Preservation Ready - Beyond The Statler

With The Statler Hotel and Canal Side dominating the preservation headlines over the last year or so many other smaller, though possibly no less important, preservation controversies have festered virtually unnoticed by the general public.  A few weeks ago one of Buffalo's oldest houses was destroyed by fire.  It was one of only two of its kind in the city and at more than 150 years old dates back to the city's earliest canal days.  If this building is declared a total loss and is torn down it can never be replaced. Another part of Buffalo's extremely valuable cultural heritage will be gone forever and the city will be closer to being every-place-USA. Step by step the city's greatest assets are being eliminated for no good return.  This has to stop!

With that in mind Buffalo Spree Magazine has started a year long (and hopefully longer) series highlighting some of the most important and most endangered buildings that must be saved in the city.  The buildings they will be focusing on are the under-the radar sites that may not be recognizable to the public in the way the Central Terminal or Statler are but which are still extremely important elements of Buffalo's heritage. They are buildings in extreme danger due to misuse, neglect, or outright abandonment that should not be disposed of without a serious civic conversation about their worth, potential, and importance to the city's future.  The first building, featured in the January/ February Spree issue, is the nearly 200 year old Breckenridge Street Church (sometimes referred to as the Union Meeting House).

Read the age of the building back to yourself - it is nearly 200 years old and has been in poor condition for decades.  Rich Products, its long term contemporary owner, recently sold it to another entity who, after a short stint as owner, has offered it for sale through the Pyramid Brokerage. It is being marketed along with attached newer buildings as a warehouse with no mention of its historic nature. The asking price is $375.000. Pretty nice office space near one of the nation's largest privately owned corporations. Ironically Rich Products has their main office and research facility in a former industrial building nearby which they renovated.

So let's put the historic nature of this "warehouse" into perspective. The land for the church was donated by Major General Peter Porter who was an important figure in the War of 1812.  He was also the first congressman from WNY and John Quincy Adams' Secretary of War.  He built his home across from the church on Breckenridge where he entertained such luminaries as The President of the United States, General Lafayette, and Governor DeWitt Clinton.  Breckenridge was Porter's wife's maiden name.  If the 1827 construction date is correct, then the building was built only 1 year after the death of Thomas Jefferson and less than 15 years after the conclusion of the War of 1812 (of which several battles were fought in and around this building site).

In just 17 years it will be 200 years old.  In 1827 John Quincy Adams was President of the United States and DeWitt Clinton was governor of New York.  There is no listing for a Mayor of Buffalo at this early date. Also in 1827 the wooden friction match was invented, slavery was abolished in New York State, the first Catholic mass was conducted in the Hawaiian Islands, Joseph Smith claims that Angel Moroni gave him the gold plates which would be translated into the Book of Mormon, and the first Mardi Gras celebration was held in New Orleans.

After decades of abuse and unsympathetic modifications, such as the removal of the tower, the building is hard to appreciate for what it is and what it can be.  But it MUST be saved and if it cannot be restored it has to be at minimum saved from further decline and abuse so that future generations have an opportunity to bring it back to its intended state.  Buffalo cannot continue to throw way buildings such as this anymore!

This story in Spree is the first step in a multi-part effort to create and publicize a list of important buildings which must be saved. The effort is being pushed by a non-aligned volunteer group of people who are concerned about the extreme loss of the irreplaceable historic heritage that makes Buffalo special.   The goal is to put these buildings into the public consciousness and keep them there.  If you are interested in this preservation effort and would like to get more involved in saving Buffalo's buildings  please join the Facebook group "Preservation-Ready Sites" so we can get back in touch with you. If you are not on Facebook, feel free to contact us through Buffalo Rising.  The more people that step forward with their concerns and efforts, the more others will see and understand the urgency of saving buildings like this.

Image by Joe Cascio