Buffalo Savings / M&T - Table of Contents  .........................  Fountain Plaza - Table of Contents

South Elevation
Buffalo Savings Bank
/ Goldome / M& T Bank Branch
545 Main Street, Buffalo, NY



Click on photos for larger size - and additional information

South elevation

Beaux-Arts Classical style

Gold-leaf dome

Gold-leaf dome; anthemion on cornice

Brass and bronze display case pediment with decorarated tympanum


Corinthian capital

Rosettes and Festoons



Keystone:

Keystone capped by honeysuckle ornament



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 took required 140,000 paper-thin sheets of 23.75-carat gold leaf and cost $500,000.

See drawing of dome being constructed taken from "Tee Gold Dome: An Architectural Profile," pub. by Goldome Bank


 2012 Photos






Large background building: Bank of America





Photos and their arrangement © 2002, 2012 Chuck LaChiusa
| ...Home Page ...| ..Buffalo Architecture Index...| ..Buffalo History Index... .|....E-Mail ...| ..

web site consulting by ingenious, inc.