A Vision for Richardson Park
The Richardson Towers lord majestically above our Buffalo skyline, but many don’t realize that the land that this H.H. Richardson masterpiece rests on is yet another of our Olmsted parks. The grounds at Forest and Elmwood actually form part of what was – and could once again be – a 900 acre Olmstedian green space in the heart of Buffalo.
Imagine walking or biking from the western edge of the Psychiatric Center grounds to the eastern edge of Delaware Park at Parkside, all within an integrated Olmsted & Vaux landscape. This is the vision presented by Tim Tielman of the Campaign for Buffalo History, Architecture and Culture to a few dozen hardy souls who stood in the drizzle Monday night to enjoy an historic overview of this treasure and The Campaign’s vision of what could be. From Tim:
"We developed The Richardson Park concept over a number of years, beginning in 2002, and went through several iterations of renderings until late February of this year. We think Richardson Park would be the most prudent and feasible way to spend the money we, in effect, obtained for Buffalo."
By merely replacing pavement with well-designed parking structures and restoring as much vegetation as the new buildings permit, this fabulous expanse of land could provide wonderful vistas from the Buffalo State campus and even dormitories. Tim’s vision incorporates this parkland into the city and the campus, integrating it into where we ride our bikes, study for exams and walk our dogs. It would bring it back into our city and our lives, and further enhance Olmsted’s legacy in Buffalo.
The preview met with enthusiastic approval from those who braved the weather to attend the outdoor slide show, which served as a perfect prelude to the public meeting on the plans to stabilize and restore the Towers by the Richardson Center Corporation that took place this evening, Tuesday Aug 12 at 6:00 p.m. at BECHS.
Now Tielman and associates plan to share their research, vision and recommendations to the powers that be, including the Psychiatric Center, the Richardson Center Corporation, Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, Buffalo State, and others.
Contact Tim at Campaign for Buffalo History, Architecture and Culture for more information on this new look at an old masterpiece.
What Others Have To Say
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Comment Options
buffaloweiner
The Richardson right now is like a Steven king novel...is downright scary and evil
Get the roof, gutters, masonary, windows and electricity on that place with some exterior landscape lighting to make it look more like something welcoming and human before you even consider sidewalk integrations....to other buildings
For decades this building has been a dark cloud hovering like something out of the adams family or steven king....one imagines permanent dark gray clouds, lightning and rain falling upon it 24/7/364.
I admire the vision but ....first things first..get the exterior stabilized, get some landscape lighting and get some human presence in the buildings even if its one office/one room.
and for the love of god, will someone start telling the psych center to go shopping for a new location already. The hospital commission has a closure list where any one of the facilities that are closing would make a great opportunity for relocation.
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platt4
Proposing to demo the Burchfield gallery? Already? Mmmmm K.
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UrbanGuy
is there any way there can be a link to a page with the full image above so that people can see the detail of the maps?
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sbrof
Does this have anything to do with the actual restoration plan being developed by the architect \ planners on the job?
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rydog71
The name Tielman usually doesn't equate to progress but I will say know more until I see what the other option presented last night at BECHS.
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pier1sailing
sbrof The public has been asked to provide input, this is exactly what Tim has done, great with people who has so much energy and passion to share
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RaChaCha
The Richardson/Olmsted Complex represents an unsurpassed cultural resource of world stature, and is unquestionably part of the best of Buffalo's heritage. This proposal embraces that, and looks to take full advantage of that to give it significance and maximum impact on Buffalo's future. The community and their fine and capable representatives of the Richardson Center Corporation should in turn embrace and endorse this proposal as a guide and touchstone for the master planning effort underway.
Marti, thank you for braving the weather to get us this update. Um...what *is* up with the weather this summer, anyway (http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/412525.html)--??
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buffalostan
im always ascared of this place to its like a scarry movie set out of Alfred Hicock or something. With all the moneys going into it why don they put some white sidding up on it to make it more brighter an less scarry or even paint it white or yellow huh?
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STEEL
Am I missing something? Why is the art museum removed from the plan? If that is part of the plan then this is just an exercise in silliness.
My plan you ask - remove the 1950s buildings. Give some of the other buildings to Buff State. Build densely up to the street along Elmwood and fix up the historic buildings to like new. And in a perfect world rebuild the demoed portion.
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crisa
Many times, while driving in the area of Forest and Elmwood, it was more than those dark psych buildings that were not a welcoming sight. When I was heading N. on Tremont preparing to turn E. on Forest, the dark, spooky towers came into view. After seeing them for a while, the thought "Qoute the ravin nevermore" popped into my head as I envisioned big, creepy, scary birdlike creatures flying out of those towers. Of course, none ever did.
Instead, driving in that area, it was patients from the psych center who were scary. The scare was real though, both for them and for drivers. Those patients were everywhere and unsupervised during rush hours. I will always remember one incident in particular. Ugh.
I have never been up close to those buildings, but the outer walls appear to be bricks. Bricks are made in different degrees of endurance for weather conditions. Despite how well or how simply the clay was compressed or mixed with stronger materials, those ancient bricks (we have some very old roundhouse bricks)and the mortar holding them are past any endurance tests. They are in porous, crumbling conditions now. Applying anything to the outer surfaces will only seal in and incubate. I can't find a word about the future of those psychhouse bricks.
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jstraubinger
The same design of the roof on the Towers was also used on Richardson's Harvard University Memorial Hall.
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enamel
Tim "the obstructionist media hungry" Tielman needs to leave the work to the professionals who are more than capable of developing a plan which incorporates the opinions and views of the majority interest and not his own.
It's appalling that a story as meaningless as this is posted, yet nothing on the meeting last night of sustenance.
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crisa
If it is decided that all of those bricks can't remain up, I have an idea for what to do with them that would either cover the expenses of disposal or, better still, put them in a reuse mode if they have to come down.
Disposal-- a landfill where they can continue to rot away in peace under rolling hills and green grass.
REUSE: Get them down and sanitize them somehow. This would be a magnitude and cost I don't know about, but, I do know good old bleach sanitizes whatever it touches and then degrades itself away! (When we would camp at a national park for a week each summer, and our little kids would have diarrhea from the well water there, (way before we could buy water in 20 fl. oz. plastic bottles--which we don't 'cause when the water is warm it tastes like plastic), we moms took bleach bottles somewhat but not entirely rinsed out, filled them with tap water, and used that water for drinking.
If the bricks could be sanitized, crushed and packaged, with Buffalonians (and exBuffalonians) being people who like to CHARISH things, those crushed bricks would look great in gardens (or dump them in dirt driveways or backcountry roadways?) and bring in profits. (As they degrade on their own, old bricks turn to the consistancy of fine gravel and then they go back to the earth as a sort of grainy clay.)
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ToughintheStreets
I kinda like how creepy it looks. I don't think we should do too much to change that.
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ToughintheStreets
I kinda like how creepy it looks. I don't think we should do too much to change that.
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ToughintheStreets
I kinda like how creepy it looks. I don't think we should do too much to change that.
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MJWorthington
I still see the new art gallery but with a new parking deck.....where am I missing the proposed removal?
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mjman4
Tim Teilman knows how to use photoshop? LOOK OUT! 19th century here we come!!!!
BTW Tim, this is probably about $10 Million in Parking structures, and $10 million in Land improvements. You have a lot of tours/T-shirts to sell...get busy!
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STEEL
MJ
I see it now.
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OnRichmond
Why is it that all you people love to bash Tim Teilman? If any of you had a passion for this city like he does, your names would be here and you'd all probably be bashing yourselves. Call him what you want but you can't deny that he puts his ideas out there and his a** on the line a hell of alot more than half of you cry babies do. Too many of you like to use this site to voice your negativity to not just Tim, but to any idea that could cause a change in the status quo. It takes many good ideas to equal a great city. See past the present and have a vision for the future. If you are not willing to work for the change this city needs to become great again, then please keep your negativity and belly aching to yourself. There is too much to accomplish. Having to overcome a bunch of cry babies every time an idea which differs from your vision or lack thereof is proposed will never help this city.
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carl
We bash Teilman because he has the tendency to be an obstructionist and a leach. I've actually worked with him (indirectly) on a project (through the University at Buffalo School of Architecture) in North Tonawanda. The whole thing fell apart, largely on his false promises. He ended up wanting the broke students themeslves, to pay for a bunch of buildings!
At the end, the entire school felt totally used. He used us as a political tool to further his personal goals, angered a bunch of people, and nothing was done.
His heart may be in the right place, but he needs to change his tactics.
That is why we bash him.
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enamel
OnRichmond:
carl is right on the money. I question Tielman's motivation because it seems to me he is more concerned with getting a pat on the back by the media than actually making a positive contribution. And yes...he puts his ideas out there a lot...a lot more than people want to hear. He is a self proclaimed expert on everything with no credentials to back it up.
I too am active in the community involved in projects, volunteering to make our city great. The difference is I don't force my views on others and certainly don't beg for the media recognition that Tielman craves. To say that I don't have a passion for the city because my name is not published on BRO everyday is a slap in the face.
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DanielSack
STEEL - The Burchfield-Penny remains in the Campaign for Greater Buffalo's (referred to here as "Tim's) plans. The parking lot is demolished and several parking garages are built.
mjman4 - yes there are millions of $ of proposed improvements. New York State dedicated $100 to the project. The Burchfield-Penney and Darwin Martin house siphoned of some and $75 million remains.
You can repair quite a few buildings, rehabilitate the Olmsted landscape, and build parking garages too with $75 million.
enamel - you question Tim's motivation? He wants "a pat on the back by the media"? Yes he wants media attention for his plans to improve Buffalo. If you came up with a few plans you should get media attention too.
I don't think he cares about a "pat on the back" though he surely deserves several. But with "no credentials" Tim manages to fight against the credentialed professionals who would have built a fake Commercial Slip and then placed Bass Pro on the Buffalo River.
Note: I am on the board of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo.
note 2: Newell - can't the type size in the "What Do You Think?" box be a point or two larger? Please.
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sbrof
It's funny because even people who have credentials are still bashed the same level at TIm T..
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enamel
Quoting Daniel Sack: "Note: I am on the board of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo."
I wouldn't have guessed that. Seriously though, you are biased and it's no surprise that you would jump to his rescue. I have sat in multiple meetings with Tim and find his tactics to be obnoxious and his arrogance to be sickening. Trust me, behind closed doors he has zero credibility with many of the people he is pitching these ideas to.
"But with "no credentials" Tim manages to fight against the credentialed professionals"
A monkey can sue people. I'll leave it at that.
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sonyactivision
This "vivion" is weak and uninspired. A lot more can happen here and a self-limiting masterplan obstructs those possibilities.
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sonyactivision
...sorry, make that "vision"...
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buffaloweiner
Well tim was instrumental in getting the original canal rewatered along with many others.
He knows how to make waves and get heard. There is a place for that kind of person and they are needed in the Peace Bridge battle saving the neighborhood.
They are not needed at the Richardson because it has already been designated historical national trust worth saving. It already has funds and studies and reports and financing to fix the exterior shell (roof, gutters, masonary, windows).
Hopefully there will be enough money to replace the electricals and the HVAC.
Once thats done...it may still need work on the interior but it can be declared fit for habitation. It can then follow the Central Terminal model...a simple Conference Center for Buffalo State, Medialle, D'Youville, Burchfield, Albright, BECHs could produce enough revenue for matching funds from feds, state, wherever to continue restoration.
For all intensive purposes NOW is NOT the time to be talking about integrating Richadson with Delawares Olmsted Park. Its August and these buildings have to be fully stabilized on the exterior for anothe winter...and if they are stabilized enough for work to continue through the winter...on the interior....so much the better.
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