City Builders

Although Hitchcock acknowledges that the “consistent and satisfying” early building forms of Buffalo were designed by owners and builders, not by architects, the consistent focus of his attention is the highly pedigreed buildings associated with wealth and privilege, primarily concentrated in a small section of Buffalo. This approach necessarily negates most citizens’ architectural experience of their community. It also pre-supposes that only architects shape what is most worthy of attention in the city, ignoring the contributions of artists, activists, and others.
As we re-imagined the three principles of The International Style, it didn’t just lead to a different canon of buildings, but also to a re-thinking of those who can be credited with building the city. Some of those presented here were architects overlooked by Hitch- cock or not yet practicing at the time of the 1940 Albright exhibition. Others shaped the city as commissioners of buildings for specific uses or through their artistry or activism. These activities are just as critical for shaping how we experience the city as are the high styled buildings commissioned by wealthy patrons.

This presentation is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather to serve as an entry point for thinking more broadly about those who have shaped – and continue to shape today – our broader community. We invite you to learn more about these important historical contributors, but also to think more inclusively about whom you would add to this list.

Meet the builders

Louise Bethune

(1856-1913) The first woman to become a licensed architect in the United States, Ms. Bethune’s contributions to the land- scape, including her iconic Hotel Lafayette, would have been widely visible to Mr. Hitchcock on his Buffalo trip, but none are acknowledged in his...

John Brent

(1889-1962) The first African American registered architect in Buffalo, Mr. Brent shaped our city in many ways, from his architecture to his involvement in the Niagara Movement and the Buffalo Urban League. His best known building, the YMCA he designed on the corner...

Robert T. Coles

(1929-2020) Native son and prolific Buffalo architect Robert Coles was a child when Hitchcock’s original 1940 exhibition took place. However, forty years later, he was highly involved in the re-hanging of 1982, as well as with the publication of Buffalo Architecture:...

Mary Talbert

(1866-1923) Ms. Talbert was a pillar of the community, active in so many things that shaped Buffalo and beyond, physically and civically. In addition to her activist work here at home, Ms. Talbert led the charge to save Frederick Douglass’s Antacostia home, Cedar...

Mariah Love

(1840-1931) Not all who shaped the City were architects, although the Encyclopedia of Social Work does refer to Ms. Love, founder of the first day care for the young children of working mothers in the United States, as a “social architect.” By opening the Fitch...

Eliza Quirk

(1812-1868) An Irish immigrant who crossed the Atlantic Ocean on her own as a teenager, Ms. Quirk would make her way to Buffalo and use sex work in the notorious canal district to sup- port herself. She managed to work her way up to become a property owner, eventually...

John Woodrow Wilson

(1922-2015) John Woodrow Wilson was an influential artist from Massachusetts, who, in the late 1970s, was commissioned to create a sculpture honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr in the newly renamed Martin Luther King, Jr. Park, part of the Olmsted Park system on...

Harold Ambellan

(1912–2006) Along with Robert Cornbach, Buffalo native Harold Ambellan was the artist responsible for the low relief sculptures that adorn the entrance to every town house as well as the walls of the apartment buildings at Willert Park, recognized by Hitchcock, the...