ARCHITECTURE IN DOWNTOWN BUFFALO

Buffalo, at the western terminus of the Erie Canal, was a very wealthy city in the19^th century. It was a prime site of architectural experimentation. It was here that major American architects broke with European tradition to create an aesthetic of their own.  By focusing on a few buildings, we saw the evolution of forces that transformed the architecture in Buffalo and many other American cities.

19^th century inventions and advances in several fields of engineering allowed building to take new shapes.  These changes are mirrored in the architect preserved in downtown Buffalo.

1. BUILDING ENGINEERING – Originally the structure of buildings was supported by weight bearing walls. This engineering fact limited the safe height of buildings and the size of windows that could be cut to allow light to the interior.

With advances in technology, a steel skeleton could now be used to bear the weight of the building. Curtain walls could then be attached to the steel framework but now were no longer needed to bear weight.  Louis Sullivan took advantage of this principle in designing his visually soaring skyscrapers.

4 story building with weight bearing walls

Old Post Office, EXTERIOR, Victorian Gothic, Henry H. Richardson, architect, built 1894-1901

INTERIOR built around large courtyard with ornate glass ceiling to provide outside light in addition to limited electric lighting inside.

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Louis Sullivan's Prudential Building, 1895-6. Design elements emphasize verticality.

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2. ELECTRICITY – In the late 19^th century, the prolific experimenter and inventor, Thomas Alva Edison, was able to produce light through an incandescent bulb. He founded the Edison Electric Light Company that was supported by investors, including J.P. Morgan and the Vanderbilt family. This new capacity to generate electricity at a central location and distribute it locally made this power commercially viable. Now buildings were not restricted by reliance on outside ambient light, from dawn to dusk, but had their own reliable, interior source of lighting.

3. ELEVATOR – Elisha Otis, from Troy and Albany, NY was a tinkerer, who came up with the idea of a SAFETY elevator, one which has a device to keep it from falling should a cable be severed. His idea took off after it was featured at the 1854 World’s Fair in New York.

The elevator powered by an electric motor joined together with steel skeleton construction from the new science of building engineering and the invention of the light bulb allowed the design of the new skyscrapers—a design which would provide the towering and iconic images of the American city and those around the world.