door opener was another innovation, as was utilizing steam from the furnace to keep the fire engine pressurized without having to continually stoke the engine while it sat in its stall.

With the opening of a controversial new fire house for Engine 2 and Ladder 9 last year at Elmwood Avenue and Virginia Street, The Jersey Street house closed.

The house was staffed by some of the first professional firemen in the City. Until that time, most firemen belonged to volunteer companies, although the city had paid fire administrators and engineers. In 1880 the entire department was professionalized.

In 1896 the firm Eckel & Ackerman designed an addition to house Hook & Ladder #9 at the site, which opened on July 1, 1897.

Responding to alarms and putting water on fire as soon as possible was a professional necessity and a source of pride and competition. The men of Engine 2 were no slackers. On November 14, 1898 Engine 2 set a record when it executed a three horse hitch in six seconds.

Engine House #2 is unique in the city. The three-story brick Second Empire Building is an excellent example of the style that was popular during the 1870s. Its straight-sided mansard roof still retains its hexagonal slate tile and is pleasantly interrupted by dormers with pedimented windows. Stone string courses, window surrounds, and pilaster bases and capitals contrast pleasantly with the red brick walls.

The last major change to the building seems to have occurred in about 1917. The apparatus doors on the first floor were changed from double leaved hinged doors to larger overhead doors with the switch to gasoline powered fire engines, which also swallowed up a pair of flanking personnel doors. The original hayloft doors still exist, facing onto a rear courtyard where the horses were washed and groomed.

With the opening of a controversial new fire house for Engine 2 and Ladder 9 last year at Elmwood Avenue and Virginia Street, The Jersey Street house closed.

The neighborhood, which had wanted the firehouse to remain operational, also appreciated the architectural character of the building and so, upon the closing, embarked on a research effort to get it landmarked and protected. It was purchased at a city auction in April 1998 by a man who claims he wants to convert it into apartments. Some neighbors are leery, fearing the building will be carved into too many units to be attractive to long-term, stable renters (Landmark designations generally cover only the exterior). To date, no apparent progress has been made.