Buffalo Getaway- Day 2

We turned off our alarms and got up when we woke up. We drove over to the local Wegmans where we had breakfast and picked up a few items for snacks for the next couple days. Then we drove downtown and parked in the City Hall parking lot.

Our plan for the day was to visit the Anglican cathedral, walk around downtown Buffalo and go for a free tour of City Hall at noon, followed by lunch.

This picture is taken from the top of the parking garage and shows City Hall on the left, and a courthouse next to it. The large red building is the Statler Hotel and the monument is to William McKinley, the US president who was assassinated in Buffalo.

Buffalo has grid overlaid by a radial system of streets which was laid out in 1804 by the Elliott brothers who were inspired by Washington DC.

One of my prevailing memories from childhood and early adulthood was how often fires were reported in Buffalo and the surrounding area. We saw several of these standalone fire alarms as we walked around.

Buffalo’s population peaked about 1950 at 580k. It is now about 260k. In the early 1920s there was an expectation that Buffalo would grow to 1 million people. The picture below shows the old City Hall which was deemed to be too small so money was put aside and a new one was built from 1931 to 1933. The old one became County Hall. The new one cost just under $7M.

Many streets have bikes lanes, but I have seen only a handful of cyclists, mostly on the sidewalks. That might be because of the time of year and also because of the poor quality of the infrastructure. Paint is not infrastructure.

One of my memories from my trip four years ago was how empty Buffalo feels. That hasn’t changed. From mid morning to mid afternoon the wide streets were mostly empty. Most people didn’t wait for the walk signal to cross the road , and even when they got in the way of cars, most drivers were quite considerate. Possibly, congestion contributes to our feelings of frustration and flouting of the law in the GTA.

This is St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral. Michael enjoys visiting cathedrals whenever he travels to a new city.

Quite the hinges!

I enjoyed reading this explanation of who is welcome, especially the last point under “If you are…”

This scale model of the church was made at 1/4 inch to the foot and was made in 1849 before the church was built and was used to inspire donations to build the cathedral which took 24 years.

We then walked north to Main Street where the LRT runs. It’s cross-section varies block by block: a transit plaza (LRT, walking and cycling only) , LRT right of way and separated car lanes, shared right of way – cars and LRT with parking and finally it enters a tunnel. I wrote about it and shared pictures four years ago here.

I hate it when cities give away naming rights on public goods.

Theses two beautiful buildings house a bank and the electric company. We walked a little further along the LRT route then we headed back south for our tour of City Hall.

Buffalo City Hall is the second largest in the US after Philadelphia.

We had to pass through airport style security to enter, but there was no lineup. Bruce the docent from the Buffalo Preservation Society was waiting to begin the free daily weekday noon tour.

The architect John Wade is considered one of the three greats of American architecture, along with Louis Sullivan, who designed the Guaranty building which we visited later in the day, and Frank Lloyd Wright who designed the Martin House, which we will visit on Thursday.

Bruce took quite a bit of time explaining that the building is Art Deco in style and telling us about the friezes and sculptures. We were the only people on the tour.

The frieze over the main entrance showed the Canada-US relationship and even then, apparently Canadians were known to wear plaid.

I was very impressed (having just replaced our kitchen floor which was 30 years old) to learn that the original tile floor is still in place. It is secured only with the metal pieces which holds it together like a puzzle – no cement. We also learned that the building has has geothermal heating.

We then saw the treasury room (the only place where no pictures were allowed), then the Mayor’s Office and the Council chambers.

We then took the elevator to the top and then climbed several flights of stairs to go out on the observation deck.

The large red building is the Statler Hotel and has over 2000 rooms, but has been abandoned except for the first few floors for decades.

Bruce explained that Buffalo has so many great old buildings because of its history as one of the premier cities in the country followed by its dramatic decline which meant that there was no demand to tear down old buildings and build modern ones in their place.

We noticed these homes, in the bottom centre of the picture, on our way in. They are abandoned. We asked Bruce about them. They were built in the 60s, but not well built, were very cold and windy because of the proximity to the water, and not needed with the population decline. There is a plan to tear them down and replace with large, expensive homes.

As we finished the tour I asked for a lunch recommendation. He sent us to the Pearl Street Grill and Brewery. The food was excellent and the building interested. The ceiling fans were belt driven.

On our way there we passed this courthouse which must be one of the most brutal examples of Brutalist architecture I have ever seen.

After lunch we visited the Guaranty building, notable for being built in the Chicago Style – internal steel support and curtain wall construction. The curtain wall is made of terra cotta. The details in this building are incredible. Like so many buildings in Buffalo it suffered years of deterioration and bad renovations before being beautifully restored.

Here is a one of the terrible renovations and the restoration that followed.

I only walked 11000 steps, but my feet were tired. I am more used to being on my bike than walking and standing. We headed back to the hotel to relax and had dinner at 100 Acres again because we enjoyed it so much last night.