This is one of my absolute favorite urban vistas anyplace. It is full of drama and mystery, with a perfect mix of architectural masterpieces all working together to create a very memorable sense of place. The place is Symphony Circle at the far south end of Richmond Avenue.
Originally simply called The Circle it was designed in the late 1800’s by Frederick Law Olmsted as part of his innovative citywide Buffalo park and parkway system. As was hoped, prominent citizens and institutions built magnificent structures along these park spaces. The Circle attracted many mansions and eventually major public buildings. One of those institutions, The First Presbyterian Church, has stood as a dramatic backdrop on the Circle for over 100 years. It was designed in the Richardson Romanesque style by Buffalo’s own master architect E.B. Green. Its slender soaring tower and low cluster of picturesque roofs are in perfect harmony with Olmsted’s vision for this space.
For a while the full beauty of this vista had disappeared. The reflecting pool was inexplicably filled in sometime in the 1960’s (I think) draining much of the life from the space. Perhaps without the pool this vista really does not even exist. The pool was originally installed as part of Kleinhans Music Hall, which weaves its architecture into the circle. The hall, built in the late 1940’s, was designed by the father and son team of Eliel and Eero Saarinen. Each a master architect in his own right, Kleinhans was their first major collaboration. It exhibits strong influences from both architects and points in the direction that the younger architect would take his career.
Kelinhans was also one of Buffalo’s first works of modern architecture and as such was very controversial. Except for the maneuvers and back door dealing of a few power brokers this stunning building would not have come to be. Lucky for Buffalo, because its beautiful sweeping curves and sensuous reflecting pool are a perfect foil to the historic buildings of The Circle. Removal of the pool had left the architectural composition of the music hall unbalanced and awkward and removed a dimension of richness from the circle.
Renovation of Kleinhans a few years back saw the resurrection of the reflecting pool. I had seen pictures of the pool but had never realized its real power and beauty and how much it contributed not only to the music hall but also to the circle. The simple addition of water elevates the entire urban landscape. The music hall, park, and church work as one piece of architecture. Each of these architects understood that their work did not exist on its own and that it did not stop at the walls of the buildings they designed. Each of them added to the circle in a subtle way, each making it better in turn.
Removal of the pool was a tragedy that was thankfully reversed bringing back a place that is nearly perfect. Often we hear a call for buildings to blend with their surroundings. The thinking is if a building is built in a historic neighborhood it needs to look historic – “it needs to blend in”. This is the wrong way to look at architecture. Each building needs to be thought of as a piece of a whole, which works together each playing off the other, each adding a flavor and a texture. You would not expect your dinner at a fine restaurant to be poured from a blender. This space does not blend – it mixes. The power of Kleinhans modernism elevates the historic church and the park. The pool borrows the church’s image and casts it into the park making each of these great architectural achievements into one thing, making them immeasurably better.
See Vistas # 1 and # 2.
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