The “Livery Building” on Buffalo’s West Side has been getting a lot of attention in the news lately. Everytime I see stories like that, I think of the buildings in B-F…think about what is being lost and at what cost. Are a lot of these truly beautiful architectural gems in B-F doomed without anyone really taking notice.
These type of fears become even more real to me when I stumble across a building which is too far gone to be saved or when I read an article like the following.
This is an excerpt from Marty Biniasz’s Forgotten Buffalo website on the Polish Union Building…
The PUA left for West Seneca in the 1990s, leaving the building to various landlords. The current church who owns the building is in no position to restore and preserve this important element of the historic Polonia District.
[You can read the full story by clicking here]
This building is truly magnificent and so Zawadzki-esque…
“Władysław H. Zawadzki was the most important Polish-American architect in Buffalo. He designed a number of buildings in the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood and, that as a group, constitute his best work.” –Intensive Level Survey of Historic Resources City of Buffalo, Broadway-Fillmore Neighborhood
It may be time for us to re-inventory the historic buildings in B-F to get a realistic view as to the condition of the structures and devise a way to ensure they are not overlooked.
I happened to be in the area last May, as the firefighters were scraping the terra cotta roof tiles off this beautiful building. I know they were only doing what they had to do, but it was sickening to watch.