Preservation Buffalo Niagara (PBN) and the Lipsey Architecture Center (located in the Richardson building on the Richardson Olmsted Campus) will soon be hosting an art gallery event, to showcase the condition of the at-risk western buildings. The photography exhibition will feature a number of local photographers that have toured the site.
“We did these deep dive photography tours all summer at the Richardson Complex,” said Bernice Radle, Executive Director Preservation Buffalo Niagara (PBN). “And now we are having an art opening to celebrate and highlight our favorite summer tour photos from local photographers. We did the photography tours of the unoccupied spaces so it’s a lot of vacancy in decay photos.”
As of late, Paris Roselli, president, Richardson Center Corporation and Board Member of CEPA Gallery, had been seeking upwards of $12 million from New York State to secure the roofs and get the buildings stabilized. By securing that funding, developer Douglas Jemal would be able to invest further, in order to convert the buildings into apartments.
Now, however, the $12 million ask is off the table, in lieu of a much smaller ask of $120,000, which would allow for some immediate roof patches and window replacements. One would think that the State would have that in their back pocket, but as of yet the funds have not been secured.
“The first instance we were hoping to restore the roofs to their original state,” Roselli told me. “Now, we’re being more tactical and scaling back. It took four years to do the core buildings. The stabilization from 2012 has worn out. It’s the sheer scale of the project that is the problem. But there are short term fixes that should be addressed, so that we can protect the buildings.”
Honestly, we have come too for to now be penny wise and pound foolish. It’s time to protect the investments that have already been made. The Richardson Olmsted Complex project has been a shining light for Buffalo thus far. That said, in the past, we’ve already lost eastern buildings. We cannot afford to lose any western buildings.
And while we’re at it, can Jemal please team up with the AKG Art Museum to get significant prints of art hanging on walls throughout the complex? The photographs that adorn The Richardson Hotel are dated and dreary. There needs to be an infusion of vibrancy. By hanging significant works of art (reproductions of course) of some of AKG Art Museum’s finest works, there would be an amazing synergy that would help to showcase the Gallery District in ways that would hearten and enlighten visitors to the hotel. Instead of simply showing images of what Buffalo used to look like, demonstrate the power that locally held international art yields. This, I believe, would be easy enough to accomplish in a short period of time, and would help to re-electrify the hotel.
For free tickets to the opening of the photo exhibition on Friday, December 20, from 6pm to 8pm, in the Lipsey Architecture Center’s Buffalo Gallery at 444 Forest Avenue, please register here.
