Buffalo Savings Bank

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Buffalo Savings Bank / Goldome / M& T Bank Branch
545 Main Street, Buffalo, NY
Renamed 1 Fountain Plaza, Buffalo, NY

Buffalo Savings / M&T - Table of Contents

Click on photos for larger size - and additional information


Postcard	Postcard

Completed in 1901 by Green & Wicks in style Beaux-Arts Classical style	Gold-leafed dome	Massive clock in a carved stone frame	Modillions Corinthian capital

Stone balcony: Balusters Ancone	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, 2001

The 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