Built:	1926
Architect:	Harvey S. Horton
Style:	Early twentieth century reinforced concrete commercial architecture with classical ornamentation
Status:	Listed on the State & National Registers of Historic Places. Nomination
Significance:	The Huyler Building is significant as an excellent example of early twentieth century reinforced concrete commercial architecture. Reinforced concrete became a popular choice for commercial architecture during this period, as it was resistant to fire and could be constructed quickly and less expensively than masonry construction. In addition, the use of structural columns rather than walls allowed for open, flexible interior space perfectly suited for the changing decor and arrangements of retail showrooms. The Huyler Building is also eligible for the National Register for its association with the commercial development of Delaware Avenue, one of Buffalo’s primary commercial arteries and its most prestigious shopping street during Buffalo’s period of national prominence. The 1926 construction of the Huyler Building represents a transitional era for Delaware Avenue, as it shifted from fashionable residential street to bustling commercial thoroughfare in the 1920s.  - Source: State & National Registers of Historic Places Nomination

Source: The Avenue News,  by the Delaware Avenue Association, Vol 1 No. 2, September 1925, page 1. Not submitted as part of the nomination.

The entry doors are crowned by a half-round transom and are surrounded by the carved rope mold. Directly above this entrance is a small balconet which features carved consoles, an elaborate lion head, and a floral swag below. The balconet itself features a balustrade with stone balusters and stone pedestals. The windows of the second and third floors, which feature larger plate glass sash with fixed opaque transoms above, are joined by narrow engaged stone columns with a carved rope pattern and stylized Ionic capitals. Above the third floor windows are tripartite carved stone panels featuring floral scrolls, classical urns and acanthus leaf motifs. The slightly larger center panel features griffins, which flank the “Huyler’s” logo script.

History of the Huyler Building The Huyler Building at 374 Delaware Avenue in Buffalo was designed and constructed during the early 1920s for the Huyler’s confectionary company by architect Harvey S. Horton. The development of the Huyler’s Building coincided with the widespread growth of commercial activity along this area of Delaware Avenue. Although Buffalo had three earlier Huyler’s candy and confectionary shops by this time (366, 556 and 660 Main Street), the Huyler Building appears to have been designed and conceived as the “flagship” location for the Huyler’s company in the city, housing an elegant restaurant rather than a smaller luncheonette counter typical of the other locations. Prior to the construction of the Huyler Building, this parcel on Delaware Avenue contained a large three-story brick house, comparable in size and scale to the nearby Stephen Van Rensselaer Watson House at 388 Delaware Avenue (now the Buffalo Club), built in 1870, and the Charles F. Sternberg House at 414 Delaware Avenue (now the Mansion on Delaware Avenue hotel), built in 1869-70. Both the Watson and Sternberg houses were designed as brick, Second Empire-styled buildings, each with a signature mansard roof, and it appears that the original house, which dates to approximately the same era, was also a Second Empire style house, two-stories with a slated mansard story, and may have been built for Thomas A. Jebb, treasurer of the Akron Cement Works, who resided in the house in 1875.10 By the end of the 1910s and into the 1920s, Delaware Avenue was beginning to transform from one of Buffalo’s most fashionable residential streets into a commercial and business core in the city. As a result, many of these former residential buildings were converted with box-like additions to their front elevations, creating new commercial and office space. Many others were simply demolished to make way for new modern retail and office buildings. Harvey S. Horton first created plans for the Huyler Building in 1923. His client was the Gramercy Investing Company, the real estate arm of the Huyler’s company operated by the three Huyler brothers. Horton’s plans, which date from around April to August of 1923, meticulously record the extant brick Second Empire house on the property, anticipating its removal for the new commercial and office building. In plans titled “Building for Huyler’s,” Horton created a scheme for a three-story reinforced concrete building with three commercial tenant spaces on the ground floor and offices on the upper levels. However, the architect also cloaked his modern structure in a traditional design, a classical revival style of cast-stone panels bolted to the concrete frame and walls. The use of a style with connotations of tradition and history lent the building a sense of elegance, good taste and refinement, qualities that were also associated with Huyler’s brand at the time.    In 1925, Horton revised the plans for the Huyler Building. Perhaps the most significant revision was the addition of a fourth- story, then intended to house the Huyler’s kitchen and storage rooms. The reasons behind this expansion are unclear, although the 1923 set of plans contains some details for three- or four-story designs for the building, indicating that the Gramercy Investing Company may have been vacillating about how large to build the new building in Buffalo. Horton maintained the initial Classical Revival elevations, slightly modifying them to suit the new four-story design. The ground floor contained a “north store” (given the address of 378 Delaware) and a “south store” (given the address of 370 or 372 Delaware Avenue), small commercial spaces which fronted Delaware Avenue with shops measuring approximately 20-feet wide and 100-feet in depth. According to the plans revised in 1925, Huyler’s was to have a store located in the central space in the building, given the 376 Delaware Avenue address. Behind this store, located at the west end of the building, was to be a spacious dining room and men’s dining room with a serving room; these spaces suggest that the intent was to create a substantial Huyler’s restaurant, not just a luncheonette or soda counter, which was more typical of its stores. According to the plans, these dining halls were to be elegantly decorated with green terrazzo floors, decorative coffered ceilings, mirrored columns and walnut trim. The actual kitchen and supply rooms were located on an upper floor of the building, connected to the serving room via a dumbwaiter. Upper floors also contained areas that were partitioned into a variety of offices. As the new plans revised the originals, exactly what changes were made and what features were originally designed in 1923 is unclear. The era of the design and construction of the Huyler Building in Buffalo corresponds to the period of great change and turmoil in the Huyler’s company. While Horton likely worked closely with the Huyler brothers during the initial design phase in 1923, the brothers had sold their interests in the Huyler’s company to a New Orleans syndicate in December of 1925. This transition likely explains why the building was not constructed in 1923 and was instead revised and delayed until 1925. A building permit was issued on December 16, 1925 to the Gramercy Investing Company (as owner) to build a four-story brick, tile and stone store and offices at 374 Delaware Avenue.11 The building appears to have been finished in 1926, based on information from Sanborn fire insurance maps and city directories. Despite the intention, records are unclear whether the building was ever actually occupied by the Huyler’s company. While city directories list the other Huyler’s locations on Main Street in the same general period (1926-1929), and the Huyler Building itself is listed, there is no entry for a Huyler’s restaurant or eatery at 374 Delaware Avenue. The initial first floor tenants in the building, listed in the city directory of 1927, were recorded as Pitt Petri Importer, Inc. located in the 378 Delaware retail space, the American Radiator Company showroom in the 374 Delaware space (this is likely the center 376 Delaware space), and the 372 Delaware address was noted as being vacant. The upper floors of the Huyler Building contained an assortment of professional offices including the Film Board of Trade (Room 307), the American Seating Company furniture (Room 308), the City Architect’s Offices (Room 407) and other tenants. There is no indication that a Huyler’s establishment (confectioner shop or restaurant) occupied the building in 1927, the building’s first year of operation. In fact, perhaps the American Radiator Company was initially slated to occupy the 372 Delaware space but relocated to the larger and more desirable central commercial space when it became available. The only record located indicating that the building possibly housed a Huyler’s operation is from a mention in the 1933 New York Times. In a notice for a sheriff’s auction, apparently resulting from the defaulting on the mortgage of the Huyler Building held by the Gramercy Investing Company and the subsequent foreclosure on the building, the rights, title and interest to the Huyler Building (recorded as being 370, 374 and 378 Delaware Avenue in Buffalo) were auctioned off on February 17, 1933. At the time of the auction, the various lease agreements made to the Gramercy Investing Company as landlords were recorded. This record indicates that the Huyler’s company signed a lease on the building dated April 1, 1925, which was subsequently modified on November 25, 1925 and again on July 28, 1931. The lease agreement began on January 1, 1926 (reinforcing that the building’s construction was completed by 1926) and was for ten years, terminating on December 31, 1935. For a yearly rent of $15,000, Huyler’s rented space in the basement, first floor and second and third floors of the building, under the address of 374 Delaware. However, unlike the other leases noted in the sheriff’s auction, Huyler’s is never noted as being a “tenant” in the building. While Huyler’s leased this space from the Gramercy Investing Company, whether the company occupied it and with what type of operation are unclear.12 Pitt Petri Company Despite the unresolved questions about Huyler’s occupancy of the Huyler Building, one key tenant of the building was the Pitt Petri Company, an importer of housewares and decorative items. The first shop was opened by Mr. and Mrs. Pitt Petri Sr. and Esther L. Emig, sister of Mr. Petri, in 1924 and was located on Allen Street in Buffalo. Shortly after, in 1925, the Pitt Petri importers store moved to a location at 569 Delaware Avenue.13 On September 27, 1927 Pitt Petri Importers, Inc. signed a lease with the Gramercy Investing Company for a showroom and store at 378 Delaware Avenue in the Huyler Building, described as the “north store” in the building plans.14 While many shops and businesses that featured luxury goods, including the gourmet Huyler’s confections, were hard hit during the Great Depression in the 1930s, the Pitt Petri shop appears to have grown and become prosperous. Pitt Petri became synonymous with high-quality decorative and art goods, retailing home products such as silverware, crystal, dishes, china, decorative objects and other goods. The store became so successful and highly regarded that it opened a New York City branch in 1931. By the late 1930s, Pitt Petri Importers had achieved a national following in both its Buffalo and New York City stores and through a mail-order business. The company carried product lines that included the New York City- based Tiffany & Co., one of the world’s most prominent jewelry and decorative goods companies and a name synonymous with taste, quality and elegance, bringing these products to the Buffalo marketplace. As the company became associated with opulence, quality and modern tastes in its decorative goods, it desired to revamp its showroom in Buffalo. It was imperative for a retailer who specialized in selling the latest and most stylish products to maintain showrooms which were in the height of fashion, and the Pitt Petri showrooms underwent numerous alterations and updates throughout the years as tastes changed. In 1936 designer Lophelia Runyon of New York City was hired to remodel the store at 378 Delaware Avenue. Runyon’s design for the Pitt Petri showroom featured a color palate of “nasturtium orange, “pale blossom pink,” chartreuse, canary yellow and “madonna blue” and featured a formal bride’s table called “June,” which showcased a Venetian lace table cloth set with an antique silver service.15 Antonin Raymond In 1939, Pitt Petri engaged notable international architect Antonin Raymond to undertake a showroom expansion and redesign of the store.16 It appears that during this time, the Pitt Petri Importers business had become so successful and prominent, that it took over the former 374/376 Delaware commercial space at the center of the building. Raymond was a prominent twentieth-century architect. After studying architecture in Europe, Raymond worked for three years in New York City for Cass Gilbert. In 1916, Raymond entered the employ of Frank Lloyd Wright. Along with his wife and collaborator, Noémi, Raymond initially worked for Wright at Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin. Upon his return from a brief stint in the Army during World War I, Raymond was convinced by Wright to serve as his chief assistant and travel to Tokyo with him to work on the Imperial Hotel. During this period, Raymond became enamored with Japanese design and culture and also began to become dissatisfied with working for Wright. In January of 1921, Raymond was dismissed by Wright. A month later he established his own firm, with Leon Whittaker Slack, the American Architectural and Engineering Company, in Tokyo. Following the devastating Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, he established the Raymond Architectural Design Office, which worked to reimagine and rebuild Japan. While working in Tokyo, Raymond pioneered modern architecture in that nation, becoming widely regarded as the “father of Modern architecture in Japan.”17 Raymond subsequently returned to the United States and established an architecture practice at his farm in Mount Hope, Pennsylvania in 1938. Shortly after his return to this country, he was commissioned by Pitt Petri to redesign the expanded showroom. Published in 1941 by the national architectural journal, Pencil Points, Raymond’s design for the new Pitt Petri showroom inserted new display cases into the existing structure of the commercial space that consisted of curved display areas, ribbon-like lighting fixtures and a new color scheme of dark grey, white and dark blues. The overall effect created a sleek, modern interior, and the many curves and simplified forms in the space testify to the popularity of streamlined designs during the late 1930s and 1940s.18 The engagement of an internationally prominent architect for the redesign of its showroom reflects the success and prosperity of the Pitt Petri company and its desire to create a new showroom reflective of current design trends.19 Although forced to close its New York City branch in 1941, when the war abroad made importing goods difficult, Pitt Petri Importers continued a thriving business in Western New York. The company, in its newly expanded show room on Delaware Avenue, became so recognized at this location that by 1951 the building that had originally been known as the Huyler Building (and whose name was emblazoned on carved stone friezes above the third floor windows) became known as the Petri Building.20 This time period also correlates with the national decline of the Huyler’s chain in the early 1950s, and the change in name for the building may have resulted from the Huyler’s company fading from public memory in the area. Eventually, in the 1960s the Pitt Petri company expanded once again, completely occupying the three original tenant spaces on the first floor of the building, updating and modernizing the showrooms to stay up on current styles and trends. Despite the growth of the store, changing tastes and a faltering economy in the 1960s and 70s led to the decline of the Pitt Petri company shortly thereafter. Pitt Petri opened a new location in Williamsville, NY, a wealthy suburb outside of Buffalo, in 1995 with the hopes of tapping into the upscale market in that area. The business was further taxed during the late twentieth century as consumers could buy these goods through the internet and also directly from the manufacturers. In 2000 Tiffany & Co, one of Pitt Petri’s oldest suppliers, stopped working with its independent dealers, devastating the business of Pitt Petri. Pitt Petri, Jr., owner of the business after his father, considered reversing the previous expansion in the ground floor of the building, shrinking the showrooms into one storefront to allow the other two spaces to be rented to create more income for his building. After closing the Williamsville location in 2009, Pitt Petri hoped to consolidate its business into a smaller space. However, after a disappointing holiday season in 2010, the Pitt Petri company was forced to close its doors in early 2011. Currently, the building is owned by Pitt Petri, Jr., but it is being leased by a commercial real estate developer, who seeks to restore this building’s long-time prominence on what is still Buffalo’s most fabled street.21 8 Richard Pieper, "Preservation Brief 42: The Maintenance, Repair and Replacement of Historic Cast Stone," Preservation Briefs - Technical Preservation Services. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Web. 05 July 2011. <http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/tps/briefs/brief42.htm> 9 As noted in Dr. W.D. Horne Interview Transcript. Recorded Oct 13, 1956. Paul Wallace Research Collection, Box 2, Folder 47. 10 Noted in the 1875 Buffalo City Directory. 11 Based on building permit #95061 located in the City of Buffalo Permit Office. 12 "Sheriff's Auction," New York Times, 17 Feb. 1933: C36. 13 "Pitt Petri Inc. Remodeling Its Delaware Avenue Store," Buffalo Evening News, 19 May 1976: 46. 14 "Sheriff's Auction," New York Times, 17 Feb. 1933: C36. 15 "Pitt Petri Reopens," Courier Express, 1 May 1936: 21. 16 Jonathan D. Epstein, "Pitt Petri Alters Plans, Will Close for Good," The Buffalo News, 4 Jan. 2011. 17 Kurt Gerard Frederick Helfrich and William Whitaker, Crafting a Modern World: the Architecture and Design of Antonin and Noémi Raymond, New York: Princeton Architectural, 2006; 75. 18 "Pitt Petri Shop in Buffalo," Pencil Points, 22 Jan 1941: 1-10. Also, "Raymond Architectural Design Office Inc. - Company Profile," Raymond Architectural Design Office Inc. Web. 19 May 2011. <http://www.raymondsekkei.co.jp/english/index.html>. 19 Unfortunately, the Antonin Raymond-designed interior cabinetry has been altered and modified since its installation. Some fixtures and installations remain, but they have generally been painted, covered with new flooring or removed since their construction. The most intact portion of Raymond’s display areas is an area of the store located near the center of the building which features curved walls and the oval ceiling design. 20 This is noted as occurring ca. 1951. The 1950 Buffalo City Directory lists the building still as the “Huyler Building”; however, it was known as the “Petri Building” in the 1951/52 directory. 21 Jonathan D. Epstein, "Pitt Petri Alters Plans, Will Close for Good," The Buffalo News, 4 Jan. 2011.

Architectural Features The Huyler Building was designed as a reinforced concrete frame building by Buffalo architect Harvey Starin Horton in 1923-1925 and was constructed in 1926. The building features concrete floor slabs supported by concrete-encased steel columns and contains brick-faced “tile curtain walls” inside. The two most prominent elevations, along Delaware Avenue to the east and Trinity Place to the north are faced with cast stone panels in a smooth ashlar pattern with cast-stone trim with narrow mortar joints.1 The building is designed with a four-bay façade and a six-bay north elevation. The fourth story appears almost as an attic story on the building, divided from the third level by a beltcourse and containing smaller windows in sets of three which align with each bay. This story also features simple circular stone medallions between each window set. The north façade is similarly detailed with its six bays on the ground floor featuring shop windows, blind arches, and an entry door unit. Also, the more ornate window designs of the façade, which span the second and third floor windows, are only present at the easternmost and westernmost bays of the north elevation, with simpler individualized units in the central bays. Both the façade and the north elevation feature a pressed metal cornice. This verdigris-colored cornice features scroll consoles with egg and dart molding. Set between each console is a circular light fixture. Originally designed and built by Buffalo architect Harvey S. Horton for the nationally prominent Huyler’s candy company (which apparently never occupied the building), the Huyler Building became most closely associated with the Pitt Petri company, which did business out of the building for over eighty years. [1] J.N. Kins, "The Accomplishment of Forty Years," The National Magazine XLI (Oct 1914 - Mar 1915, Inclusive): 536-40.

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Photos and nomination by Cinton Brown Company Architecture/Rebuild
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