What may be one of the city's oldest homes at 574 Michigan Avenue is on the market with an asking price of $69,000. Oh, and that price includes two adjacent residences at 578 and 582 Michigan Avenue (image below). The string of buildings are located on the east side of Michigan, south of Sycamore Street.
The Hunt Real Estate listing says the combined properties have "over 8,000 sq.ft.and 104 feet frontage in the medical park area. Many uses."
A few emails to Buffalo Rising friends turned up some interesting information.
Local Director of Library and Archives at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society Cynthia Van Ness sent a link to the 1872 Atlas confident they were pre-Civil War. And they were.
Scott Glasgow, aka Blackrocklifer, a frequent commenter on these pages and owner of a similar Black Rock residence that he restored, is familiar with the property.
"I believe you are referring to the house with the classic five-bay center entrance design. It is very clearly one of the oldest buildings in the city. It might date to canal era, or earlier.
"This house is a twin to my own here in Black Rock, both were built in the Federal Style but with Greek Revival styled entrance. I had an opportunity to tour this house about 20 years ago and found the interior details to be of the Greek revival period. In conferring with John Conlin (a friend and Architectural Historian) we dated the house to the 1840's or early 1850's. I have some photos of the house from that time before it was sided (below)."
574 Michigan circa-1978
RaChaCha found some interesting history:
"This building (presumably) is shown in the 1872 atlas. On the now-vacant lot to the south was a brewery. In 1872 the owner was William Gram, who may have been involved with the founding of the Buffalo Dental Supply and Manufacturing Company in 1891, which may have been a precursor of a firm still operating under a similar name in Long Island."
"The next extant building to the south has an interesting gambrel-roof addition, which seems to be on the 1872 atlas. Perhaps an early example of an attached, three-carriage garage."
The Michigan Avenue corridor has amazing potential. While few are fighting to save Buffalo's architectural heritage in this section of the city, enough remains to create a historic district. The area is anchored by the historic Michigan Street Baptist Church and Colored Musicians Club both located one block south of 574-82 Michigan Avenue. The City recently completed a streetscape project along a portion of Michigan Avenue.
Much of the area's fabric has been removed, but quite a bit remains along Elk, Broadway, Michigan and Sycamore to protect and restore. In short, these are the type of properties that should be landmarked.
Although physically and psychologically disconnected from downtown by the Elm-Oak corridor, the area is clearly on the path of progress with new investment spreading east from downtown and south from the Medical Campus.
Clockwise from upper left:
WNY Medical Arts, Maritime Charter School, 127 Cherry Street redevelopment project, Homeless Safe Haven, Willert Park Village, Colored Musicians Club, Michigan Street Baptist Church, Choco-Logo, Ellsinghorst Lofts, Oak School Lofts, Genesee Gateway, and IS Lofts/Ellicott Commons/Ellicott Lofts.
Get Connected: William Curtin, Hunt Real Estate, 716.822.3343
Michigan Ave. and surrounding streets can be a NEW Downtown Living and Play neighborhood. The buildings are already there, just need some TLC and marketing, and this can be 'THE' new area to live in.
i totally agree.
as a physician who spent many, many years working in this area, and as a former eastsider, i feel that these properties and the surrounding neighborhood are really ripe for rising up to meet the needs of the up and coming medical corridor.
the homes, while long neglected, have the potential to become very modern, hip places - residentially or commercially. i can see this area becoming more like the surrounding areas outside Yale and its affiliated hospital in connecticut, or even the area surrounding the medical campus in Philly.
i think the concept of having distinct residential or commercial areas is great, and we have all seen how it is clearly a successful objective as in the case of the medical corridor. now we just need to continue this revitalization in the areas surrounding these discrete urban entities, so that the lines seperating the two are less blatant.