1900 – 1940
Henry-Russell Hitchcock Jr.
At the turn of the century downtown Buffalo was predominantly middle western in character with its great elevators and Chicago skyscrapers. Upton Buffalo with its mansions and churches was almost wholly eastern in character. Its secondary streets, however, lined a few feet apart with isolated houses, whose crude details echo the styles of the great mansions, are perhaps more typically middle western.
In the next period, curiously enough, this balance was almost to be reversed, Buffalo’s continued contributions to architecture were to remain primarily middle western until the World War.
The Larkin Administration Building (1903-1904) by Frank Lloyd Wright, is doubtless better known throughout the world than the Guaranty Building by Sullivan. Although not a factory, it was none the less almost the first attempt to find a truly architectural expression for industrial buildings. It was extravagantly admired and frequently imitated throughout Europe where it played its part in that development of modern industrial architecture to which all contemporary building owes so much.
In these decades, however, Wright was at his best in domestic architecture. Today the four houses he built for clients associated with the Larkin Company, will perhaps strike us as finer than the Larkin Building. The house on Tillinghast Place in particular, may well be compared with the finest houses Wright built during the same period in Chicago suburbs.
The appearance of Wright in Buffalo had little effect, beyond these five buildings of his, upon the general character of the local architecture. On the other hand, several buildings reflect rather superficially the influence of Sullivan. Only in the Larkin Warehouse by a Boston firm, curiously enough, and possibly in George Cary’s Pierce Arrow Offices, is there any continuation of the line of Wright’s industrial architecture.
The pre-war General Electric Tower by Essenwein and Johnson with its Renaissance effervescent termination above a utilitarian shaft is more typical of the commercial building of the period before 1929. The superficially modernized forms of the City Hall and the New York Central Station, are not essentially different in spirit.
Residential architecture in Buffalo down to the present has continued the tradition of suave imitation of past styles established by eastern architects in the nineties.
In comparison with the later skyscrapers and houses, which might have been built anywhere in America during the first third of this century, the grain elevators and industrial machinery of Buffalo stand out for their originality, their splendid scale and clean design. Such a comparison is not altogether fair, yet it does appear that not only the latest factories, now almost all outside city limits, but also the newest downtown store and the housing developments, are more closely related to the American tradition of engineering architecture than to the more sophisticated and subtle modernism of Sullivan and Wright.
— by Henry-Russell Hitchcock
1900 – 1940 Architecture
H. Tracy Balcom House
1193 Delaware Ave architect: Charles A. Platt years built: 1913 This house represents the best of early twenthieth century design in the McKim, Mead and White tradition. Carefully symmetrical in composition, restrained in detail but flat as an elevation on paper, it...
Stephen M. Clement House
786 Delaware Ave architect: Edward B. Green years built: 1913 An alternative to the academic Classical manner of McKim, Mead, and White popular in the early twenthieth century, was an equally academic and archeological style based on the English medieval manor house....
Larkin Company Warehouse
726 Exchange Street architect: Lockwood, Greene, & Company owner: Larkin Soap Company (1913)Graphic Controls (1967)Cityview Properties (2002)Taurus Partners First Niagara Financial Group (2009) years built: 1913 demolished: N/A While the steel construction of...
Buffalo Zoo
Parkside Avenue, Delaware Park architect: Esenwein and Johnson (Elephant House)Henry Fruaff & Roeder Kinkel (Outdoor Shelters)John Edmonson Brent (Entry Gates and other Facilities) owner: Buffalo Zoo years built:19121940 demolished: N/A One of the best modern...
W.T. Grant Company
Main, Huron, Pearl Streets architect: Alfred S. Alschuler and Raymond Loewy owner: Grant's years built: 1939 demolished: 1980 The inspiration of industrial architecture is even more evident in this department store. The contrast with Green and Wicks’ Bank of 1900 and...
Willert Park Housing
Spring Street between Peckham and William Streets architect: Fredrick Backus owner: State Housing Authority years built: 1939 demolished: N/A Among the group of housing developments in Buffalo this seems to be the best planned. Although the excellent color which...
Saskatchewan Pool Elevator
Harbor Turnpike (Outer Harbor) architect: Clarence Decatur HoweMonarch Engineering Company (Engineering) owner: Saskatchewan Co-operative Wheat Production Ltd.Superior Grain Corporation (1945)Pillsbury (1952)Cargill Company (1964) years built: 1925 demolished: N/A...
Hanna Furnace Company
Ship Canal Parkway architect: Julian Kennedy (Design and Engineer) owner: Buffalo and susquehanna Iron Company Hanna Company (1915) National Steel Company (1929) years built: 1916 demolished: 1983-1984 A blast furnace is hardly architecture in the ordinary sense. Such...
Chevrolet Plant
River Road architect: Albert Kahn owner: General Motors years built: 1937 (?) Factory designing of the last decade differs considerably from the earlier Pierce-Arrow Plant. The building is longer and lower to permit continuous assembly. A light metal skeleton permits...
Pierce Arrow Plant
1695 Elmwood Avenue alternate name: Pierce Arrow Lofts architect: Albert KahnGeorge Cary owner: George N. PierceErie County Technical InstituteAM&AsPierce Arrow Holding LLC years built: 1906 The latest portion of this factory continues the straight pre-war use of...
New York Central Station
Lovejoy Street and Lindbergh Drive architect: Alfred T. Fellheimer and Steward Wagner owner: New York Central RailroadAmtrack (1971)Anthony Fedele & Galesi Realty (1979)Thomas Telesco (1986)Central Terminal Restoration Corporation (1997) years built: 1927...
City Hall
65 Niagara Square architect: George Dietel, John J. Wade, Sullivan W. Jones owner: City of Buffalo years built: 1931 demolished: N/A In the twenties skyscrapers began to deviate from the academic mold. Using Sullivan’s verticality in a rather medieval guise and...
Church of St. Gerard
Delevan and Bailey architect: Karl Schmill and George C. Gould owner: Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo years built: 1911 (Completed 1930) demolished: To Be Relocated to Georgia Churches of Classical or Renaissance inspiration are usually even colder than Romanesque...
Church of the Blessed Trinity
323 Leroy Ave alternate name: Blessed Trinity Roman Catholic Church architect: Chester Oakley and Albert Schallmo owner: Roman Catholic Church years built: 1923-1928 For churches, as for other monumental edifices, the twentieth century has generally clung to...
Theodore Kenefick House
21 Meadow Road architect: Edmund Gilchrist years built: 1931 In the last decade the best traditional architecture has generally grown quieter and more restrained. If the manner of other time and places is suggested, such suggestion receives very discreet expression....
Albright Art Gallery
199 Lincoln Parkway alternate name: Albright Knox Art Gallery architect: Green and Wicks years built: 1905 The academic reaction of the nineties which continued into the twentieth century perhaps made its most impressive contribution in public edifices such as museum....
Mixer Lewis House
14 Tillinghast Place architect: Jessie May Anthony Mixer owner: Knowlton Mixer years built: 1900-1901 Built by Mrs. Mixer in 1900, this house was remodeled by its present owner after a fire. The big, well-proportioned windows, the simple composition and lack of...
920-940 Amherst Street
920-940 Amherst Street owner: Nelson Hubbell years built: 1926 Wright houses had almost no influence in Buffalo. In general larger mansions were built and are still built in the academic styles of eastern architects. The smaller detached houses either echo these...
William R. Heath House
76 Soldiers Place alternate name: William R. Heath House architect: Frank Lloyd Wright owner: William R. Heath Despite their low spreading quality, Wright’s houses are monumental, and for all their simplicity the clear interlocking of the parts produces compositions...
Smaller Martin House
118 Summit Avenue alternate name: George F. Barton House (Darwin D. Martin Complex) architect: Frank Lloyd Wright owner: George & Delta (Martin) Barton years built: 1903-1905 demolished: N/A In small Wright houses the essentials of his method are more clearly, if...
Darwin D. Martin House Complex
125 Jewett Parkway alternate name: Darwin D. Martin House Complex architect: Frank Lloyd Wright owner: Darwin D. Martin years built: 1903-1905 demolished: Between 1929-1967Carriage HousePergolaConservatory Wright was at his best in domestic architecture. Here the...
Larkin Administration Building
680 Seneca Street alternate name: Larkin Administration Building architect: Frank Lloyd Wright owner: Larkin Soap CompanyWestern Trading Corporation years built: 1906 demolished: 1950 More famous than the Prudential Building is this work by Sullivan’s disciple,...
Hotel Buffalo
279 Washington Street alternate name: Hotel Statdler (first location) architect: Esenwein & Johnson(August Esenwein & James A. Johnson) owner: Ellsworth M. Statler years built: 1908 demolished: 1968 Superficially derived from Sullivan’s Prudential Building,...