The next installment on our preservation ready list of 10 buildings to save is the iconic Great Northern Grain Elevator at 250 Ganson Street. It is on the National Register of Historic places and was considered an engineering marvel when it was built in 1897. It is essentially a massive brick box filled with iron cylinders, basically a machine for storing grain. It held 3,000,000 bushels of grain and ranked as the world’s largest elevator. It was designed by Max Toltz, considered and engineering genius, for the Great Norther Railroad. It may be the only building of its type remaining in North America. It has been unused for decades with little or no apparent maintenance. The building is in danger of being lost for good. It is owned by Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) which still runs a milling operation in the adjacent abutting building. Together the buildings make an imposing presence on the waterfront. ADM has requested permission to demolish the building on a few occasions. At one point The City agreed to the demo if ADM would prepare a detailed scale model of the structure. It miraculously still stands. As part of its year-long series on the list of Preservation Ready Buildings Buffalo Spree has featured the great Northern in its March issue.
The Preservation Ready Sites group began putting together a list of buildings to save at the end of last summer. Since that time 3 of the 10 buildings have been subject to promises of upcoming renovation by their owners and one is actually being restored. Each of these 4 seemed to be hopeless cases just a few months ago but now may have a real chance at serving a new usefulness. This gives me some hope for the Great Northern. But this giant will be no easy lift. How do you use a brick box filled with metal tubes? Even if you remove the grain bins what do you do with an expansive empty box? Apartments would need new floors and windows. Windows cut through the monumental brick walls would surely take some of the raw visual power away from the building and may not even be allowed since it is a landmarked structure. It could be a good storage building. Perhaps a small section of the interior could be restored as an industrial museum with the bins in place with the rest of the space emptied and used to store sailboats. I am just dreaming now. I have heard nothing about demo or reuse on this building for years. Once it is gone it does not ever come back.
You too can be part of the Preservation Ready Sites Group. Contact us through FaceBook.
See also
Blacksmith Shop and here too…
Image is from Buffalo as an Architectural Museum