My Favorite Buildings: Two For One
Green space has become one of those common terms thrown around without an understanding of what it actually means. In practice green space is often heavy on the green but severely lacking the "space" part of the equation. In reality the "green" part is the least important element in making great public urban places. This is starkly apparent when comparing Cathedral Park with the (unnamed?) park directly across Main Street. Both parks were created at the same time when downtown was massively reconfigured in the late 1960's and early 70's. The park east of Main is heavily endowed with grass and trees making it amply green. It however has no sense of place of space. The result is a little used park that in my opinion detracts from the continuity of Downtown. It ends up creating a large gash in the urban fabric that disconnects large segments of downtown.
Cathedral Park, on the other hand, weaves the city together. It draws people in and complements the structures that surround it. When architects talk about a sense of place Cathedral Park is what they are talking about. This little park is wonderfully scaled and though it is mostly made up of hard-scape materials it does have "green" in the form of a thickly woven roof of branches and leaves created by a grid of very beautiful trees. This park feels like a room and that is what makes this great urban "space". I could go on and on about this deceptively simple park. It really is one of Buffalo's top architectural treasures and as such has been one of downtown's favorite spots since its inception.
The second part of this 2-for-one favorite is the wonderful little red brick building at the corner of Cathedral Park and Main. This delicately detailed and scaled little building forms one of the distinctive architectural walls of the Park space and provides a unique punctuation point to its odd shaped corner. It lends a sense of elegance to Main Street. It somehow seems above the typical down and dirty 19th century commercial buildings. I could not find any history on this one but I suspect it originally served as a bank or investment house. It definitely speaks upper crust. It is not the kind of building you would expect to see painted with signs and advertisements as was common in the 1800's. Unfortunately, recent uses do not do justice to this little gem. It feels too closed up. I dream of the day an elegant restaurant opens up on its first floor or maybe a rare book shop, Something fitting its elegance and special Cathedral Park site.
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chrish
Great highlight of a wonderful urban space. What I love most about Cathedral Park is the choice of green in this hardscape - Sycamore trees... transparent crown, elegant shape and stature, a damn near perfect "urban" tree, like the sister London Elms of Paseo de Gracia in Barcelona or the Roman Embankment.
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MisterChips
Also, sycamores are salt, pest, and drought resistant, another reason they're damn near perfect urban trees.
About "green space." It is one of the worst architecture and planning euphemisms to enter the general lingo. It is as meaningless as "built space." Imagine a developer pointing at a map of a tract of land, saying, "Well, we'll going to put some built space here and here" and the community nods in approval because they enjoy being hip to the cool architectural jargon. Wouldn't you demand to know what kind of "built space?" A factory? A rowhouse? A mall? A gas station? A school? A ramp garage?
We should demand the same specificity when someone talks about "green space." Do you mean mulch and shrubbery strips? A formal square with a monument or fountain? A pointless grassy berm? An Olmstedian meadow? A nature preserve?
We'd all be able to see more clearly what kind of park designs work in cities and what kind do not, as Steel tries to do here, if we all purged "green space" from our vocabulary. As we see in the case above, "green space" is hardly an automatic urban amenity.
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pgf1948
I couldn't agree with you more, Steel. In this tiny place, people actually gather and seem to like being together; it feels like a city in this little part of downtown; whereas so many other parts of Buffalo just seem to be dead. The architectural elements are superb; their collisions are wonderful.
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Biniszkiewicz
My favorite place to be outside downtown. When I talk about green space, this is what I think of--trees and public space. I lalso ove Sycamore trees. But I have to say with regard to the park across Main Street from here: the only thing that park needs to be more popular is seating. Lunch crowds at Cathedral Park take every available seat. Put benches and a few tables across the street and watch that park with get used as well. (although being bounded by buildings sure beats being bordered by busy streets).
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sbrof
the real problem with the park across the street is the lack of easy accessibility for pedestrians. This space works so well because it is one of the few places in downtown were people are put before cars.
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Biniszkiewicz
True, but you can cross Main Street to get over there. And there's only the occasional trolley or cop car to worry about on Main.
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othello
I attend the cathedral, and the 9am service is held in the park for the summer; it's such a nice change to be outside in public space in the city we all love and among my friends and neighbors. sometimes we forget how splendid cathedral park is when we concentrate on the beauty of the cathedral's interior. by drawing us out into the community and into the park, it reminds us that we are there to serve our community, not just ourselves. i'm so glad to read how many others love cathedral park as much as all of us at st. paul's do!
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Chris
On a minor side note, the historical marker commemorating Shelton Square, which once stood in Cathedral Park, is reportedly in storage somewhere inside the Cathedral. It would be nice to have it reinstalled in the park and accessible to the public again.
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