New event space in Lederman Building to have open house on May 14

I recently took a tour of a new event space located in the Lederman Building on Lombard Street. The building is part of the Jericho Road Community Health Center complex, which encompasses 1021 Broadway and 239-243 Lombard. The Lederman Building first saw life as Lederman’s Furniture Store after it was built in 1929. Handley Industries occupied the building since 1991 before Jericho Road took over the complex. The company stills maintains a presence on the second floor.

Joelle Herskind of Jericho Road, event coordinator for the Handley Room at the Lederman, reached out to Broadway Fillmore Alive about the space back in March of this year. We scheduled a tour for Thursday, April 22. From Herskind on how the Handley Room came to be, “As we began bringing people through the building when it was purchased, we had some couples say, ‘Wow, we’d love to get married here!’  That got us started thinking about an event space. As we got to know stakeholders in the Broadway Fillmore neighborhood, asking for opinions on use of the space throughout the whole complex of buildings, affordable event space was one comment that continued to emerge.” As an homage to the Handley family name and its history with the Lederman, the space includes the name.

From the moment I walked into the Lederman Building for the tour, I was blown away. Between its Art Deco exterior and classic early twentieth century commercial feel, the building is a perfect for events. There has been work done on the building over the last coupe of years. Herksind on the work, “The top two floors of The Lederman Building have new windows. The walls have been repaired and painted, the floors have been sanded and sealed. The fourth floor, which is The Handley Room, has a new kitchen, bride’s (or private) room, and bathrooms, which include new electrical, plumbing, HVAC and WiFi.”

Herskind, who also manages the The 5 Loaves Farmhouse event space, in connection The 5 Loaves Farm  on Buffalo’s West Side, had this to say about what type of events The Handley Room could host, “We envision the Handley Room being used for all kinds of events! Weddings, graduations, fundraisers, family reunions, church banquets, art shows, poetry readings, birthday parties, business and organizational meetings. The space is really a blank slate, and includes tables and chairs for over 200, so any type of event is welcome!”

The Handley Room is having an open house on Friday, May 14, 2021 from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm to introduce the space to the community.

If you are interested in finding out more about the space, contact Joelle Herskind at 716-984-6898 or joelle.herskind@jrchc.org.

Here are some photos of The Handley Room.