Buffalo Savings / M&T - Table of Contents ...................... Fountain Plaza - Table of Contents
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Buffalo Savings Bank / Goldome / M& T Bank Branch
545 Main Street, Buffalo, NY
Renamed 1 Fountain Plaza, Buffalo, NY
First building: |
1846 at Main & Erie streets |
Second building: |
1852 at west side of Main Street near Court Street. Destroyed by fire on January 25, 1865 (along with other buildings, including the Eagle Tavern) |
Third building: |
1867
at northeast corner of Washington and Batavia (now Broadway) streets -
2-story banking house trimmed ion Connecticut brownstone |
Fourth building: |
1899-1900 at Main and Huron |
Fourth building architecture firm: |
Green and Wicks (competed against 9 other firms) |
Fourth building architectural style: |
Beaux Arts Classical |
Dome coverings: |
1901 - Terra cotta overlaid with copper 1954 - Covered with gold leaf 1979 - Fresh coat of gold leaf 1998 - Fresh coat of gold leaf |
Bank renamed: |
Goldome in 1983 |
Addition: |
1982 |
Bank dissolved: |
Postcard |
Postcard |
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Completed in 1901 by Green & Wicks in style Beaux-Arts Classical style |
Gold-leafed dome |
Massive clock in a carved stone frame |
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Stone balcony: |
Main entrance in triangular site |
Bronze doors detail: pilaster |
Medina sandstone steps |
Southwest neighbors - Hyatt Hotel, Fleet Bank |
Southwest neighbor - Hyatt Hotel |
Southeast neighbor - Electric Tower |
The Dome
By Tom Buckham
Reprinted from The Buffalo News, March 1, 2001The dome is 23 feet tall and 56 feet in diameter. It is covered with 13,500 terra-cotta tiles, meticulously engineered to interlock and overlap each other. Each of the 54 rows of tile differs in size from the row above or below it, and each tile is individually imprinted with a row and cast number.
The tiles originally were overlaid with copper, which took on a greenish hue. Three times since - 1954, 1979, and 1998 - the dome was gilded with pure gold. The last restoration required 140,000 paper-thin sheets of 23.75-carat gold leaf and cost $500,000.See drawing of dome being constructed
taken from "The Gold Dome: An Architectural Profile," pub. by Goldome Bank