I fell in love with this building when I worked at Club Heat and Club Aluminum (for a few nights) in the early 90s. This building has tremendous history and character, it is good to see it being put to good use. I am sure that you might find a few hidden surprises as your work progresses through the house, especially in some of the upstairs rooms. I hope you open some of the bricked in windows and restore the porches that were removed, this will change the entire look and feel of the place.

Good luck Mr. Goldman, I hope that this turns out well for you!

Everyone, thanks for your comments and kind wishes! The Wife and I are very appreciative. Your encouragement will help us as we continue our work on This Old House. Here’s hoping we can make this little piece of old Delaware Avenue an attractive and useful contribution to our new downtown.

Howard Goldman

I'd LOVE to see the inside of this place when he finishes....

I worked there when it was COBALT - and the first floor was kind of gutted, I know when they opened they had done well over 100,000 in work - the ceilings were falling down, rats falling out... the plumbing in that whole building was absolutely horrible. We had to close down a few Saturday nights because it got so backed up.

They mentioned an in tact fireplace, that must have been coverd up - I don't remember seeing that in there.... At any rate, the exterior has the potential to be a beautiful building, and the inside sounds like it's oging to be amazing. I can only imagine though, after working there for a year and knowing what the inside was like how much it's going to cost him.

It's a shame to see that all the other houses that used to be around it are gone --- I always htought it was originally some sort of commercial building because of where it is and no other nearby houses.

Ricky, in what 'town' does anyone welcome noise and disruption? Or are you just being stupid? Oh, you are. Silly me.

Biniszkiewicz wrote:

chris69: bricks of this vintage were generally not kiln dried and therefore (because they lack the hard surface which comes from firing) they are not impervious to weather. Rather, older style bricks will absorb moisture and spall (disintegrate) over time with freeze/thaw cycles if left unpainted/unprotected. If this gentleman retains the unpainted look I certainly hope he puts a clear protective coating on the masonry and maintains it. These earlier bricks were expected to be painted

I think you meant "kiln fired" - "kiln dried" is for lumber.

A good preservative for old bricks is linseed oil, which soaks into the clay and won't flake off. Sand-blasting has destroyed too many brick building, by removing the original surface (and most of these WERE fired in kilns, by the way - only the cheapest bricks were air-dried in the 1800s, and those were meant for filling wall cavities)

Most happy to see this place saved, despite any fantasies about 'prime development' at this spot.

I haven't worked in this building when it was Club Hot or Club Cold but ths is great. It is happening all over the country. People are moving downtown.. I am not talking close to but actually downtown. Fret not. They know what they are getting into. As for a higher use, the mix of low,mid and high rise make a city interesting.

This is what will make Buffalo unique. The loss of the Balcolm-Chandler house was embarrassing to Buffalo, but this project provides some welcome consolation.

great to see an investor restoring historic properties, but really? here?

i walk by this strip everyday and was thinking it would be better suited for a larger development. it sits in the middle of one of the largest expanses of surface parking in one of the hottest development areas of the city. i never thought someone would choose it for the neighborhood and decide to restore the house and live here?! sounds a bit wacky.

why would someone wanna live in a parking lot?

I have one comment and I want to shout it from the rooftops....

SEE YOU CAN REMOVE PAINT FROM BRICKS AND STONES. IT CAN BE DONE!

LESSON TO THE SQUIRE MANSION ON MAIN AND ALL THE OTHER HORRIBLY PAINTED BRICK AND STONE BUILDINGS!

I guess it's nice that a lovely building like this won't sit around to rot any longer, but I always felt that it would be acceptable to lose this one in place of a larger development on this key site...

Does this mean, when and if Delaware Ave. becomes loud and busy with surrounding development, the owner will complain of NOISE and want everything around his property to shut down early, no construction around his home and so on, for which is the norm in this town.

victrolaman; rickyrick is right and it's happened before and is happening now: i.e, the residents of City Centre buying & moving in and then complaining about the noise from chippewa. oh, sorry, silly me, the complaints of a few really should shut down the whole of chippewa

The building could be great with loving restoration. Definitely moving in the right direction, and it's great to see Goldman invest, yet again, in the city.

However, the bldg sits in a sea of parking lots. Does this "island" hinder higher & better use for the (ripe) entire block? I could envision a complementary development both in use (residential) and period architecture --- a dense mix of maybe five-story townhouses/condos? --surrounding the bldg. Modern towers, if that is the future, on adjacent properties would look odd, but it has done been before. One example that comes to mind is a Church stuck in an offset nook of a huge dept. store in San Antonio--it's an eye-catcher in that it is so out of place. Like I said, who knows, and mixed emotions about that critical block in a booming area.

i actually had the opportunity to go into this building when it was being renovated for one of the club phases and i couldn't believe the beauty and signifigance of it. im glad to see that it is being restored to what it should be i look forward to seeing it again in the future and hopefully it will still be there for my children to someday see.