HT: Buffalo Rising
The Buffalo Preservation Board will begin consideration of designating a portion of the East Side’s Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood as a Certified Local Historic District. The primary goal of the designation is to help safeguard the community’s historic infrastructure that is in constant jeopardy of being demolished. Combined with a push to build sensitive infill, the designation is intended to strengthen the overall fabric Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood. It is being driven by neighborhood residents and stakeholders, the Historic East Side Neighborhood Initiative, and Preservation Buffalo Niagara.
The Broadway-Fillmore Historic District is eligible for local landmarking as provided in Section 337 of the Buffalo City Charter, 37-14 Criteria for Designation under Criteria 1, (They have character, interest, or value as part of the development, heritage, or cultural characteristics of the City, state, or nation); Criteria 3 (They exemplify the historic aesthetic, architectural, archaeological, educational, economic, or cultural heritage of the City, state, or nation); Criteria 5 (They embody distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style valuable for the study of a period, type, method of construction or use of indigenous materials); Criteria 6 (It is the work of a master builder, engineer, designer, architect or landscape architect whose individual work has influenced the development of the City, state, or nation); Criteria 7 (It embodies elements of design, detailing, materials or craftsmanship that render it architecturally significant); and Criteria 9 (It is a unique location or contains singular physical characteristics that make it an established or familiar visual feature within the city).
From the Historic Resource Survey: Broadway-Fillmore Neighborhood 2004 completed by Clinton Brown Company Architecture, pc. for the Masiello Administration/Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency. (Clinton Brown, project principal; Christine Longiaru, project manager; and Martin Wachadlo and Frank Kowski assisted):
Introduction
The Broadway-Fillmore Historic District is comprised of 248 buildings and is located in one of many neighborhoods on Buffalo’s “East Side.” It is set roughly two-and-one-half miles east of Buffalo’s City Hall and downtown commercial district. The historic district is representative of late-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century commercial and residential development in Buffalo and is indicative of how the East Side developed into a grouping of almost independent communities.
The buildings represent a mix of commercial, industrial, residential, civic social, cultural, and religious architecture, many designed by prominent Buffalo architects. Many of these architect-designed structures could be considered as individually eligible in their own right. The district was named after the intersection of Broadway and Fillmore Avenue. As its name suggests, the intersection of Broadway and Fillmore A venue is the heart of the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood. Broadway (known as Batavia Street until 1877) was laid out in 1821, extended in 1848, and paved east of Fillmore by the 1870s. Broadway was one of the earliest radials in Joseph Ellicott’s plan for Buffalo, and it connected Buffalo to Batavia and beyond. Fillmore Avenue was surveyed as a public highway around 1830 and was extended to Broadway in the late 1840s. It was eventually named “Fillmore” after former president Millard Fillmore who became a resident of Buffalo after his presidency. The historic district remains relatively intact, providing a critical view of the development of commercial and residential architecture in East Buffalo.
The historic district is threatened: it has experienced several decades of physical and environmental deterioration as vacancies increased and buildings were demolished or fell into disrepair. Although much demolition has already taken place, for the most part, its buildings retain their historic architectural character and form and create a distinct sense of place, recalling a significant era in Buffalo’s history.
Significance
The Broadway-Fillmore District is significant in the area of social history in connection with its residential and commercial development representing the period of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Polish immigration on Buffalo’s East Side. The Broadway-Fillmore District is part of Polonia, as the area was known, an East Side enclave of what was one of the largest Polish communities in the United States. The district is also significant for its architecture, containing important, architect-designed commercial, industrial, civic, social, cultural and religious structures.
Architectural Assessment
The Broadway-Fillmore District includes 248 buildings: 230 structures are contributing historic resources; 18 are non-contributing resources. The district contains a mix of residential, commercial, industrial, civic, cultural, social and religious architecture. All industrial, civic, religious, cultural and social institutions in the district are intact and maintain most, if not all historic architectural ornament. All of these building types in the district were considered contributing to the historic character of the district. Buildings considered as non-contributing resources are those which post-date the period of significance or have been drastically altered. These include contemporary commercial buildings (i.e., fast food and chain stores) and several one-and-a-half to two-story residential structures south of Broadway.
The majority of the architectural fabric is defined by detached, frame workers’ cottages consisting of one and two stories. A large number of these structures are double flats, many with rear extensions. The house-forms in the district fall under the following categories: one-story residences mainly with telescoping additions that expand to the rear of the lot; two-story residences, similarly containing rear additions; two-story residences; and two-story doubles with separate flats on each level. The Worker’s Cottage is significant for its widespread popularity in American urban and semi-urban areas during the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Earlier, more prominent homes are located mainly along Fillmore A venue and are predominantly built in the Colonial Revival, Craftsman, American Four Square and Queen Anne styles.
As previously stated, commercial structures in the Broadway-Fillmore District were largely architect designed. These commercial buildings consist primarily of early twentieth century commercial style, flat-roof two-part blocks that vary between two to five stories. The early twentieth century commercial style grew in opposition to the more decorative Victorian-era architectural styles popular in the late nineteenth century. Earlier commercial buildings typically exhibit predominant architectural styles of the period. Defining characteristics of this style which can be found in the district are the use of patterned masonry wall surfaces, shaped parapets at the roofline, and large rectangular windows arranged in groups. A common feature is the “Chicago Window” a window with one large fixed piece of glass that has two narrow, double-hung windows on either side for ventilation. A good example of this can be found at 239 Lombard Street in the Lederman Building. The early twentieth century commercial style is exemplified on Broadway where buildings are primarily two-part commercial blocks, varying between two to five stories.
Other less common but significant twentieth century architectural styles utilized for commercial structures in the district are the Neo-Classical style Union Stockyards Bank at 949 Broadway, the Art Deco style former Lederman’s Furniture store at 239 Lombard Street and the Art Moderne style department store at 950 Broadway.
Along with commercial buildings, religious and civic institutions followed the residential growth of the area, changing the scale and style of the neighborhood. These architect-designed structures are stylistically distinct; many are monumental in scale. There are several religious institutions in the district, the most prominent being the Corpus Christi Church, designed in the Romanesque style in 1909 with later additions of a school, rectory and convent.
Infrastructure in the forms of schools, firehouses and police stations were needed to provide services to the burgeoning population and architects designed these structures utilizing popular styles of the period. There are three such important structures in the district: PS 57 at 243 Sears Street, built in a simple Neo-Classical style in 1914; Hook and Ladder Company No. 11 at 636 Fillmore Avenue, designed with a gable-front; and Police Station No. 8 at 647 Fillmore Avenue, designed in the Classical Revival style in 1915.
Social and cultural centers, an integral part of Polish-American life, were similarly impressive and can be found in the district. The three most significant social and cultural centers in the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood are the Renaissance Revival style Dom Polski Building at 1081 Broadway (1905-1906); the Adam Mickiewicz Library and Dramatic Circle at 612 Fillmore Avenue; and, the striking three-story Polish Union Hall at 761 Fillmore Avenue (1914).
As one of the leading manufacturing centers in the country, Buffalo’s industrial economy attracted and employed thousands of Polish immigrants in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. While most of these businesses were located outside of the Broadway-Fillmore District, the A. Schreiber Brewing Company is an extant example of a manufacturing facility on Fillmore A venue. This two-story brick building at 662 Fillmore Avenue built between 1904 and 1954, was the largest Polish-American business in Buffalo and one of the most successful among a number of local breweries.
