Buffalo Rising Online

Mar 10th, 9:20am By STEEL

This wonderful building sits at the southwest corner of Broadway and Fillmore, probably one of Buffalo's five busiest intersections at one time. The building, originally constructed as a bank, still serves that purpose today as home to a Bank of America branch. (I could not find any information as to the original bank occupant). The architecture clustered here, anchored by this one, gives evidence of the importance of this corner in Buffalo's commercial history.

The bank building's composition is simple and elegant, rendered in a crisp classical temple style in white glazed terra cotta on a tall granite base. A large cornice is supported on a flattened colonnade of richly detailed Ionic columns. Extra attention and detail is focused on the front entry on Broadway where the columns framing the door become rounded and more three-dimensional. Tall two story windows fill the space between columns to produce a colossal scale even though the building is relatively small. The upper portion of the windows has unfortunately been filled in.

I was in this building perhaps only one time many years ago so I don't remember what the interior is like. Most likely the original interior was a grand two-story space with an abundance of classical decoration (though it is tall enough that it possibly has a second floor). It is quite common for grand banking spaces such as this to suffer the indignity of a dropped ceiling in the name of energy cost savings or "modernization". Hopefully any detail covered up is still there waiting for more appreciative times. Luckily the exterior architecture does not suffer too much from the windows being filled in.

The most interesting and memorable element of this building is the huge bronze clock suspended from the corner. Clocks like these were popular throughout the United States in the early 20th century. They are often found at the heart of urban commercial districts and quickly became major landmarks. They were often used as points of reference and as meeting places. For this reason they were great advertising vehicles for the business that erected them. This clock was very likely one of the most well known landmarks in Buffalo when this neighborhood competed with downtown as a major shopping destination.

Unfortunately most of today's WNYers would have a tough time placing it if shown a picture. Chris Byrd of Broadway Fillmore Alive tells me the clock was recently restored to working order. Also, the building directly west is in line for a major renovation and conversion to senior housing giving me confidence that this east side landmark has a long life in front of it.