Session 2: Thursday April 18, 2024
Buffalo Architecture and Landmarks
Downtown Buffalo, NY
As many educators know, Buffalo was founded on a rich tradition of architectural experimentation. The architects who worked here were among the first to break with European traditions to create an aesthetic of their own, rooted in American ideals about individualism, commerce and social mobility. And today its grass-roots preservation movement is driven not by Disney-inspired developers but by a vibrant coalition of part-time preservationists, amateur historians and third-generation residents who have made reclaiming the city’s history a deeply personal mission. We will examine the City of Buffalo's place in history and analyze the impact made by architects Frank Llyod Wright, Henry Hobson Richardson, E.B. Green, Daniel Burnham and Louis Sullivan among others on Buffalo's legacy.
Dun Building: Buffalo's First High Rise Building
Henry Hobson (H.H.) Richardson
H.H. Richardson
Born at Priestly Plantation in Louisiana in 1838, Richardson learned early to speak French. He attended public and private schools in New Orleans before going to Harvard in 1854. At Harvard, he excelled in math, continued his study of drawing (an avocation he had started at age 10), and gave up civil engineering in favor of architecture. All would serve him will when he applied to be the second American student to enter the L'Ecole Des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
He remained in France throughout the Civil War (as he had friends in the North and relatives in the South). After his return to the US in 1865, he settled in a house on Staten Island. His neighbor was the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, with whom he later collaborated, for example in Buffalo for the Buffalo State Hospital.
His assistants Charles F. McKim and Stanford White developed their Shingle style from Richardson's fresh use of old materials in his domestic architecture. He also influenced such notable architects as Louis Sullivan, John Wellborn Root, and Frank Lloyd Wright.
He remained in France throughout the Civil War (as he had friends in the North and relatives in the South). After his return to the US in 1865, he settled in a house on Staten Island. His neighbor was the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, with whom he later collaborated, for example in Buffalo for the Buffalo State Hospital.
His assistants Charles F. McKim and Stanford White developed their Shingle style from Richardson's fresh use of old materials in his domestic architecture. He also influenced such notable architects as Louis Sullivan, John Wellborn Root, and Frank Lloyd Wright.
Louis Sullivan
Louis Sullivan
Louis Henry Sullivan was born in Boston. He studied architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for one year. After this, he worked as a draughtsman for architects Furness and Hewitt in Philadelphia and for William Le Baron Jenney in Chicago. In July 1874 Sullivan concluded his training at L'Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris; he returned to Chicago a year later
In 1879, he joined the office of Dankmar Adler (1844-1900), who had emigrated from Germany in 1854 and was established as an architect in Chicago by 1869. In 1883 Sullivan became a full partner. Sullivan was the design partner, while Dankmar Adler was the engineer.
Their first major building, and no doubt the most spectacular in Chicago up to that time, was the Auditorium (1886-90), which was strongly influenced by Henry Hobson Richardson. The auditorium itself is capable of seating more than 4,000. Sullivan's interior decoration is exceedingly interesting, of a feathery vegetable character, derived perhaps partly from the Renaissance in an arts and crafts spirit but at the same time pointing forward to the license of art nouveau. The tower on this building housed their offices.
His two most familiar skyscrapers, the Wainwright building, St. Louis (1890) and the Guaranty building, Buffalo (1894) express externally the skeleton structure and cellular interior arrangements.
In 1879, he joined the office of Dankmar Adler (1844-1900), who had emigrated from Germany in 1854 and was established as an architect in Chicago by 1869. In 1883 Sullivan became a full partner. Sullivan was the design partner, while Dankmar Adler was the engineer.
Their first major building, and no doubt the most spectacular in Chicago up to that time, was the Auditorium (1886-90), which was strongly influenced by Henry Hobson Richardson. The auditorium itself is capable of seating more than 4,000. Sullivan's interior decoration is exceedingly interesting, of a feathery vegetable character, derived perhaps partly from the Renaissance in an arts and crafts spirit but at the same time pointing forward to the license of art nouveau. The tower on this building housed their offices.
His two most familiar skyscrapers, the Wainwright building, St. Louis (1890) and the Guaranty building, Buffalo (1894) express externally the skeleton structure and cellular interior arrangements.
Daniel Hudson Burnham
D. H. Burnham
Raised and educated in Chicago, Daniel Hudson Burnham gained his early architectural experience with William Le Baron Jenney, the so-called "father of the skyscraper." In 1873, Burnham formed a partnership with John Wellborn Root (1850-1891). Three of their Chicago buildings were designated landmarks in 1962: The Rookery (1886) and the Reliance Building (1890), both using skeleton frame construction, and the Monadnock Building (1891), the last and tallest (16-story) American Masonry skyscraper.
Burnham's forte was organization and administration. He was the businessman of the firm, of which Root was the designer.When Burnham became chief of construction for the World's Columbian Exposition (Chicago, 1893), Root was appointed chief consulting architect. When Root died in 1891, that position also went to Burnham, who selected as principal architects firms from the eastern United States working in academic eclecticism -- the antithesis of the New Chicago school of commercial architecture. The "White City" that resulted, with its boulevards, gardens, and buildings with classical facades, influenced planning in the United States.
The Beaux Arts style was popularized during the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. One outgrowth of the Expo was the reform movement advocated by Daniel Burnham: the City Beautiful Movement.
Following Root's death in 1891, the firm became known as D.H. Burnham and Co. Its design output continued to be prodigious, including department stores (Marshall Field's) and office buildings (Ellicott Square Building, Buffalo).
Burnham's forte was organization and administration. He was the businessman of the firm, of which Root was the designer.When Burnham became chief of construction for the World's Columbian Exposition (Chicago, 1893), Root was appointed chief consulting architect. When Root died in 1891, that position also went to Burnham, who selected as principal architects firms from the eastern United States working in academic eclecticism -- the antithesis of the New Chicago school of commercial architecture. The "White City" that resulted, with its boulevards, gardens, and buildings with classical facades, influenced planning in the United States.
The Beaux Arts style was popularized during the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. One outgrowth of the Expo was the reform movement advocated by Daniel Burnham: the City Beautiful Movement.
Following Root's death in 1891, the firm became known as D.H. Burnham and Co. Its design output continued to be prodigious, including department stores (Marshall Field's) and office buildings (Ellicott Square Building, Buffalo).
Edward Broadhead (E.B.) Green
E.B. Green
E. B. Green was born in Utica, New York in 1855. He was graduated from Cornell University with a bachelor of architecture degree in 1878 and was the eighth architect to be registered by the State University of New York. After three years as a junior architect working for William Miller in Ithaca and teaching at Cornell for a year, he and William Sydney Wicks, an M.I.T. graduate in 1881, opened an architectural practice in Auburn, New York (1880). They moved to 69 Genesee Street in Buffalo in 1881. Both men belonged to the first generation of architects trained in American schools of architecture.
Wicks, who was born in Oneida Country in central New York in 1854, trained at MIT and Cornell, where he later designed several campus buildings. In 1881 he went into partnership with Green at Auburn, New York; two years later they both moved to Buffalo, where the firm endured until 1917 when Wicks retired. In addition to designing commercial buildings, the firm was much sought after by Buffalo society for private residences.
For the Pan-American Exposition (1901), Green & Wicks designed three buildings: the Electricity Building, the Machinery and Transportation Building, and the fireproof Brick Art Gallery. E. B. Green was one of the three local architects on the Board of Architects.
Wicks, who was born in Oneida Country in central New York in 1854, trained at MIT and Cornell, where he later designed several campus buildings. In 1881 he went into partnership with Green at Auburn, New York; two years later they both moved to Buffalo, where the firm endured until 1917 when Wicks retired. In addition to designing commercial buildings, the firm was much sought after by Buffalo society for private residences.
For the Pan-American Exposition (1901), Green & Wicks designed three buildings: the Electricity Building, the Machinery and Transportation Building, and the fireproof Brick Art Gallery. E. B. Green was one of the three local architects on the Board of Architects.
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was born on June 8, 1867, in Richland Center, Wisconsin, to Anna Lloyd-Jones Wright, a teacher whose large Welsh family of farmers and ministers settled the valley that became Taliesin, and William Russell Cary Wright, a preacher and musician. An early influence was his clergyman father's playing of Bach and Beethoven. (Later on Wright would make comparisons to music and architecture in relation to the mathematical aspects of both.)
Before her son was born, Anna had decided that her son was going to be a great architect. She placed pictures of buildings in his nursery and bedroom during his younger years to inspire him to become an architect. Using Froebel's geometric blocks to entertain and educate her son, young Frank was given free run of the playroom filled with paste, paper, and cardboard.
In 1887, Wright moved to Chicago and took a job with Joseph Lyman Silsbee. Chicago during the late nineteenth century was an exciting place. The fire of 1871 destroyed most of the old city allowing for it to be rebuilt in the new industrial age. Skyscrapers were the all the rage in architecture, using steel and glass to create "shrines" piercing the sky. This complimented the trend in residential homes where Victorian influence created pointed gables, lace-like ornamentation, plaster walls, and wooden structures.
Before her son was born, Anna had decided that her son was going to be a great architect. She placed pictures of buildings in his nursery and bedroom during his younger years to inspire him to become an architect. Using Froebel's geometric blocks to entertain and educate her son, young Frank was given free run of the playroom filled with paste, paper, and cardboard.
In 1887, Wright moved to Chicago and took a job with Joseph Lyman Silsbee. Chicago during the late nineteenth century was an exciting place. The fire of 1871 destroyed most of the old city allowing for it to be rebuilt in the new industrial age. Skyscrapers were the all the rage in architecture, using steel and glass to create "shrines" piercing the sky. This complimented the trend in residential homes where Victorian influence created pointed gables, lace-like ornamentation, plaster walls, and wooden structures.
Buffalo History Museum Virtual Exhibit
Buffalo Architecture Links
Buffalo News Gallery: Prominent Lost Building in Buffalo
Buffalo News Gallery: Old County Hall
Buffalo News Gallery: Larkin Administration Building
Buffalo News: How We Lost the Larkin Administration Building
Buffalo News Gallery: The Liberty Building
Buffalo News Gallery: The Dun Building
Buffalo News: A Closer Look Explore WNY's Architectural Treasures
Session 4 Objectives:
Topic: Buffalo’s Architecture and Landmarks
- Explore resources available on Architecture and Landmarks related to Buffalo’s history.
- Identify world famous Architects and their designs located throughout Buffalo, NY
- Analyze the impact of Architecture and Landmarks related to Buffalo’s current image.
- Examine sample projects on the www.BuffaloAH.com website.
- Create “Text Based Projects” to use as assessments with students.
- Align projects with NYS Social Studies Standards & Frameworks.