New York - Buffalo - Points of Interest (Downtown)
The McKINLEY MONUMENT, center of Niagara Square, was erected by the State of New York and unveiled by Governor Charles E. Hughes on September 5, 1907, in memory of President William McKinley, who was assassinated on September 6, 1901, while attending the PanAmerican Exposition. The monument, of modified French Renaissance design, consists of an obelisk resting on a paneled classical pedestal; the shaft rises out of a series of pools decorated with crouching lions. A circular promenade approached by radial walks completes the design. The architects were Carrère and Hastings; the sculptor was A.Phimister Proctor.
The SITE OF THE MILLARD FILLMORE HOUSE, W.Genesee St. and Delaware Ave., is marked by a bronze tablet on the wall of the Hotel Statler, Niagara Square. Millard Fillmore ( 1800-74) was born in Cayuga County, studied law in Buffalo, and, after practicing for several years in East Aurora, returned to Buffalo, where he maintained his official residence for the rest of his life. He was elected Vice President in 1848 and became thirteenth President in 1850, upon the death of Zachary Taylor. After his retirement from public office, Fillmore played an active part in the community life of Buffalo. He lived in the house on this site from 1858 until his death in 1874. His grave is in Forest Lawn Cemetery.
The SPENCER KELLOGG ADMINISTRATION AND OFFICE BUILDING, NW. corner of Niagara Square and Delaware Ave., is a two-story-and-basement red brick office building designed in the post-Colonial style. It houses the main offices of Spencer Kellogg & Sons, one of the largest manufacturers of linseed products in the United States. A painting in the lobby by A.Forestier depicts early sixteenth-century uses of linseed oil.
The structure incorporates parts of the Sizer House, which was built in 1836 for Henry Huntington Sizer, wealthy Buffalo grain merchant. This house was the first Buffalo residence to use gas for illumination; and tradition has it that, when Sizer's daughter was married at high noon, she had all the shutters closed and curtains drawn, so that the 'elegant effect' of the new lighting might show to full advantage.
The BUFFALO CITY HALL, Niagara Square W., was completed in 1932. Designed by John J. Wade, the structure illustrates the adaptation of the commercial skyscraper to the housing of municipal offices. The monumental character demanded by Americans in their public buildings is achieved by the huge 32-story tower that dominates the building, by the 14-story wings flanking the tower, and by an incrustation of halfclassic and half-modern decorative details.
The eight columns of the entrance loggia, three stories in height, are of modified Corinthian design and are surmounted by a one-story frieze carved with 21 figures symbolizing the economic and cultural life of Buffalo. On the massive bronze entrance doors appear the bear, beaver, snipe, and other emblems of the Iroquois clans.
Within, the lobbies and corridors have richly decorated vaulted ceilings, piers terminating in colossal sculptured figures, and wall paintings by William de Leftwich Dodge that deal with local history, especially the development of commerce, industry, and transportation. The council chamber has a modern decorative treatment.
In triangular plots to the left and right of the main entrance are large statues of Millard Fillmore and Grover Cleveland, the two Buffalo citizens who served as President of the United States. The sculptor was Bryant Baker.
TOWNSEND HALL, Millard Fillmore College, University of Buffalo (open), 25 Niagara Square, a four-story brick structure with Medina sandstone trim, houses the evening session and the treasurer's office of the University of Buffalo. Constructed in the middle years of the nineteenth century, the structure displays in its ornamental details the earliest phase of the Italian Renaissance Revival then under way.
The ERIE COUNTY HALL, Franklin St. between N.Eagle and Church Sts., the old Buffalo city hall, was erected in 1872. It is a threestory building with an eight-story tower. The style of the building is Italian Renaissance, with many Florentine Gothic details; the architect was A.J.Warner. The lobbies and vestibules are lavishly decorated in marble and bronze.
The PRUDENTIAL BUILDING, SW. corner of Church and Pearl Sts., a 12-story office building of structural steel and terra cotta erected in 1894, is a notable example of the work of Louis H. Sullivan, forerunner in the field of modern architecture. The use of skeleton steel construction enabled him to accent vertical lines by means of narrow piers and columns and to provide abundant light with more window area. All the exterior terra-cotta surfaces are reddish brown in color, with elaborate, interlacing ornament in designs peculiar to Sullivan. This ornamentation is also used on the ironwork of the elevators and stair grilles, the hardware, and the mosaic ceilings and upper wall surfaces of the main first floor corridors.
ST.PAUL'S EPISCOPAL CATHEDRAL, Shelton Square W., designed by Richard Upjohn in the Gothic Revival style, is of brown sandstone. It has a freestanding front central tower surmounted by a tall, graceful spire. Gothic arcades divide the nave from the side aisles. The ceiling over the nave is supported by heavy, open wood trusses. The site of the building was donated by the Holland Land Company to a congregation organized in 1817. The present edifice was named the cathedral church of the Episcopal diocese of western New York in 1866.
The U.S.COURTHOUSE, SW. corner of Franklin and Court Sts., harmonizes in design with the New York State Building, the two structures framing the fine vista from Niagara Square east to Lafayette Square. Designed in the neoclassic style, the courthouse has seven stories, but the two uppermost are set back to conform with the height of the earlier State Building. It was dedicated in 1936 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The NEW YORK STATE BUILDING, Niagara Square at Genesee, Franklin, and Court Sts., is a rectangular five-story structure of neoclassic design, with a two-story rear wing. The exterior, faced with Indiana limestone, is a modern version of Italian Renaissance architecture. The high rusticated first story forms a massive base. The windows of the three upper floors are recessed in vertical strips; and the stone piers between them are fluted to suggest giant, three-story pilasters. The lobbies and corridors of the first floor are finished with richly colored marbles. Ceiling paintings by William Andrew Mackay and Louis J. Borgo depict in pastel tones scenes of Niagara Falls, the Niagara Frontier, Buffalo Harbor, and a canal lock of 1837.
The building was erected in 1928-31 during the administrations of Governors Alfred E. Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt. The architects were William E. Haugaard, New York State Commissioner of Architecture, Edward B. Green & Sons, and A.Hart Hopkins.
The SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' MONUMENT, center of Lafayette Square, erected in 1882-4, is a shaft of Vermont marble on an elaborately ornamented base surmounted by a statue of a female figure. The monument was designed in the Victorian Gothic style by George Keller and executed by Caspar Buberl.
The BUFFALO PUBLIC LIBRARY, Broadway, Washington, Ellicott, and Clinton Sts., is the headquarters of the Buffalo Public Library system. The building, erected in 1885 and designed by C.L.W.Eidlitz, is of red pressed brick with a high brownstone and granite base; the style is Romanesque Revival.
The public library system provides traveling libraries for churches, classrooms, hospitals, industrial plants, and study clubs. To encourage home reading among children, it has more than 1,600 graded libraries in the classrooms of the city's elementary schools. Under J.N.Larned, its head from 1877 to 1897, the Buffalo library was one of the first in the State to undertake educational extension work.
The MICHIGAN AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH, 511 Michigan Ave., is a plain red brick structure with a high stone basement. Because they felt ill at ease in a church dominated by white folk, about 35 Negro members of the First Baptist Church withdrew in 1839 to organize the first Negro congregation in Buffalo. Services were first conducted in this building in 1845. The original pews have been replaced and are stored in the basement.
The building was an important station on the Underground Railroad. Many Negro families in Canadian towns near the border retain an affection for this church as the place from which their parents or grandparents made their last dash to freedom.
ST.MARY'S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, SW. corner of Broadway and Pine Sts., constructed of native limestone, is designed in the neoclassic style. The congregation, organized in 1844, comprised 600 German settlers. For a long time this was called the 'Woodchoppers' Church' because the members built the original structure in their spare time, hewing the timbers from the forest. The present building was consecrated in 1850.
CHIPPEWA MARKET, 50 E. Chippewa St., is a group of long one-story brick buildings and passageways with wood trussed roofs, containing 442 stands. The variety of produce sold is exceptionally large because the market caters to the many foreign groups in the city. Opened in 1856, the market is municipally owned.
The ELECTRIC BUILDING, Washington, Genesee, and Huron Sts., is a white terra-cotta office building constructed in 1912. The main feature is an octagonal tower on the corner rising sheer to 13 stories and then stepped back three times to a height of 327 feet, terminating in a large lantern. The rest of the building is seven stories high. The structure is modern in style, except for the neoclassic details on the three sections of the tower. At night three searchlights, totaling 25,000 candlepower, play from the lantern, and the upper sections of the tower are illuminated in a variety of colors. The architects were Esenwein and Johnson. The building contains offices of the Niagara-Hudson and Buffalo General Electric Companies.
The BUFFALO SAVINGS BANK, NE. corner of Main and Genesee Sts., is a domed structure erected in 1899 and enlarged in 1933. Edward B. Green designed the building in the grandiose neoclassic style popularized by the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. The murals on the interior are among the finest in Buffalo. The north wall mural shows Buffalo Harbor in the early forties, with the new Dart elevator—the world's first steam-operated grain elevator—canal boats and lake vessels. in process of unloading, dock-wallopers, canalers, sailors, and passengers, and, in the offing, making its majestic entrance, a smoke-spouting sidewheeler. The painting on the cast wall depicts the early purchase of land from the Indians headed by Red Jacket. Those in the four pendentives represent the foundations of Buffalo's civic greatness: commerce, industry, power, and the arts.

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