When putting together my book on Buffalo architecture "Buffalo: Architecture in the American Forgotten Land," I set a basic policy that I would only include buildings that still existed and that had not been substantially altered. I wanted the book to be about what Buffalo is rather than what it had been. The core purpose was to reveal something about this city that so few have a real appreciation for.
I made one exception to this rule. On page 149, I show the house at 173 Summer Street. It is a very large wood frame mansion with an extraordinary frieze sculpture at the roof peak. The house still exists and is in great condition except that the frieze is now gone. It was removed a few years ago after many years of neglect. I thought the architectural sculpture was so amazing it just had to be shown even though it no longer existed (rules are meant to be broken, right?). Ironically the building shown on the facing page (148) has also recently lost its pediment sculpture. This one I did not know about until about a month ago and was deeply saddened to find it gone.
The building is the Buffalo Crematory at 148 West Delavan Avenue. It is one of Buffalo's true masterpieces, an extraordinary Richardson Romanesque building designed by E.B. Green. The pediment over the main entrance once held an intricate architectural sculpture that was a true work of fine art. It formed a densely detailed sculpted vine in a chevron shape, laid over red slate shingles. It was stunning, but is now gone in favor of just the slate shingles. The building is still wonderful but this small loss is big. The caretaker told me it was removed because it was difficult to maintain and was full of bird's nests. He said he thought the owner still possibly had the sculpture stored someplace but was sure he had no intention of reinstalling it.
In both these cases Buffalo has lost a valuable part of its cultural heritage. These pieces of public art are as important as anything recently deaccessioned by the Albright Knox but they have slipped away from us in silence. We need to start understanding the real value of what Buffalo is. These historic properties are our urban family heirlooms. Unfortunately we treat them more like commodities. I don't want this to be read as a condemnation of the owners of these two buildings because they seem to have been generally good stewards. But, these small but valuable pieces of Buffalo culture have been eliminated, and no one seems to appreciate what a big loss it has been.
You can see all of the book Buffalo: Architecture in the American Forgotten Land at its new web site here.
You can buy the book at Talking Leaves Books, at the Buffalo Historical Society Museum or online here.
Stay tuned
for more on the Crematorium; I have a few details to share on its
interior.
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Might the Summer St house merely have covered the decorations? That's what I did with mine, over the porch stairs. Unfortunately, it's made of sawdust & either hide glue or shellac, and after 100+ years of rain, hot sun, and icy winters it gives up the ghost. I tried to repair mine, but the results were not happy. It's now safely covered with fish-scale shingles, awaiting some future restorer with more talent than I !