If These Walls Could Talk...#2
This attractive, unassuming and, slightly odd little house (pictured center) has an equally odd history to go with its architecture. It is not the site of a major event nor was it the home of an important person. As a matter of fact it was not originally built as a home at all. This building at 132 Cottage Street in Allentown was constructed in 1887 as the home of the Buffalo Bicycle Club. It was used for Club meetings, events and recreation. In the early days of biking bicycles were high tech machines that captured the imagination of many who formed clubs to promote events such as bike races, drills, and parades. Buffalo quickly became a popular biking spot in the late 1800's because it had more paved roads than almost anyplace in the world at the time. Many members of the club went on to be prominent in the auto and aviation industries and the Buffalo Bicycle Club was influential in the founding of the Buffalo Airport in the 1900's. The growth of Bicycling at the time was phenomenal. A Club souvenir booklet states that between 1879 to 1883 Buffalo went from having 4 bikes to having as many as 18,000 bikes. This perhaps foretold the coming popularity of personal transportation in the form of automobiles that would rock our cities in the 1900's.
The buffalo Bicycle Club continues to this day though in new quarters. The old club house sits in an attractive row of Allentown dwellings and is now an apartment building. Though most of its original architectural detail survives the original porch is gone, replaced by a much less imaginative substitute. (note to current owner ... put back the original porch). I love to learn the histories of these great old Buffalo buildings. Finding out about the lives and events of even the ordinary people that once lived between their walls adds so much meaning to the streets of the city. Thinking of how exciting biking must have been back in those early days you can just picture the bold young members of this club as they met and discussed plans for their events possibly imagining how the modern world would be transformed by the bicycle. Next time you walk by this building try to imagine several of those old time giant wheeled bikes parked out front. Wow what a vision!
If you would like to find out more about the Buffalo Bicycle Club clubhouse try to get a hold of the Spring 2004 issue of Western New York Heritage Magazine http://wnyheritagepress.org/. This issue, by the way was one of their best. In addition to a wonderful article about the Clubhouse it is packed with other great stories including one about the restoration of Shea's Theater parapet, an old photo album of Main Street's Italianate Mansions (including a great documentation of the recently restored Squire Mansion) and, a story about the Parkside neighborhood among many more.
By the way...isn't this an absolutely incredible row of houses?
What Others Have To Say
What Do You Think?
Related Articles
-
Take A Trip Down Memory Lane
Maybe you read about this one last December, or maybe you took the time and looked over this one in April, and perhaps you considered attending this event back in June. Whatever your reasoning for putting it off, there’s no time like the present for Forgotten Buffalo, unless of course it’s the past.
Forgotten Buffalo Tours take participants on a journey into the history of the area, always striving to produce a unique and entertaining outing. Their success has allowed them to … - Yesterday, 12:42pm
- Continue Reading
- Join the conversation
-
Party For The Parks - The Way A Park Should Be Seen
Last evening was the first time that I have ever attended the event, Party for the Parks held at the Marcy Casino. The parks gala started up just as the Burchfield-Penney showing was winding down, and has happened more than a few times this summer, the non-stop rain kept everyone guessing. By guessing, I mean that every time the band members would even look at their instruments the rain would start to fall. It was a good thing that the upper terrace was covered and the Marcy Casin … - Yesterday, 11:15am
- Continue Reading
- Join the conversation
-
It's Time To Break Out The Red, White, And Blue For Puerto Rico
According to Miguel Santos, one of the founders of the Puerto Rican Day Parade of WNY, starting the parade six years ago was a way of “recognizing that Buffalo’s Latino population continues to grow and we decided that it would be a great way to recognize this segment of the population.” Inspired by the National Puerto Rican Day Parade in NYC, Santos, who is a local activist in the Latino community, got a call from Jose Rodriguez, and the rest is history.
Santos says, “We … - Yesterday, 10:15am
- Continue Reading
- Join the conversation
-
Burchfield-Penney Art Center Comes Alive
For the first time in over a hundred years, Buffalo has unveiled a brand new ($33,000,000, 84,000 sq.’) museum. Yesterday, hundreds of people met at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center to witness, not one, but three, ribbon cuttings. Fans and supporters were greeted by trumpeting didgeridoos as they walked into the vaulting entranceway – a walk that led them past the museum café, the gift shop, the learning center, a conference center, studios, gallery spaces, and more gallery s … - Yesterday, 9:20am
- Continue Reading
- 18 Comments
Comment Options
Cynthia Hammond
There is a similar house to this one on Ashland Ave, just south of Lafayette as well as one on Lafayette near Gates Cirlce. I had always assumed that these third floors were later additions since they give the buildings such a top heavy look. Certainly, they are unique. Thanks for the history...would be great if biking (and pedestrian activity) was better supported in this city today.
Report this
Cynthia Van Ness
A vintage image of the clubhouse, complete with bicycles, can be seen here. It is a digital postcard which you can send to any email address.
http://electronic-greetings.com/cgibin/c1.cgi?7660
Report this
Perry Fisher
What a great row of houses is right, but one among so many in Buffalo.
It was also good to see this post on the same day as the rails-to-trails article. You can appreciate this world and its beauties when not whizzing by at 60 mph.
Apparently no one thought a thing of having an active bicycle clubhouse situated on a residential street. Quite a different impact that that of the automobile repair shops and gas stations forced on so many old neighborhoods in our time.
Thanks to Cynthia Van Ness, too, for the link to the historical image. The current owners have a model for restoration of the porch if they are so inclined. (All things considered, the current porch could have been a lot worse-- one with those awful modern open wrought-iron supports)
Report this
Valiant
Hehe...my best friend lived here some years back.
Report this
Justin Booth
This is a great post. Many time I have ridden my bicycle past this house. I almost bought a house up the street a few years back. That aside, CH indicated concern over bike/ ped support in the city today.
There is some movement on this front with several activities currently on-going: On the policy side there is the Bicycle/ Pedestrian Advisory Board which was signed into law this January and is now in the process of being put together. Myself with the City and several other partner wrote and recieved a grant from the Department of State to develop a pedestrian, bicycle and transit access plan for downtown. This project will take a look at the current infrastructure and other issues such as pedestrian related traffic accidents to develop a prioritized plan and vision for improving multi-modal movements in our core. The Blue Bicycle and Recycle-A-Bicycle initiatives work with kids and adults recycling bicycles. The bicycles will be put out to use in the city as another form of public transit.
These projects are just the few that many people are working on to make Buffalo a more walkable and bicycle friendly city. This I believe is important and has proven to be a way to improve citizen health, reduce air pollution, increase physical activity, decrease traffic congestion, reduce fuel consumption, improve safety and security and generally provide for a better quality of life.
Quality of life and the amenities which create it attract people and businesses and will ultimatley be the deciding factor of Buffalo's resurgence.
Report this