Buffalo Public Library

Washington Street, Opposite Lafayette Square

architect: Cyrus L.W. Eidlitz

owner: Young Men’s Association (Not YMCA)
Buffalo Public Library (1897)

years built: 1887

demolished: 1963 (?)

A very coarse, clumsy Richardsonian design, it is confused in plan and badly detailed. The reaction toward academic, classical design around 1890 is understandable as a protest against the prevalence of such work.