Public School No. 59
775 Best Street, Buffalo, New York

Architect:	Charles D. Swan
Erected:	1901
Style:	Renaissance Revival

Historical and Architectural :	The Renaissance Revival Style school is typical of school buildings erected at this time, with features such as horizontal floor divisions accented by stone band courses and enriched cornices supported by modillions and consoles being characteristic. The building is one of a few that retains its original metal bracketed cornice. Public School No.59 was organized in 1898 with the construction of a three story brick Renaissance Revival Style school building at 761 Glenwood Avenue. A sixteen room addition was made in 1912. In 1976 the school moved to 775 Best Street occupying the present building constructed for Public School No.24.
Interrelationship of Building and Surroundings:	The school building is located on the southeast corner of Best Street and Fillmore Avenue. The residential/commercial east side neighborhood is composed of one and one half story cottages, and business establishments located on Fillmore Avenue and Genesee Street. The Olmsted designed Martin Luther King, Jr. Park is located across Best Street to the north.
Other Notable Features of Building and Site:	The school building is a three story, seven bay brick structure with Renaissance Revival styling. A three story, projecting seven bay wing spans the north and south elevations of the main block. The I-shaped plan is surmounted bay a flat roof. The metal crowning cornice features paired console brackets and modillion blocks. A center pedimented parapet with circular stone medallion and accenting piers span the building. The symmetrical front (north) facade is divided horizontally by stone band courses at the basement, first floor and third floor levels. Two story Doric pilaster strips flank second and third floor window bays. The structure has a high brick basement level with red brick facing the principal elevations. The first floor and second and third floor center bay are rusticated. The projecting center bay features a one and one half story round arched entrance with double doors and over sized semicircular lighted transom. Doric piers flank entrance. Voussoirs decorate the arch with a center console bracket. An entablature over the entrance has paired end consoles, dentilled cornice and parapet. Second and third floor windows over the entrance are tripart 3/3 light. Window fenestration consists of basement level paired 1/1 light windows. First through third floor windows are paired 3/3 light with stone lintels over the first floor, and rusticated stone lintels and sills highlighting second and third floor windows. The attic story has small paired square windows.
Building Materials:	Stone, brick
Structural System:	Steel Frame
Sources:	Building-Structure Inventory Form -1984; "Municipality of Buffalo", Henry W. Hill, 1923.