Actually if you read the article it says that the lecture is about the skyscraper in general followed by a tour of Buffalo high rises of which Buffalo has at least 4 stellar examples from various periods - Dunn, Guaranty, City Hall, and M&T. I am just not understanding what all the nit picking is about on this story.

Actually if you read the article it says that the lecture is about the skyscraper in general followed by a tour of Buffalo high rises of which Buffalo has at least 4 stellar examples from various periods - Dunn, Guaranty, City Hall, and M&T. I am just not understanding what all the nit picking is about on this story.

Great idea Joshua! Why dont we plant some skyscraper seeds and watch them just pop out of the $%cking ground! Then all of our probems are solved. I know a guy named jack you can buy some beans from.

To further expand on STEEL's comments, Buffalo also has the Ellicott Square Building, largest office building in the country when complete in 1896 (also home to the fist dedicated motion picture theater in the world.) Also consider the Rand Building, which has been considered a prototype for the Empire State Building - more evident when you view the two side-by-side:

Actually SleepL8 - Buffalo had a prominent role in the development of the "skyscraper" That term, I think, Actually came from the period in the 20's and 30's when pointy topped tall buildings appeared to scrape the sky.

As far as Buffalo goes - The Guaranty Building is widely credited as being perhaps the most influential building in the early development of the high rise form. You can even see its influence in the cladding of the M&T building built about 80 years apart. So yes, Buffalo is relevant to the history of the skyscraper. As a matter of fact the MCA in Chicago did a big highrise retrospective a few years back which included the Guaranty.

Balth - The courthouse setbacks have nothing to do with land value. If that was the case it would be a one story building. the Courthouse setbacks are due to new terrorism guidelines for federal buildings. The original scheme for this building was on Court street which would have occupied the entire site.

Buffalo skyscrapers? This is like doing a lecture on the history of musical instruments at the kazoo factory in Eden.

Is this a lecture in Buffalo about skyscrapers or a lecture about skyscrapers in Buffalo?

I would think that anything over 10-15+ stories would be considered a skyscraper. Once you are forced to move away from the structural systems of the past (aka masonry and concrete) into steel like the article mentioned that was the birth of the skyscraper as we know it. The Rookery in Chicago is long held as the precursor to the modern skyscraper, one of the tallest masonry load bearing structure before the modern steel skeleton was developed. I don't remember exactly offhand but the walls on the ground floor of the structure are 4-6 foot thick to bear the weight of the above structure.

www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/burnham/rookwhole.jpg

It isn't as much about height but as structural systems. hence why buffalo does have skyscrapers and a good decent selection from many different era's. Also why I can't wait for the Gate's condo's, Issa's tower or 200 Delaware to finish because it will bring a new form to the skyline. The glass tower is something missing, in my opinion, from our architectural collection.

You can see a lot of the aesthetic of the World Trade Center Towers in Yamasaki's M&T building.

While it certainly isn't a skyscraper, the Gordon Bunschaft addition to the A-K is certainly an important piece of Buffalo's claim on architectural modernism.