GLF Elevator - Table of Contents

Charles G. Curtiss Malt House
1100 Niagara St.
, Buffalo, NY

Douglas Jemal in Buffalo (online June 2022)


Originally built in 1880 for the Charles G. Curtiss Malting Co., the two-story white-painted brick building was one of the first buildings in the country to use electric power from Niagara Falls to run a series of malting drums for processing.  It was sold in 1911 to the Fleischmann Malting Co. and then sold again in 1920 - after Prohibition began – to the Cooperative Grange League Federation Exchange, and then Agway for use as a grain warehouse and feed supply facility from 1920 until1982. But it essentially has been empty for the last 40 years.

             - Jonathan D. Epstein, “Jemal adds Curtiss Malt House to portfolio after buying Mahoney Building, Century Theater lot,” The Buffalo News,  May 24, 2022 



The GLF elevator is one of the most striking in Buffalo, with the two towers on either end rising powerfully above the silos themselves.  The history of the Grange League Federation cooperative is fascinating, and closely linked to Buffalo, but stretches out across the eastern US.

The GLF in Buffalo started in 1920 at the 1898 Curtiss Malthouse at 1100 Niagara Street.

- Anthony O. James, R.A., 2016




Charles G. Curtiss Malting Co.


The building at 1100 Niagara Street is set on a large slightly trapezoidal corner lot, located on the west side of the street at the south end of the block between Albany Street and Gull Street.

Niagara Street is a longstanding thoroughfare in the far west of the neighborhood along the river. Already laid out in 1809, Broadway as it was originally called, connected Buffalo with Niagara Falls. Though currently dominated by aging industrial and commercial properties, Niagara was once a residential street with a number of fine dwellings - Buffalo’s first Delaware Avenue. The transformation of Niagara Street from residential to industrial began in the 1880s and 1890s.

The property is located in the far south western section of the Grant-Ferry-Forest neighborhood.

An early twentieth century, urban, factory building complex. Multiple components- main multiple story front gabled building, added single- story warehouse section at the south, a reinforced concrete  grain elevatoat the rear, and additional outbuildings. Main structure distinguished by stepped parapet, extensive corbelling, and large elongated arched windowing arranged in pairs and spaced by subtle pilasters and recessed panels.

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The building at 1100 Niagara Street is significant as a good representative example of an early twentieth century, urban, brick, factory building complex.

Built as the malt house of the Charles G. Curtiss Malting Co., the main section originally housed the malting drums.

It is especially noteworthy for the stepped front gable and extensive corbelling.

A reinforced concrete  grain elevator was added at the rear in 1921, and a 1-story warehouse addition was appended to the south side; the facility was then used as a grain and feed supply house for the Co-operative Grange League Federation Exchange.

- 2004, Intensive Level Historic Resources Survey: Grant-Ferry-Forest, Buffalo, NY




Photos
© 2015 Newell Nussbaumer
Reprinted with poermission from  Queenseyes, Exposing the Curtiss Malting building, posted on Buffalo Rising on Aug. 13, 2015




"Those of us overly familiar with Niagara Street, near Rich Products, might have noticed a recent scheduled demolition that helped to expose the entire facade of the semi-hidden Agway Warehouse (1100 Niagara Street). The outlying structures that were demolished were not part of the original 1880s-90s structure, rather they were 1920s add-ons that essentially took away from aesthetic grandeur of the Agway."
- Queenseyes, "Exposing the Curtiss Malting Building," on Buffalo Rising, August 13, 2015























Photos
© 2015 Chuck LaChiusa


East elevation ... Queen Anne Commercial style ... Crow-stepped gable ... Corbel table



Corbel table



Note transom window



South elevation





Corbel table




October 2017 photo ...   View from Broderick Park   ...   Note I 190 where the car is traveling and the Back Rock Channel   ...   Building to the left is Oliver Gear

Page by Chuck LaChiusa in 2016
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