In a keynote speech at the Preservation Coalition’s annual party last December 4, Buffalo Common Council majority leader Rosemarie LoTempio offered a vision of a Buffalo competing successfully on a playing field of its choosing, growing with preservation.

The event was held at St. Mary’s School for the Deaf, and included Preservation Citizenship awards granted to Erie County Court Judge Michael D’Amico and the Joint Council of Longshore-men.

Mrs. LoTempio, who is in her second decade on the Common Council, recalled a growing appreciation of Buffalo’s history and architecture stemming from trips to Florida, which served to make her grateful, if not for Buffalo weather, then its very substance: “Every time I came back, I wondered why I liked Buffalo so much. It was all the buildings and all the history which Florida doesn’t have.”

Around this time she also gained an appreciation for old-style craftsmanship, finding “an old table off the street and scraping it down. I liked the old woodwork. I would go out to the antiques places in Clarence.” Everything coalesced, said Mrs. LoTempio, in the matter of the New York Telephone Building.

The telephone company wanted to implement, and the Buffalo Preservation Board approved, a plan to cover the entire 15-story building with granite. LoTempio remembers thinking, “Now wait a minute!” when she saw the drawings at a hearing. She threw her vote behind the Common Council vote in 1984 in which it refused to grant the necessary permits. The company reversed itself and spent its money restoring the 1918 terra cotta facade. As it turned out, the digital revolution emptied the building of the old switching equipment, enabling the company to move employees from all over the area into its wonderful building overlooking the lake and Old County Hall.

County Judge D’Amico was recognized by the Coalition for staying the demolition of the former Asbury United Methodist Church, designed by John Silsbee and a designated landmark. The matter has been before the judge since November 1995, and he has worked patiently toward a resolution. Accepting the award, Judge D’Amico deflected credit, saying he “was only doing the right thing, which is making sure the process is fair and that everyone gets a chance to work things out.” He also noted that, while the major repairs were being completed on the steeples, other work remained to be done.

Bobby Roberts accepted the award on behalf of the Longshore-men, who have been working like stevedores to save the Great Northern Grain Elevator.