Calling Verizon...

Yes, start a campaign and try and make them change this.....Landscaper, maybe a bench or three for seating....

Who uses torn up phone booths anymore...and it's attached to Verizon's building! Wow. And I see green throw up in it.

Sorry guys, that's every telephone company neighborhood central office I've ever seen, and I've seen more than a few.

Their reasoning (correct or not), is to make the building as shitty and nondescript as possible to avoid drawing attention to the tens of millions of dollars of telecommunications and power equipment housed therein. This one just happens to be in more visible location than most.

It's also Verizon, and they're cheap as shit. They do the minimum required to comply with local regulations regarding building maintenance and landscapes.

I've never understood this building. Its actually somewhat attractive, but it looks like they just started building at the second floor. Why is there no street-side entrance? Why even build something like this on Elmwood or on a corner lot in the first place?

First off, those engraved once copper I believe reliefs are gorgeous. Not everything can have fountains and cool modern benches for screaming jean to sleep on. @thegangler is right. Main place tower, same thing.. mostly servers. bah.

Do they own the property or lease it; National Grid has a similar situation Elm/Oak area with weeds growing out of the sub station foundation.

That being said its about details. Yes there have been a lot of messes cleaned up but pulling weeds, landscaping etc is just not 'sexy' enough for City Hall etc to care about. I can cite countless examples. If they don't care why should property owners care - City need to lead by example is my point.

"covered with pealing signage, stickers and graffiti."

Should't it read "covered with pealing signage, stickers and art."

It looks better than the wall of Jims Steakout on Elmwood where the stupid yoga guy was. You know, where somebody "artistically" slapped white paint over the previous mural and then slapped up his giant photo. How's that looking?

Wow, an actual payphone! I remember using one of those back dickity-four years ago. Why, back then you didnt leave home without a quarter in your pocket!

Agreed, Verizon really needs to step it's game up... Is there a venue where we could get an online petition started? Not my forte, but I'd help get the word out...A $10,000 investment in landscaping could make such a difference to that corner...

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? If youre going to put your energy into ripping something apart, put it into an area where buildings are deteriorating, unsafe, unsecure, etc, because the people have no money, time, energy, or interest.

Leave dignified, intact, occupied, maintained, interesting brick buildings with new windows and gorgeous art deco panels alone. Pull some weeds maybe, or get Verizon to do it, but Buffalo has enough disasters that we can't afford to waste our energy complaining about mostly beautiful buildings that are vaguely rough around the edges.

I think the point is that *nobody* gets a pass for ugly...

"Tragic"?
This article is severely misplaced anxiety. There are long stretches of Elmwood Avenue with derelict house after derelict house, especially north of Bidwell but also south of Allen and the entire long block between Summer and Bryant, which has extremely beautiful homes, most of which are poorly maintained. The Verizon building is quite handsome but suffers from zero landscaping. Compared to the long stretches of distressed and unsightly housing on Elmwood, it's actually a relief to walk past a building with texture and in good shape.

And the moaning about "what they do in NYC" is sophomoric. In the vast city of New York there are too many stretches of derelict buildings to count. This lazy writing even by BR standards.

I find it very arrogant to tell someone what they should do with their own property. Queenseyes you don't own the building; Verizon does. Unless it is falling down or is so run down that it is a detriment to the community; I don't think any of us should tell Verizon what to do with it.

Furthermore, the flowerpots aren't good enough for you? I wasn't aware property owners in Buffalo had to meet your standards for flowerpots. Get over yourselves, and let people use their property as they see fit. After all; they own it.

How is this even an issue? Of all the problems the city faces, this is surely 997/1000 on the list. If this weren't on Elmwood, there wouldn't even be an article about it. If you don't like the minimal landscaping and old pay phone, then write them a letter and tell them that much. Maybe you'll get lucky and find a sympathetic response at Verizon.

Was at the Elmwood Festival of Arts last Saturday and took a walk down Elmwood, going past it this building really caught my eye, still has "Bell Telephone" above the entrance. I noticed the fine details on it and was impressed. I work with Verizon engineers quite often and feel their angst as they deal with all the cutbacks in staff.. the consensus is Verizon is phasing out hard-wired services and its support staff in favor of devoting resources to wireless/cell service. Looks like that trend applies to their buildings as well.

I say, invite the Gorilla Gardeners...bust up the concrete and plant trees.

This is another ridiculous thing about Buffalo. Put in a zoning and architectural law.

Make the every property have a space for a tree. Its that simple.

As long as there is open concrete..the city, forever elmwood, gorilla gardeners, trees buffalo...just plant the darn trees.

I agree it would be great to do even some basic things to improve the appearance of this building that has some really great architectural features.

But who would work with Verizon on that--? I think there oughta be an organization to work with the businesses on the Elmwood strip on things just like this.

Wait...

Does this building even have a front door? I'd bet that half the reason nobody's taken any interest in improving its relation to the street is that nobody on the inside has any interaction with passers-by other than looking at them out the window. There probably isn't much reason for anybody on the street to go inside, either. You mail your check or send a payment online, and customer service issues are handled over the phone.

That neglected payphone is probably the ONLY physical interaction this building has between the customers on the outside and the services provided within its walls.

If this were a Verizon store at the mall, the company would make every effort to make the place attractive and inviting. Without that interaction, however, the gorgeous building is nothing more than an abandoned billboard.

Does anybody have any idea what the building as actually used for? Obviously, it isn't a prime location for a sidewalk cafe, but if it does house any customer service facilities, Verizon would benefit from promoting a more welcoming face. If it houses technical support or infrastructure, the company could use this facade to showcase its commitment to the services it provides.

I hate to say it, but even if there were ads pasted on the windows, Verizon might care a bit more about the face they are presenting to the public. As it is, other than that payphone, the situation isn't exactly disgraceful. A missed opportunity for sure, but hardly anything that diminishes their market share.

Maybe it's just me, but I could see the people making statements like "I find it very arrogant to tell someone what they should do with their own property" being the very same people who would pull the free speech card.

I'm looking at you WAREHOUSEDWELLER

This building is quite attractive, and the quibbling about the landscaping is ridiculous. In the third picture, the line of reflection of the sunny part of the sidewalk and street on the black foundation stone is BEAUTIFUL and this kind of reflection is impossible with the planters on the Elmwood side. There should be no planters at all, the building wasn't designed for anything to be there, and it looks fine as a stern, modernist building with a stark dozen or so feet of sidewalk between it and the street. Not every building is the same and shouldn't be treated that way. I really think some people on this site would seriously like there to be a turn-of-the-century wrought-iron art deco gate entrance to this building, because it would be more "inviting" or whatever, and a patio with tables. Some guy already explained, customers don't use this building, AT ALL.

the Smithsonian might be interested in that pay phone.

"Does anybody have any idea what the building as actually used for?"

If you want to learn about what is in the building, google 'telephone central office'. Basically, this building is where thousands pairs of analog wire pairs (loops) connected to customers in the neighborhood exchanges (883, etc.), are each surge protected, converted to a digital signal, and then connected to a specialized computer called a switch. The switch routes the signals to the outside world via a fiber optic connection.

Back in the day the old analog switches were pretty big, and so probably there is some recovered space from when they converted to digital switches. Maybe there was space for other functions, like operators. A part of the building, though, is probably very similar to when it was constructed: cable vaults and large rows of cabling racks to sort, connect and protect all the loops.

-Cliff Claven

Better to remove the 1970s weathered wood planters, even if they are not replaced with any other landscaping.

The building itself is quite attractive, especially for a purpose-built utility building. The landscaping is so so but overall this corner is fine considering there isn't anyone there full-time maintaining it.

If you want to pick a battle for poor upkeep you should start with the row of slum college rentals at the end of the Elmwood strip between Potomac and Forest. Whomever owns those homes really needs to clean up the outside of the properties. They look terrible and it's a shame given the grand details of those homes too.

Welcome to the digital age, folks! There's no need for people to ever enter this building, yence no need for it to be welcoming to people. What would motivate Verizon to make the investment in landscaping? Do you think anyone cares enough to boycott Verizon over their lack of landscaping? It's not hurting their public image enough to affect their bottom line. Look for more of this as we continue our progress into a society where people never have to deal with each other anymore. Think about that the next time shop, send mail, pay bills, book flights, buy tickets, order dinner, download books, and deposit your paycheck online.

How about turning the payphone into a Wi-Fi hotspot?

I agree somewhat with the people that say this building doesn't need landscaping. The old planters make it look more neglected than the bare sidewalk does. The building is great on its own.

Maybe the focus should be on the city of Buffalo and why it has not planted trees along the residential street of this building. (are there already trees on the elmwood side? I forget). There is a super wide sidewalk there and no tree wells. Why?

In the amount of time it took to write this article you could have righted this wrong;

The beds could've been weeded, mulched, a couple of perenials planted. The sticker could've been scraped and 'goo gone'd off the telephone. I'm not sure on removing the grafitti but I am sure there is a way.

If people don't like it then do something about it. Stop waiting around for others to fix what they don't like. I am sure no one is going to protest you sprucing this up.

But as some mentioned I am sure there is a city ROW here somewhere. Where are the city trees?

This is a Central Office as previous posters have stated. Most of these Urban Central Offices have what amounts to a huge manhole in front of the building where all of the underground conduits end and the copper and fiber optic cables get arranged and spliced to different cables that enter the building. It is called the "Cable Vault" If you want more info you can look here... http://www.myspace.com/tecfusion/photos/1658384 http://davewhitmore.net/Images/central_office.htm

This is also why there are multiple manhole covers in the sidewalk, they are entrances to the cable vault, which extends under the sidewalk.

It's also why that is a stretch of barren sidewalk, you can't plant a tree there, since there is no dirt underneath. It's also why the plants in the planters are so small, since there is no soil below grade there, only the dirt in the planters themselves...

Verizon will most likely be divesting in its traditional landline business including fios. True is they don't need much of the space they occupy.

This Verizon building houses the FIOS TV command post all of BUFFALO NY is excluded from. This building also controls Albany and Syracuse. Ironic that it would be housed in the center of a city it fails to serve.

A few comments on the building in general...

I personally spent years inside of 548 Elmwood; and have friends and associates who still do labor inside the building.

The "public" function of the building ceased in the mid-80's; when face to face interactions with company employees stopped for routine matters.
It had a beautiful entrance until that time, and great streetside presence; with a public access room on the first and second floor. Part of the building became a call center, until the early '00s.
After that point, it became primarily an equipment oriented building. As such; maintaining a "public" appearance isn't as big a deal. Why would a company invest in a grand entrance for the half-dozen employees in the building? I agree, streetside is shabby, but here's some insight into why...

In the past few decades, the building has undergone some major changes, some substantially. In the late 80's, the building was "extended" backwards, and up a floor (look close, very close, and you can tell. It was a good job. One vertical mortar line is actually flexible caulk to allow the addition to expand/contract) NY Tel, at the time spent millions having the building done "right", including making a half dozen new copper relief friezes to duplicate the original workmanship, and having the brick specially made. So much so, you didn't even notice it, QE.

This addition is aging separately from the rest of the building, and causing water intrusion. Plus, the addition of more switching equipment to the building caused the building to need structural bracing. Ditto for the structural work needed to brace/counter the "new" ('08, I think) antenna on the roof.

The company has/does put large sums (Think high-six figures) into 548 annually; it's a great building, but most is behind the scenes. But, recently the building has had it's real estate budget spent on critical infrastructure, not gerber daisies. And I think that might be more appropriate. The company continued to expand the presence in the neighborhood, even after the EVA gave Verizon a hard time regarding the desire to expand the buliding, and remove some of the concrete island on the side of Anderson; that happened circa '03. (Yeah; that's why it's still there.)

The atrocious planters, btw, are circa-1993. And they are ugly. They were better than what they replaced, though.

If you'd like to set up a volunteer day to rebuild the planters, I'm sure I can get you in contact with the buildings director for WNY; if not, would you prefer they put off water remediation and structural work?

Perhaps you should ask backstory before getting upset over perceived "slights" to the 'hood (Of which I'm a member, too.) There are far worse enemies; trust me.

And to the comment regarding divesting landline; that's a joke; I'm not going to get into proprietary discussions, let's just say it'd be a *really* bad business decision, which I'm not going to discuss on a public forum. Learn your Telecom before making offhand comments.