Buffalo Rising Online

Did Levine ever say anything about the mausoleum or the boathouse?

If he endorses and encourages rebuilding the Larkin Administration Building...then I care...otherwise its just good that he is talking about Buffalo

PLEASE RETURN BUFFALO TO THE WAY IT WAS IN 1910. BRING BACK THE RAILROADS AND CANALS, FILL IN THE KENSINGTON EXPRESSWAY, TEAR DOWN THE SKYWAY, REMOVE THE NIAGARA SECTION AND EXTEND THE SURFACE STREETS TO THE WATER, CLOSE THE SCAJACUADA AND MAKE IT A 2 LANE PARKWAY... EXTEND THE LIGHT RAIL TO AMHERST, ROCHESTER, NIAGARA FALLS AND ERIE, PA... THAT WAY PEOPLE WILL HAVE TO TAKE THE METRO INSTEAD OF DRIVING. BUILD HUGE SKYSCAPERS AND REBUILD ALL OLD BUILDINGS THAT WERE TORN DOWN, ESPECIALLY ONES THAT INTERFERE WITH THE STREET GRID OF 1910. TEAR DOWN THE AUD AND HSBC CENTER AND EXTEND THE CANAL TO MAIN STREET. BRING BACK THE STEEL AND AUTO INDUSTRIES. WE NEED TO RETURN BUFFALO TO THE WAY IT WAS!

IMUS69, ..thanks for the chuckle.

Ed, Thanks for the listen. To hear Dr. Levine gush on Buffalo's Guaranty Bldg, Albright-Knox, and of course the Martin House/Complex Graycliff Estate, ensures we're really on the big league map for scholars, architectural tourists, and Wright-ophiles. The power of Levine's published appreciation can't be underestimated. I look forward to additional topics in upcoming podcasts.

IMUS69, we have lost alot...we cant bring back the steel and auto industries....but we can bring back alot of the other things that we lost...and contrary to your sarcasm...there was reason why the old urban planning was so successful....it had to be....the entire city depended on it.

We are moving into the future....a knowledge based economy...its faster...its less secure...its more transient...its more competitive...and that has made connections to a slower more personal time even more intimate and special. Go to any city and the oldest sections....are some of the most expensive sought after places to live for a myriad of reasons.

There is no doubt that Buffalo will move into the future....but as we do move into the future...we can learn from Boston, Philly, Montreal and other cities with a deep history and culture...and take the best of the best....of our city with us into the future.

I kinda pitty the people that think Buffalo should give up its uniqueness....in order to move into the future because the truth is that its our uniqueness that allows us to move into the future.

If we listened to you...the Larkin Warehouses would be demolished. Now there is a renaissance in the Larkin District...where if they were demolished there would be NONE! Is it to much to comprehend that the Larkin Administration or a rewatered canal might actually create more momentum and more development. No that would be to much to ask.

The Larkin building was an ugly block of bricks 100 years ago, and it would be the same today. No use could be found for it in the 1940s, for good reasons: it was a terrible design!!! You'd want to work in a huge atrium, with no partitions, no windows you see can out of, no separation from fellow workers, listening to every noise on 4-5-6- floors? No? I thought not. A lousy design, made 100% for the architect's ego and 0% for the needs of the client - same as most of Wright's crap. This is why F.L.Wright had so little effect on trends - because his ideas were all about himself.

"If we listened to you...the Larkin Warehouses would be demolished. Now there is a renaissance in the Larkin District..."

Actually CHRIS69, I would not support that at all... I am a strong proponent of smart preservation and growth of the urban core. My comment above was a summary of some of your less racist and reactionary (oops, let me put that in your language) LESS RACIST AND REACTIONARY COMMENTS!

You have some good points, typically points that have either been bantered around for years (metro and light rail, returning the street grid, rebuilding demolished structures) or safe ideas that you can hang your hat on (bring people downtown, duh!). I find your personal viewpoints to be anything but enlightened or worthwhile. You have shown your ignorance time and again with your "salacious" commentary.

Stick with your ignorant banter if you want, but please don't put words into my mouth. You are not smart enough to even attempt that! :-) You are dismissed, please return to spewing the same BS as always. THANK YOU!

IMUS69, ok...little lord fauntleroy.....thank you for that tongue lashing....now you can be a dandy and go out and play.....our conversation is finished. I would not presume to compare intelligence, enlightened or put words in someones mouth who obviously can only respect his reflection and echo.

I believe your nanny has the train set ready....and dont get your clothes dirty playing.

To paraphrase comic book man: "Worst retort ever".

Back to the topic at hand. I have a group of co-workers visiting from London and Chicago this summer. Does anyone have information relating to a guided public tour of architecturally significant landmarks like the Darwin Martin Complex? I would like to give them something more than a drive-by tour hosted by someone who is relatively uninformed and uneducated in the finer points of architecture (me).

Edisonic, I have to completely disagree w/ your uniformed misperceptions of the Larkin Admin. Building. The open atrium design was specifically designed for the use of the mail order soap company. The managment wanted a design where they could visually scruntize their workers to make sure they were working efficiently. The managers could look down from the upper levels of the atrium. All of their offices all had exterior views, a client requirment. This layout was the forefather to to days's cubical bullpen w/ the manager's offices at the perimeter (w/ all the windows). Also, the desks and swivel chairs were designed to respond specifically to the workers tasks. Comfort, noise control, and modern uses were not part of the program. granted, that exact layout wouldn't function well in a contemporary office environment. but the for the time, the program given to him, and the technology, wright created a masterpiece. first building ever to encoporate a form of air conditioning.

"wright created a masterpiece. first building ever to encoporate a form of air conditioning." - JERKFACE Jerk-I don't think you're correct with this. I think the concept had been done before. The Pension Building in Wash DC (now the National Building Museum) was built in the 19th century and had the open atirum concept. In fact, there were several stories of windows. People were hired to open and close the windows throughout the day as a form a climate control.

No, actually I know I'm correct. But ok then, first building to utilize AC w/o physical manipulation by workers. The large piers at the corners of the building acted as cooling towers. Air that circulated through them and cooled before it was 'delivered' to the main body of the building. check it out...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larkin_Administration_Building