Buffalo’s amazing collection of 19th and 20th Century architecture is featured on the cover of today’s edition of The New York Times Arts & Leisure section in an article aptly titled “Saving Buffalo’s Untold Beauty”. The article dominates the front page of the Arts & Leisure section with a breathtaking photo of the Ellicott Square Building as seen through one of the oval windows of the Guaranty Building’s 13th floor. The subhead makes the case for Buffalo right up front: “The Home to Some of the Greatest American Architecture Tries to Balance the Past With the Future.”
The article is highlighted by seven (!) beautiful photos spread over nearly three entire pages and is supplemented online by an audio slide show. It’s fair to say that cultural coverage by the Times of this magnitude is virtually unheard of – and speaks volumes of the impression Buffalo made on Times’ architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff and the quality of the photos photographer Tony Cenicola brought back to New York.
A little background: The Times grew interested in covering Buffalo’s architecture after being approached by the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Jan Rothschild, who visited Buffalo in August as the guest of Preservation Buffalo Niagara and the Buffalo Niagara Convention & Visitors Bureau. Jan conveyed her enthusiasm for Buffalo to Ouroussoff, who stopped in Buffalo on his way to Toronto in late October. A Buffalo Niagara CVB-organized familiarization tour introduced Ouroussoff to many of our monuments and the people responsible for saving them. Ouroussoff’s appreciation for our architecture, the challenges our community faces and the potential we possess shines through in this truly massive media hit.
While in Buffalo Ouroussoff met with preservation advocates, community activists and architecture experts before departing Buffalo for Toronto and a dinner engagement with world-renowned architect Frank Gehry. A week later the Times sent Cenicola to town. Temperatures in the 70s, picture perfect sunsets and the last leaves of autumn made for a photo shoot to remember, prompting Tony to remark: “I’m in heaven.”
The significance of this coverage can’t be overstated. The Sunday Times has a circulation of more than 1.6 million and the Times web site is rated as one of the most popular sites online, receiving in excess of 14 million unique visitors in August 2008. Exposure of this breadth and depth to one of the most desirable readerships in the world is unprecedented and invaluable as Buffalo continues to remake itself and its image.
Carolyn Batt
Carolyn Batt is a Buffalo marketing director by day and international traveler the rest of the time--although always returning to her home for the past 12 years in Allentown.