Things Fall Apart @ Karpeles
Neighbors in Allentown must have been wondering what was going on this morning when they awoke to find that part of the cornice of the Karpeles Manuscript Museum (Elmwood and North) had fallen to the ground. After receiving an email at midnight last night describing the damage, I passed by this morning to examine the problem. Whoa! Out of nowhere an enormous strip of bricks dislodged from the building and fell to the ground. I would imagine that between the winds, the fluctuating temperatures and some water seepage, Mother Nature flexed her muscle and left us with an ugly scenario.
Elmwood, between North and Allen, is completely blocked off. Police have placed cars at either end of the roadway, while yellow tape has been wrapped around the building in order to prevent anyone from coming too close to the building. Winter weather is certainly wreaking havoc on our buildings this year. Much of the damage could have been foreseen and prevented. I doubt that anyone could have known that the Karpeles would have been subject to such a bizarre twist of fate.
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al-alo
i TOLD you the sky is falling!
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McGowan
Saw this on the drive in this morning - unbelivable...
For background - what exactly does the Karpeles Manuscript Museum house? It seems that this building has had a couple different uses over the years - does anyone know the back story?
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NSphere
Saw the title and was worried there was going to be some sort event based on the book of the same name... I'm glad nobody got hurt.
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al-alo
the Karpeles museum is a privately owned collection that is on display at locations around the country.
the museums are all located in smaller or economically stalled locations as a general rule. the Karpeles-es (ida know how to plural that) view the museum as a enconomic development engine. additionally, the smaller markets allow for the museum to get some publicity, since they have little or no advertising budget.
the collection itself is wide in scope, spanning centuries and continents. i do believe that a visit to the museum is still free. today might not be the best day to stop by tho.
see: http://www.rain.org/~karpeles/
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comptart_lws
perhaps ECB could do a story on BOTH of the Karpeles Manuscript Museums? There really is an interesting back-story and they do a wonderful thing by renovating "whhite elephant" types of buildings that would otherwise fall into disrepair.
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Biniszkiewicz
I'm glad Karpeles Museums owns this building. They have the wherewithall to fix it. If a church still owned it, it might be touch and go depending on finances. They did a nice job saving their other local former church on Porter and Jersey, too. And they welcome community meetings, fyi (whereas public places like schools are ordinarily unavailable after hours).
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Texpat10
I am surprsed that more people don't know about this place. The building is so imposing and the museum really is such a cool and interesting asset to Buffalo!
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ElmwoodBoy
Call Jay Hogan to have the job warrantied. Hogan Restoration re-built this within the last few years.
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RisingDamp666
So, an obscure "institution" that houses (manuscripts?) and locates in distressed cities to bolster their economies now credits a pile of fallen masonry for exposing their arcane activities? Me thinks this odd, civic improvement float missed the proverbial parade...by about 80 years.
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nonono
I guess the collection has no first edition proverbs, since everyone knows 'a brick in time saves nine?'
is this a
historical preservation district or hysterical precipitation zone?
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BetterThanDetroit
Hogan will have them cited as soon as he prepares the invoice. A lot goes into those, ya know?
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RisingDamp666
I for one, like to enjoy a good manuscript when it's raining bricks outside.
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