A historically significant complex is going up before the Buffalo Common Council’s Committee seeking designation as an official City of Buffalo landmark. The site is that of Brunn Coachworks (980 Ellicott Street). The Buffalo Preservation Board recently voted to designate the former automobile factory as a landmark, after property owners applied to demolish parts of the site this past February. Since that point, significant research has been conducted, and numerous historic attributes have been discovered.
“The first thing we found was that a small house on the site was designed by Green & Wicks, then that most of the factory itself had been,” said Campaign for Greater Buffalo Executive Director Tim Tielman, who was appointed to an ad hoc committee that researched the property. “Every piece of digging led to more discovery. The very first presidential limousine made to Secret Service specifications was built there by the Brunn Coachworks for Franklin Roosevelt. Then we found out an amphibious vehicle was manufactured there. It turned out to be the world’s first. A U.S. Army representative was aboard for the launching at the South Grand Island Bridge. A film of the grand event, led by Seymour Knox, Jr., survives. So does the original amphibious vehicle—it is in a museum in New Jersey that I visited in July.
“We also pieced together the enduring partnership between an engineer who built a futuristic ‘Rocket Car’ and his master ‘body man.’ After the war they produced the Playboy Motor Car. We have a letter from Hugh Hefner saying that was the source of the name of his magazine.
“The coachworks complex is the embodiment of how industries developed during Buffalo’s peak—people with creativity and energy linking up with other creative people who had the capital to make it happen. On this site it happened again and again over a 50 year period. That’s why the site deserves designation as a landmark. Certainly to protect it from anymore hasty demolitions.”
According to Tielman, the owners did already knock down two parts – “The small house and a factory building that was in the back of the property. We went to court to block it, and the judge made an incredibly bad decision to allow them to demo the house. Before our attorneys even had the paperwork, the house was down (that, of course, is contempt of court). I think parking and a second wide driveway is what they wanted.”
We’ve already lost irreplaceable history here. Now we must ensure that the remaining site is protected in the future.
The public hearing will be held on Tuesday October 10 at 2:00pm.