Dun Building - Table of Contents
Dun Building
110 Pearl Street, Buffalo, NY
Erected: |
1894-1895 Restored 1988 |
Architects: |
Green & Wicks |
Building contractor: | Jared H. Tilden |
Style: |
High rise (not a skyscraper) with Classical ornamentation |
Status: |
Photo taken about 1975, before the cornice
was removed. Photo by Larry Johnson, |
Photo taken about 1975, before the cornice
was removed. Photo by Larry Johnson, |
At 10 stories, it was the first Buffalo highrise |
Green and Wicks used giant arches to organize the elevations |
Applying the Neoclassical style of horizontal buildings to a vertical tower, the facade is divided into a series of multiple-story bands stacked one on top of the other |
The protruding cornice originally had supporting modillions similar to the ones above the entrances |
Although the building has a supporting steel skeleton, the walls also had to be made load-bearing to give the very narrow structure more bracing against the strong winds off Lake Erie. |
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Bull's eye window |
Bull's eye window |
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Bull's eye window |
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The Business District of Downtown
Buffalo It was not until the post-Civil War era that Buffalo
developed a specialized central business district, or downtown, as we know it today.
Many forces, including a rapidly expanding and increasingly complex economy, contributed
to this development, |
The Business of R. G. Dun and
Company The Dun Building, at Pearl and Swan streets (now
also called the flatiron building) still contributes its distinctive shape to the
downtown skyline. It originally housed R. G. Dun and Company, a pioneer in the business
of rating the credit of prospective borrowers. This essential tool sometimes worked to the disadvantage of ethnic groups. Tightly knit Buffalo communities like the Irish or the Jews would sometimes refuse to talk to Dun and Company agents. And the agents themselves carried prejudice into their work. By the early twentieth century the company had a hundred thousand credit reporters. The Buffalo office was one of the most active. |
History of the R. G. Dun Co.
The Dun Building was originally planned for the Union Central Life Insurance Company. The Insurance firm abandoned the project and turned over the plans to the Dun firm. The local office of R. G. Dun Co. was opened by John H. Smith in 1866. When the Dun Building was opened, Smith and R. G. Dun owned the building jointly.During the 46 years as head of the local office, Smith became sole owner. For 40 years R.G. Dun Co. maintained offices in the Dun building. R. G. Dun died in 1900, six years after the completion of the Dun Building. R. G. Dun Robert Graham Dun was born in Chillucothe, Ohio, in 1826. Educated in the Academy of his home town, Mr. Dun gained his initial experience while in his teens. At 21, he was proprietor of a small business. It was Benjamin Douglas, his brother-in-law, who drew Dun's interest in the direction of credit information services. Douglas was a partner in Tappan and Douglas, the Mercantile Agency of New York City, and offered his brother-in-law a post in that firm. The firm, organized shortly after the business panic of 1837 compiled data relative to rural storekeepers and made it available to wholesalers in New York. Dun joined the firm in 1850 and four years later became a partner. The firm was renamed B. Douglas & Co. In 1859 Dun headed the corporation and became sole owner except for minor stockholders. Within two years, he established branch offices in most U.S. cities. The demand for Mr. Dun's publications concerning credit ratings was so great that in 1893 he acquired his own printing plant, staffed by several hundred employees. For decades, he issued a weekly report on business conditions, read and respected by merchants and other businessmen of many countries. His credit data included Europe as well as the U.S. He established branch offices
of his company in Paris and Berlin. Since 1933, the Mercantile Co. headed by Mr.
Dun for a quarter of a century has been included in the firm of Dun and Bradstreet,
Inc. The Dun building is a fine local example of 1890's Beaux-Arts and Renaissance Styling. Green and Wicks was its local champion and used the style for many of its Buffalo commissions. |
The Architecture of the Dun Building Dun Building (1894 -1895), 110 Pearl Street, was
designed by E. B. Green
and William S. Wicks who applied the Neoclassical
style of horizontal buildings to a vertical tower, so the facade is divided into
a series of multiple-story bands stacked one on top of the other. |
Photos and their arrangement © 2005, 2015 Chuck
LaChiusa
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