Preservation Ready Survey - Table of Contents
Excerpts
Preservation Ready Survey of Buildings Downtown, Northland, and Fougeron/Urban Survey Areas
Buffalo, NY
Official City of Buffalo Digitized Complete Preservation Ready Survey
NOTE: FOOTNOTES NOT INCLUDED IN THIS REPRINT. BOLD LETTERING ADDED FOR EASE OF READING.
4.5.2 Public Housing
The rise in public housing projects during the
mid-twentieth century also resulted in the demolition of vast tracts of
city blocks. By 1960, the city had eight federally-subsidized housing
projects and five state-assisted projects.
Buffalo’s first public housing projects were constructed in the 1930s as part of the New Deal era housing reform. Established in 1934, the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority (BMHA) was created in 1934
to eliminate slums and purchase property for construction public
housing. BMHA conducted a survey the following year to identify target
areas where slum elimination and public housing programs would improve
the standard of living.
The Kenfield housing project (1937) was the first of its type in
the city and included 78 two-and-three story apartment buildings.
Kenfield represented the city quality modern public housing. However,
Kenfield was constructed in a “non-slum” area and failed to meet one of
BMHA’s key objectives of slum clearance.
Establishment of the U.S. Housing Authority (USHA) in 1937 by Congress
as part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal Program facilitated
construction of Lakeview (71 building, 668 units), Willert Park (62 buildings, 172 units) and Commodore Perry
(50 buildings, 772 units) housing projects. USHA built 100,000 units in
140 cites prior to 1942 when it merged with another government agency.
Completed in 1939, Willert Park housing project is the second public housing complex in New York State constructed solely for the African American community. Designed by Buffalo architect Frederick C. Backus, the buildings reflect aspects of the Modern Movement
of architecture with particular references drawn from European housing
projects designed by Le Corbusier in France and Bauhaus School in
Germany. The buildings have minimal ornamentation and a functional
design with interior courtyards for park- like settings. Sculptural
elements were created by Robert Crombach and Herbert Ambellan. Willert
Park is eligible for the State and National Registers of Historic
Places under Criteria A and C.
The Lakeview housing project was constructed on Pennsylvania
near the CBD to the west. New redevelopment housing has recently
replaced the Lakeview projects.
o
Commodore Perry
The largest of the three housing projects, Commodore Perry
is partially located in CBD study area at Perry and Louisiana streets.
Constructed in 1940, nearly 300 buildings were demolished for 50 public
housing buildings to accommodate 772 housing units east of Louisiana
Street. The two-and-three story apartment buildings were built with
fire proof construction and tile brick faced walls. The housing complex
consists of U-shaped buildings with courtyards fronting east- west
roads or alleys and long rectangular buildings on the east and west
edges of north-south streets. Only one grouping of buildings was
constructed on the northwest corner of Louisiana and Fulton Streets
next to Lanigan Park and Field House. In 1955, the Commodore Perry
Extension project expanded housing to the west side of Louisiana
Street. Eight-story apartment buildings were built on Perry Street
while apartment buildings of similar scale and materials were
constructed south of Perry Street.
Dante Place
In 1948, one of the first large State-assisted urban renewal projects was initiated on the waterfront in an area predominated by Italian-Americans. In the 1940s New York State adopted a slum clearance housing program. BMHA considered Dante Place
as "...one of the worst substandard areas in the City of Buffalo, not
only in terms of physical decline of its buildings but in its
reputation for social unrest." Dante Place was leveled for the city’s
most ambitious public housing venture to date. Completed in 1952, Dante Project (now Marine Drive Apartments) consists
of seven 12-story apartment buildings and housing for over 2,000
residents. Marine Drive Apartments was initially one of the most
integrated of all of the city’s public housing with a higher percentage
of African Americans, 36 percent in 1954, than in other predominately
white projects. The higher number of African-American residents in
Dante Place has been attributed to the dislocation of families in the
Ellicott District for the construction of Ellicott and Talbert Malls in
1953-1954.
Located along the east side of the CBD, the Ellicott and Talbert Malls
project entailed demolition of approximately 30 city blocks in what was
a racially-mixed area between Jefferson and Michigan Avenues, and
William and Swan Street. Completed in 1959, the Ellicott (eight
stories) and Talbert housing projects were high-rise apartments
constructed exclusively for African-Americans.
Marine Drive
In the same year, New York State granted permission to
BMHA to convert Dante project in the present middle-income
privately-managed Marine Drive Complex. The conversion resulted
in relocation of roughly 500 lower-income African-American residents.
Marine Drive Apartments is a seven-building complex overlooking Buffalo
River with landscaped courtyards. It was designed by the noted Buffalo
architectural firm Backus, Crane and Love. As noted, Backus previously
designed Willert Park. The apartment buildings have steel frame and
masonry construction, cruciform plan, brick exterior, and distinctive Mid-Century Modern
metal and glass entrances. The first floor of each apartment building
exhibits a strong horizontality with its mixed types of window openings
& sash, multi-story window bay with stringer course spandrels.
Identical in design, the individual buildings are called Admiral,
Coastline, Driftwood, Ebbtide, Gulfstream, Flagstaff, and Bayshore
buildings.
4.5.3 Turn of the Twenty-first Century Development
Extensive development projects have occurred throughout the CBD since
the 1990s. Numerous historic buildings have been adapted for reuse
(i.e. mixed-use, lofts), many of which have utilized State and Federal Tax Credits. Significant development and construction is ongoing in the inner harbor waterfront area. In 2011, the ten-story R.H. Jackson U.S. Courthouse
(Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF), New York, architects) opened on
Niagara Square. The new courthouse is the most significant government
building to be constructed in the CBD since the turn of the
twenty-first century. Oriented towards the Niagara Square, the south
wall encloses the public lobbies while its transparency reveals the
activity within. Its exterior veil of glass panels are suspended in
front of the pre-cast skin of the ellipse, which reinforces the
inherent grace of the shape with an expression of lightness. The
building’s lightness of design is further emphasized by the surrounding
monumental masonry buildings on the
square.
Active construction in the City is currently centered on Canalside District.
A multi-use hockey and entertainment complex is currently under
construction on the Webster Block, while construction continues on the
canals that will interpret the alignment of the Erie Canal and
Commercial Slip. The former Memorial Auditorium site is being
transformed into replica canals, including a winter outdoor ice rink,
retail, and office and restaurant space. The conversion of the Donovan State Office Building into a hotel and office building is nearly complete. A new 140,000 square-foot, six-story building is under construction at 144 Genesee Street. One of the largest current projects in the CBD is the restoration of vehicular traffic to Main Street.
Return to top of page
