Newsletter of the
Preservation Coalition of Erie County (Home Page)
Winter 1997....TABLE of CONTENTS
Preservation News Briefs
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Graycliff for sale
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Darwin D. Martin summer cottage, 'Graycliff.'(1927) is for
sale. The house, two ancillary buildings, and the surrounding 8.5 acres are listed
for around $400,000. The property is on Old Lakeshore Road overlooking Lake Erie
just south of Eighteen Mile Creek. It is currently occupied by a religious order.
There is concern that the property will be purchased for the land, the house demolished,
and the site given over to condominiums, as was the case with the Rumsey estate next
door. That would be tragic, for while Graycliff has never ranked very high in the
estimation of the few architectural historians who have written about it, but there
are compelling reasons for its preservation:
- It is a substantial Frank Lloyd Wright commission consisting of a main building,
a garage and apartment, and a small stone heat-house. It is the only Wright house
built in 1927, a point in his career when he was primarily sustained by Darwin Martin
of Buffalo.
- Graycliff is designed around specific site conditions – the upper floor is shifted
back from the main floor so as to provide a generous viewing balcony and a deeply
recessed, shaded area away from the lake. The lakeside lawn is dished out, creating
a pocket of wind-free space in front of the steps to the living room. Both floors
are designed to capture and direct cooling breezes. In these ways Graycliff is an
important predecessor to Wright’s more famous “solar hemicycle” house for Herbert
Jacobs in Middleton, Wisconsin.
- Graycliff is as extensively documented in construction photographs, drawings
and correspondence between Wright and the Martins as is the Martin house on Jewett
Parkway, and is significant as a continuation and elaboration of that relationship.
- While Isabelle Martin was never entirely happy with the original Martin house,
she was designated as Wright's client (by Darwin) for Graycliff and, according to
both her children, she much preferred the summer house. Hence Graycliff represents
the rest of the story of the Martin-Wright relationship.
- Among hundreds of Wright clients, Darwin Martin was one of the few who returned
to Wright for a second commission. Graycliff is one of nearly thirty projects that
resulted from the Wright-Martin relationship, with nine actually being built.
If Western New York is to become a target for architectural heritage tourism, the
few Wright buildings we have should carefully be guarded. It is a question of critical
mass; Buffalo may have six Wright buildings to Chicago’s 40, but if three or four
are open to the public, we will have as much to offer architectural tourists as any
city in North America.
–Jack Quinan
Allentown’s Hosmer Building spiffed up
The Hosmer Building, the Allen Street home of the Allentown Association, is undergoing
renovations. Repairs are being made to the windows and doors, while a festive painting
project tackles the cast iron storefronts. The renovation of the Allendale Theater
across the street and systematic inspection of large areas of Allentown seem to be
having a positive effect on the neighborhood.
ADM claims loss of money. or is it credibility?
The President’s Letter issued in Archer Daniels Midland’s Annual Report to Shareholders
raised further doubts about the accuracy of the multibillion dollar company’s claim
that due to financial hardship they are seeking demolition of the Great Northern
Grain Elevator.
During several public hearings and in their environmental impact statements, representatives
of ADM claimed that although their company is among the most wealthy, they are losing
money in their grain storage and processing facilities in Buffalo. However, in the
President’s letter to the shareholders it is stated: “The increasing complexity of
operations makes it more difficult than ever to accurately separate profits and losses
of various raw materials from one another. We make arbitrary decisions as to which
crops will use the storage and transportation facilities, or which oilseeds we will
process and when. Many costs, therefore, are arbitrarily allocated.”
National Fuel continues as corporate badboy, leaving community
landmark to rot
National Fuel Gas Corporation continues its sorry policy of demolition by neglect
of its historic buildings known as the Gasworks. Located next to the racquet club
cum post office on West Genesee Street and in full view of the Niagara Section of
the Thruway, the Gasworks date from 1848, achieving final form with the notable sandstone
addition by John Selkirk in 1859 (Selkirk also designed the former Asbury Delaware
United Methodist Church). When threatened with condemnation and demolition in a federally
financed urban renewal scheme in the 1970s, National Fuel successfully sponsored
inclusion of the complex in the National Register of Historic Places. The complex
deserved the designation. Now that National Fuel has no use for the property, they
are letting it rot.
Legal status as a City of Buffalo landmark has prevented National Fuel from receiving
a demolition permit. Instead National Fuel is counting on rain, snow, wind and frost
action to hasten the destruction of the complex.
Several years ago National Fuel boarded up open skylights following citizen complaints.
Now many of these are open again. Walls are shedding bricks because National Fuel
has not replaced missing or damaged gutters and flashing. Broken windows go unrepaired.
Some of the severest deterioration is taking place on the walls and roof of the building
that supports the distinctive facade designed by Selkirk, Buffalo's first notable
architect. National Fuel had previously pledged to protect this facade; what should
we think now?
National Fuel's Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer Bernard J. Kennedy
recently had himself appointed to the Greater Buffalo Partnership's community advisement
committee.
Sternberg Mansion in Housing court
The Sternberg Mansion at 414 Delaware, the former home of Victor Hugo’s Restaurant,
is in need of major repairs. There are missing windows on all sides of the massive
Second Empire building. The rear wall, hidden from most passersby but visible from
the adjacent barbed-wire enclosure of the Buffalo Club’s parking lot, is deforming
at several locations. The city has brought the owner of the long-vacant structure
to housing court. Completed in 1870, the house is perhaps the city’s best known example
of Second Empire style architecture. It is within the locally and nationally designated
Allentown Historic District.
Attention visitors and vandals: Memorial Auditorium is abandoned
and unwatched
Boarding up a building is the surest way to advertise to people at large, and those
prone to vandalism in particular, that the building is vacant and unwatched from
within and without. (Witness the recent Buffalo News story of houses a developer
had bought and boarded up near the McKinley Mall, instantly creating a blight and
attracting vandals. Neighborhood protests brought embarrassment and pressure on the
town and developer to quickly tear them down.)
Why then has the city boarded up Memorial Auditorium in such a way as to invite disdain
and vandalism, even as 1) it tries to figure out what the heck to do with it, and
2) it hopes to attract millions of visitors to pass by it annually to the new arena
and the Inner Harbor Money Pit (“Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, and see $27
million dollars sink without a trace!”)? The Aud, designed in 1938 by E.B. Green
with Art Deco details, is one of the very few buildings in Buffalo that essentially
would look the same wether occupied or not (the others are the Convention Center
and City Court), so why draw attention by boarding it up, causing it to look derelict?
Why not just put some lights on in the lobby and keep the glass clean? Why not exhibit
hopeful stewardship and care, if not occupancy?
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House becomes a National Trust
property
A masterpiece of modern architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House in Chicago,
and Lockport, Illinois’s Gaylord Building, on the Illinois and Michigan Canal, will
join the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s roster of 17 historic sites.
Announced by the Trust during its annual National Preservation Conference held in
Chicago in October, the two National Historic Landmarks are the first historic sites
to be added to the National Trust’s collection since Kykuit, the Rockefeller family
home, in 1994.
The Robie House, completed in 1910, is considered the icon of the Prairie Style,
the first distinctly American architectural style. The Trust will lease the house
from the owner, the University of Chicago. The Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio
Foundation, which operates Wright’s own home for Trust, will also restore and operate
the Robie House as a museum. It will be the third Wright design in the National Trust’s
historic sites collection.
The Gaylord Building, a gift from Dorothy R. Donnelley and Gaylord Lockport
Co., is the National Trust’s first commercial historic site. An outstanding example
of a historic building adapted for new uses, the restored circa 1838 stone warehouse
and its circa 1859 addition now house a visitor center, gallery and restaurant. The
National Trust plans to continue these operations and enhance the educational interpretive
programs of the Gaylord Building, located in the heart of the Illinois and Michigan
Canal National Heritage Corridor.
Voters pass tax to restore KC rail station
Voters in five counties in Missouri and Kansas have approved an additional 1% local
sales tax to pay for a $118 million restoration of Kansas City, Missouri’s main railroad
station, the 1908 Union Station, reports the New York Times.
The Times also notes the national movement to restore “trophy” stations and mentions
many other completed projects and those underway. The Times dutifully reported that
only two cities were not moving toward rescuing their stations: Detroit (which might
be excused because its identity is wrapped up in the automobile) and…Buffalo.
The national movement of rail renovation
That wasn’t the only occasion Buffalo was put in an unfavorable light. Tony Hiss,
writing in Preservation, the glossy magazine of the National Trust for Historic Preservation
available on newsstands nationwide, noted the broad movement that is resulting in
the rail station revival. As an example of the good, it points to Ft. Worth, which
is in the midst of a $50 million project. As counterpoint to all the cities restoring
their terminals, Hiss points to…Buffalo.
Stop the presses— engineers slow down cars
Urban planners and traffic engineers are redefining some of the most fundamental
concepts in their trades. Young Turks are advocating “traffic calming” strategies
that actually congest urban streets. The rebel traffic engineers argue that streets
should be evaluated on how well they meet a community’s needs, not on how fast a
car can travel.
Narrowing one-way high speed streets and adding on-street parking make streets more
appealing to shoppers, diners and sightseers. As proof , they point to the prosperity
of traffic congested areas such as Greenwich Village and Miami’s South Beach. The
hope is that the reshaped streets will help create pedestrian friendly environments,
enticing workers to spend more time downtown and luring suburban daytrippers.
Anne Rice, vampirist preservationist
Author Anne Rice, best known for her series of Vampire novels (Interview With a Vampire,
etc.), is also becoming known for her preservation activities in New Orleans’s Garden
District.
During the past three years, Ms. Rice has purchased and restored four former religious
properties vacated by the Catholic Church. Although some locals are concerned about
the eccentric novelist’s intentions, Ms. Rice claims she is interested in the area
she knew as a young girl and she wants to preserve the churches from neglect, disrepair
and greedy development.
The Donald banks on preservation
Donald Trump sees the revitalization of Downtown Manhattan through preservation.
Eschewing his usual bronze glass makeover, Trump is returning the 1920s tower at
40 Wall Street to “its rightful place as the crown jewel of the Lower Manhattan skyline,
an enduring testament to the City’s splendid past and a symbol of its brilliant future.”
Developer Tony Goldman, meanwhile, sought out and won landmark status for a neighborhood
a few blocks away, where he has bought a number of buildings. The plan, which Goldman
has successfully followed in Miami and other cities, is to use preservation to drive
development.
Singapore fling
The entire point of modern Singapore has been to bury the old Singapore, a steamy,
exotic city/state populated by Graham Greene characters. The government, an anal-retentive
dictatorship that bans gum chewing and other such vices, has succeeded too well.
Finding itself no longer exotic, cheap, or singularly comfortable, the government
is worried about its $8 billion tourism industry. Officials, recognizing a marketing
mistake, have restored a part of the old Chinatown for tourists and have created
covered areas for the atmospheric street stalls it wiped off the streets. Now if
only one could chew gum without being lashed.
Berkeley frat boys into Arts & Crafts
We told you architecture can influence behavior. The Sigma Phi house in Berkeley,
California is a 1910 design by famed Arts & Crafts architects Greene and Greene.
The frat has owned it since 1942 and had it placed on the National Register in the
1980s.
It seems the house has a powerful effect on all who visit and inhabit it. The grass
is well cut, and intellectually challenging conversation reportedly occurs around
the dinner table.
Central Terminal lamps, removed years ago, show up on cover
of magazine
At least we know he has good taste. Audio Video Interiors reports in its January
issue that architect Donald Beck designed the home theater for a Cincinnati residence
“to complement a pair of a pair of seven-foot-tall light fixtures found by the architect.”
They are two of the magnificent frosted glass and steel lanterns which flanked the
interior doors to the immense passenger concourse of Buffalo’s Central Terminal.
As far as we can tell, the lanterns were removed during the ownership of Tom Telesco.
Local and state preservation laws do not cover interiors, and alterations and the
removal of items with the owner’s consent is perfectly legal.
591 Delaware, victim of arson, for sale
A prominent presence in the Allentown Historic District, the house at 591 Delaware
between Allen and North streets was hit by an arsonist targeting a former girlfriend
last winter. The resulting blaze was Buffalo’s first four-alarmer in 10 years, and
it essentially gutted the building, which housed the offices of dentist Charles Battista
and several apartments. Remarkably, no residents were hurt. Dr. Battista, who has
resumed his dentistry practice in the Linwood Historic District, would like to sell
the building to someone with an interest in keeping it standing (he has already received
offers from parties wishing to have it demolished for parking).If interested, call
him at 884-7700.
Asbury steeples fixed, but owner stalls plans
The former Asbury Methodist United Church at Delaware and Tupper now has had $150,000
of repairs done to the stone veneer on its towers, some of which had fallen off,
leading to the closing of the church and a protracted battle to save it from demolition.
That has been successful, but the church’s owners now want Erie County Court Judge
Michael D’Amico to give them total control of the property, in order to sell off
all or part of it for parking. D’Amico stayed a demolition order in November 1995,
and froze real estate transactions related to the property, consisting of the landmark
church and a parking lot.
Some $200,000 in repairs must be done to the veneer on the church’s west and south
walls before it can be occupied, and there is no guarantee that work will be funded
by the current owners prior to attempting a sale. It is also a concern of many that
the property be kept whole, since parking can generate income for the building, which
structurally is rock-solid.
Our point exactly
A New York Times sportswriter, in town to cover the the November 24 Bills-Jets game,
decided to take the bus out to Rich Stadium from the NFTA Terminal. On the bus he
fell in with three season ticket holders, Marcus Costello, Shirley Wasserman, and
Willie Singleton. Talk turned to the local insecurity about the Bills remaining in
Buffalo and the financial burden it might put on taxpayers and ticket holders.
Singleton wondered whether Buffalo could afford it, what with all the area’s pressing
concerns. Wasserman, though, pointed out the city was planning new waterfront development,
with condos. This did not impress Singleton, who said: “But that’s not for the poor
and the working class. If you don’t look the right way, they’ll ask you to stop,
and ask you ‘What do you want here?’”
The joke’s on people like Willie, and he knows it. His state, federal, and local
taxes are going to pay for the yacht harbor he can never use, the hoped-for restaurants
he can never afford to frequent, and the walkway his family is going to feel unwelcome
on.