When 392 Pearl Street was sold last June, there was an air of excitement surrounding the sale. Then, this past April, a BRO reader passed along an email, stating that the building’s original brick facade was being covered up, and its original ornamentation was being removed. Since that time, we have seen a respectable looking building in the city’s core undergo a transition that resembles a number of design mistakes from the days when this city bottomed out.
It’s very unfortunate that the original facade was replaced with something that looks so cheap. At a time when so many people are doing their best to right the wrongs of the past, here we have an example of Buffalo stepping back into the dark ages. Even commentor Captain Picard was scratching his or her head when this dastardly deed came to light, by saying, “I will always support a developer over a whiny BRO know-it-all, but this makes very little sense to me.”
Other commentors stated that they were reserving judgment until they saw the final outcome. And commentor OldFirstWard had this to say at the time, “So how does this abomination get through the Planning Board? Does anyone know the year this building was constructed? Not sure, but didn’t the Green Code prohibit the use of Dryvit as an exterior facade covering? It’s bad enough that the roof line was altered and the side by side double hung windows were replaced with those hideous single pane panels.”
Taking a look at the history of the building, it’s hard to believe that the series of transformations ultimately led to this. Maybe if Green Code had been enacted a couple of months earlier, we could have prevented this mistake.